Christopher C Kaltenecker earned his BS in pharmaceutical sciences and medicinal chemistry at the Dublin Institute of Technology and is pursuing his PhD at the Clinical Division of Nephrology and Dialysis at the Medical University of Vienna (MUV) in the lab of Dr Marcus Säemann. While conducting his PhD research he became fascinated by the stimulating inter-disciplinary, translational academic environment focusing on studying RAS metabolism in chronic kidney disease, thereby gaining a broad methodological skillset and expertise. After finishing his PhD he plans to continue RAS research and deepen his knowledge in computational biology at the Department of Pathology at the MUV. In his free time, he enjoys cycling and film festivals.

Dr Hanwen Zhang earned his MD (2009) and PhD (2013) from Nanjing Medical University, China. His PhD in pathophysiology was supervised by Dr Qi Chen at Nanjing Medical University. In 2018 he was a visiting scholar at Dr Zhao Wang’s lab in the Department of Cardiology at UT Southwestern. He is currently a principle investigator at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardiovascular Disease Translational Medicine at Nanjing Medical University. His research interest is macrophage mediated inflammation in cardiovascular diseases. He aims to translate the research results into precision therapy. Besides scientific research, he enjoys spending time with his family.

Andi Xu is a doctoral candidate at Nanjing Medical University, China, and earned her BS from Southeast University in 2015. She is studying in Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory of Targeted Intervention of Cardiovascular Diseases, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cardiovascular Disease Translational Medicine and in the Department of Pathophysiology supervised by Dr Qi Chen. Her main research interest is exploring the role of macrophages in cardiac diseases. In her free time, she enjoys travelling and running and swimming.

Dr Carolin Lerchenmüller is a research group leader at the University Hospital Heidelberg’s Cardiology Department. Carolin earned her MD at the University of Heidelberg and found her love for basic science when she first conducted research as a predoctoral student in Philadelphia with Patrick Most and Walther Koch. After graduating, Carolin started her residency but quickly missed the lab and decided to pursue further postdoctoral work in Tony Rosenzweig’s lab in Boston. After her return to Heidelberg she started her own research group that focuses on investigating exercise-induced protective pathways in the heart to eventually relay those benefits in the setting of cardiac diseases. Carolin is also a passionate physician who loves working with patients. Carolin actively engages in advocating for gender equity in cardiology and cardiovascular research by promoting evidence-based benefits of diversity. However, her biggest passion is her family – together with her husband, Carolin is raising three children. She can be found on Twitter @CLerchenmueller.

Dr Xiapeng Tang earned his from Shandong University of Technology, and then received his MD and PhD from Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Dr Tang’s research interest is coagulation balance regulation and thromboembolism diseases. He has a great interest in understanding the strategic use of toxins by venomous animals for predation and defense purposes. Using a coagulant toxin as a tool, he identified transferrin as an important factor in maintenance of coagulation balance. Through his in-depth study, he found that transferrin interacts with fibrinogen and antithrombin, not just regulating thrombin and factor XIIa.

Mingqian Fang earned her BS from Hunan Agricultural University. She earned her MS from Nanjing Agricultural University and currently she is pursuing her PhD at the Kunming Institute of, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Mingqian’s research interest is the pathogenesis of thromboembolism diseases and mechanism of immune regulation. She has a great interest in the coagulation system regulators related to human diseases. In a previous study, she was involved in determining the mechanism of transferrin mediated thromboembolism by iron deficiency or estrogen.

Dr Goran Marinković is a research scientist in the division of Medical Biochemistry at the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. After earning a MS in Biology from the University of Belgrade, he earned his PhD in Vascular Biology from the University of Amsterdam. Following his PhD, he continued his work as a postdoctoral researcher at the Weismann Institute of Science, Israel, and Lund University, Sweden. Goran’s most recent work revealed the role of S100A9 in orchestrating innate immune response following myocardial infarction, mechanisms of cardiac repair and defined a precise therapeutic window for a successful cardiac recovery. His ongoing research is aimed at studying post-translational regulation of the macrophage phenotype switch in cardiovascular diseases. Outside of the lab, he enjoys spending time in nature, practicing krav maga and playing basketball.

Jingsi Zhao earned her BS in Biological Sciences at Nanjing University, and MS in Biomedical Engineering focusing on Biomaterials at Carnegie Mellon University. After graduation, she joined Dr Stephen Chan’s laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh. During the past 5 years, she has led multiple basic and translational research studies delineating the molecular mechanisms of pulmonary vascular disease and pulmonary hypertension. In the future, she aims to continue her research career in the biopharmaceutical industry, focusing on translational endeavors to improve human health. Outside of research, she enjoys traveling and dreams of filling her showcase full of souvenirs from all over the world.

Dr Jedrzej Hoffmann is currently a cardiologist and CMR fellow at the Department of Cardiology and the Institute of Cardiovascular Imaging at the Goethe University Hospital in Frankfurt. After earning his MD at the Universities of Frankfurt and Newcastle upon Tyne he worked as a specialty registrar and postdoctoral fellow at the Cardiology Department of the Kerckhoff-Klinik in Bad Nauheim and then joined the Department of Cardiology at the University Clinic Frankfurt to continue his clinical training in cardiology and research projects on inflammatory processes in cardiovascular disease. Dr Hoffmann has a passion for clinical flow cytometry and has pursued the goal of investigating and proving the utility of inflammatory leukocyte profiles as novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in ischemic and structural heart disease. As a CMR fellow he keeps up with this commitment by combining inflammatory markers and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging biosignatures to improve personalized prognostics and therapeutic targeting in myocardial remodeling and inflammation. In his leisure time, he enjoys developing his skills as an amateur urban street photographer and spending time with his family.