Cardiac Fibrosis and Heart Failure: Cause or Effect?

Dr. Jeffrey Wigle is an Associate Professor at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. His research focuses on the transcriptional pathways involved in regulating the growth and development of the cardiovascular system. He has characterized a number of transcription factors that are critical for the development of the lymphatic vasculature and the phenoconversion of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts. He is currently studying the transcriptional feedback loops that determine the fibroblastic phenotype.

Dr. Ian M.C. Dixon is a Professor of Physiology and Pathophysiology at the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.  His research addresses heart failure following myocardial infarction and the contributing role of dysfunctional extracellular matrix in these hearts. He is also interested in mechanisms of fibroblast phenotype regulation, cardiac fibroblast SMAD protein signaling as well as other signaling proteins that may oppose the fibrogenic influence of TGF-b ₁ in health and disease. He has been engaged over the past 24 years in multidisciplinary research in cardiovascular matrix biology.