Professor Daniel Stuckey

Daniel is Professor of Cardiovascular Imaging at University College London. For over 20 years his team have been developing in vivo imaging technology bespoke to cardiac regenerative therapies.

Through successive BHF Fellowships, his team have established several approaches for tracking therapeutic cells, vectors, nanoparticles and biomaterials. This allows their biodistribution and therapeutic effects to be serially monitored in small animal models. Importantly, they use clinically relevant techniques (MRI, PET, SPECT, CT, ultrasound) allowing their methods to be applied in patients. 

Translation of the therapies developed in REACT requires rigorous preclinical testing of safety and efficacy. Daniel's team's multimodal in vivo imaging platforms can be used to optimise the on-target retention of the therapeutic agents and evaluate the hearts response to treatment.

Specifically, they will develop translational imaging methods for quantifying the effects that RNA and DNA treatments have on fibrosis, viability, hyperplasia, contractility, vessel formation and cell cycling. Ultimate these imaging biomarkers will offer surrogate end points in the first clinical trials and generate mechanistic insights into the efficacy of advanced cardiac therapies.