Robin Verjans

Post doc

Dr Robin Verjans is post-doc in the Department of Cardiology. He performed a Bachelor in Health Sciences, and obtained his MSc. degree in Biomedical Sciences at Maastricht Univeristy in 2013, with the specialisation Cardiovascular Biology and Medicine.

His interest in cardiovascular research has brought him to join the groups of Prof. Stephane Heymans, Prof. Blanche Schroen, and Dr Marc van Bilsen, as a PhD student in 2013. During the first years of his PhD, he performed a high-throughput phenotypical screen at Cenix BioSciences (Dresden, Germany) to identify miRNAs involved in heart failure-underlying processes, such as cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis and inflammation. In the last years of his PhD, back at Maastricht University, he focussed on the role of candidate miRNAs, identified by the screen, in cellular processes underlying heart failure. He successfully defended his PhD-thesis entitled 'MicroRNAs Orchestrate the Cellular Processes Driving Failure of the Heart' on the 23 February 2018.

Robin obtained a CARIM fellowship in 2017 and spent half a year in the renowned lab of Prof. Mauro Giacca at the Internaltion Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Trieste, to gain expertise in cardiomyocyte cell cycle control.

Robin Verjans currently continus his investigation of the role of candidate miRNAs, identified by the screen, in cellular processes underlying heart failure. The functions of different specific miRNAs are being studied in various animal models of heart failure. Furthermore, Robin conducts research as a fellow on the the CVON SHE-PREDICTS-HF. This research focusses on the investigation and description of sex-specific risk factors and its underlying processes for new-onset of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction and is conducted at CARIM and UMC Groningen under the supervision of Prof. Blanche Schroen, Prof. Rudolf de Boer and Dr Marc van Bilsen.