I study the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of diseases that cause unheralded sudden death in young people. I mostly focus on two such disease entities; arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) and Brugada syndrome (BrS). Although the past two decades have seen a huge leap in unravelling the genetics underlying these diseases, the precise mechanisms through which genetic mutations bring on the actual disease phenotype are largely unknown. To shed light into such mechanisms, we have developed highly informative in vitro, in vivo and patient-derived ex vivo experimental models, which we use not only to understand mechanisms but also to test much-needed mechanism-based therapies.
Prior to joining St George’s in 2017, Dr Asimaki was a research associate at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre (BIDMC) and an instructor in cardiovascular pathology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) in Boston, USA. She went to the BIDMC in 2006 for a research elective while pursuing her PhD at University College London. After obtaining her PhD, she remained at the BIDMC where she completed two postdoctoral fellowships awarded by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and the American Heart Association (AHA). She joined the faculty at HMS in 2011.Dr Asimaki has been recognised with several highly competitive young investigator awards including the Bevan price for outstanding academic achievement, the Dennis Escande award of excellence and the first price at the young investigator award competition at the 2007 HRS Scientific Sessions.She has been an author on >55 peer-reviewed research papers and >15 invited submissions (reviews, editorials and book chapters). She has published major first-author research papers in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) and Science Translational Medicine (STM). She has been invited to give lectures in >60 venues including HRS, AHA and Cardiostim as well as several seminar talks both in the US and Europe.
Dr Asimaki is a cardiac pathology researcher with a focus on the molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in the young.
Her research interests include the implementation of novel biomarkers that will aid the timely identification and risk stratification of individuals at risk of SCD. To achieve this she employs a wide range of experimental models including in vitro cultures of mammalian ventricular myocytes, in vivo zebrafish and mouse models of heritable heart diseases as well as ex vivo models obtained from patients. She has a particular interest in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM), a major cause of SCD in the young particularly those engaged in strenuous exercise. She recently showed that abnormalities occurring in the heart of ACM patients are mirrored by equivalent changes in their buccal mucosa. This provided the basis for the development of a novel, non-invasive and totally risk-free approach for diagnosis and cascade screening of individuals at risk.
She is also interested in elucidating the molecular pathways disrupted in heritable heart disease. Her goal is to identify novel targets that will lead to the development of much-needed mechanism-based therapies.
Finally, despite thorough pathological and genetic examination as well as clinical evaluation of surviving family members, 40% of SCD cases in the young remain unexplained, termed sudden unexplained death (SUD). Dr Asimaki is interested in developing standardized guidelines for systematic, deep pathological examination to improve the diagnosis of SUD and its prevention in affected families.
British Heart Foundation Project Grant No PG/23/11166: ‘Protein biomarkers: Improving risk stratification in arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy’. September 2023 – September 2026; £269,485.59
Role: Principal Investigator
The Aptamer Innovation Award; November 2019- November 2024 ; £50.000
This award is intended for custom aptamer development to support academics advance their research by providing reagents against targets that have until now been elusive.
Role: Principal Investigator
Laboratory team:
Joanna Jager; Research Assistant
Collaborations
Professor Elijah Behr
Professor Stephen Brecker
Professor Iain Greenwood
Professor Sanjay Sharma
Professor Mary Sheppard
Dr Marc Halushka, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Dr Stephen Chelko, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
Dr Alexandros Protonotarios, University College London
Dr Adalena Tsatsopoulou, Naxos General Hospital, Greece
Dr William Zuercher, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy
Dr Thomas Weichhart, Medical University of Vienna
Dr Juan Kaski, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London
Dr Flavien Charpentier, University of Nantes, France
Dr Petros Syrris, University College London
Professor Peter Van Tintelen, Academisch Medisch Centrum Universiteit, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Professor Richard Hauer, University Medical Center, Utrecht, Netherlands
Professor Cristina Basso, University of Padova, Italy
Professor Gaetano Thiene, University of Padova, Italy
Professor Jeffrey E. Saffitz, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre, Boston, MA
Dr Aris Anastasakis, Inherited Cardiovascular Disease Unit, Athens, Greece
Dr Asimaki is supervising BSc students for their final year research project, she is teaching SSC1 and SSP1 modules at St George's Medical School, she is a personal tutor for both MBSS5 and Biomedical Sciences students and a PhD/Postdoc mentor. Moreover, she is the Cardiology Scientist representative for University Research at the St George's Cardiovascular CAG steering committee, she is the Section Head for the Experimental Cardiology Division and she gives lectures at the CardioGenetics module of the Genomics Medicine MSc course.