PhD’s Anna Spiering and Elize de Jong present at FCVB 2026 in Leuven

At the Frontiers in CardioVascular Biomedicine 2026 meeting in Leuven, our PhD candidates Anna Spiering and Elize de Jong were selected to present their work in dedicated scientific sessions. This international conference brings together researchers in cardiovascular biomedicine to share ideas, connect, and learn from each other, all with the goal of improving patient care.

Anna Spiering presented her research in a session on inter-organ and inter-system crosstalk, focusing on sex differences in atherosclerosis. While it’s already known that women and men develop different types of plaques, Anna’s work highlights the role of the X chromosome, beyond just hormonal effects. Using human plaque material from the Athero-Express biobank, she showed that plaques from women have higher expression of genes located on the X chromosome. Interestingly, differences in this expression between women were linked to variations in plaque composition, such as fat content and inflammation. Her results suggest that sex chromosomes themselves—partly through regulators like KDM5C—play an important role in these differences.

Elize de Jong presented her work in a session on new tools for vascular biology. She introduced a novel method to isolate endothelial cells directly from catheterization material of patients with angina and non-obstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA). Given the challenges in obtaining patient-specific endothelial cells, this is an important step forward. Elize showed that these cells can be successfully cultured, keep their endothelial characteristics, and even display disease-specific behavior, such as higher activation and increased interaction with immune cells, compared to standard cell models.

Curious about their experiences at the conference, or want to know more about their research? Feel free to reach out to them!