Emma is a REACT-funded DPhil student in the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics at the University of Oxford, supervised by Dr Ian McCracken.
Her research investigates how new blood vessels form in the adult heart after a heart attack, and how signals from heart muscle cells might drive this process. By understanding these mechanisms, her work aims to identify new drug targets to improve coronary blood flow and promote cardiac regeneration.
Emma's background is in systems and clinical physiology and pharmacology, studying at the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford. She has research experience in vascular signalling and endothelial function, investigating atherosclerosis.
She was drawn to REACT because it aims to address a significant therapeutic gap in cardiovascular and translational regenerative medicine. Emma is particularly interested in the pipeline for how mechanistic insights into neovascularisation and angiogenesis can inform the design of these next-generation therapies - REACT’s collaborative framework provides an ideal environment to explore research at the interface between academia and real-world impact.