Jason Tarkin
Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow and Honorary Consultant Cardiologist
Email: jt545@cam.ac.uk
Twitter: @jmtarkin
Biography
Jason Tarkin is a Wellcome Clinical Research Career Development Fellow at the Heart & Lung Research Institute of the University of Cambridge and an Honorary Consultant Cardiologist with an imaging sub-specialty at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Trust. He is also a Junior Research Fellow at St Catharine’s College, Cambridge. In addition, he is a member of the British Society of Cardiovascular Imaging Executive Committee, the British Heart Foundation Clinical Research Collaborative Steering Committee, the UK CARDIO-IMID Network Steering Committee, and the Editorial Board for Circulation Cardiovascular Imaging.
Jason was awarded summa cum laude with honors in Biology from the University of New Hampshire in 2003, and graduated with Distinction in Medicine from St. George's, University of London in 2008. He received a PhD from the University of Cambridge in 2017. For his doctoral research, he won both the American Heart Association Melvin Judkin’s Young Investigator Award in 2016 and the American College of Cardiology William W Parmley Young Author Achievement Award in 2018. He trained in Cardiology at the Barts Heart Centre and Hammersmith Hospital in London, where he was previously an NIHR Clinical Lecturer at the National Heart & Lung Institute, and at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
Research Approach:
Dr Tarkin’s Research Group applies novel multi-modality imaging approaches for identifying inflammatory disease activity in patients with atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular conditions, coupled with molecular and cellular profiling, to examine inflammatory phenotypes in cardiovascular disease. Ultimately, the aim of this research is to discover new avenues for improved diagnostics, risk-stratification, and therapeutic inventions in cardiovascular disease.
Current projects:
- We are actively investigating the clinical translational value of quantifying and tracking cardiovascular inflammation using somatostatin receptor PET/MR imaging: i) as a prognostic marker of long-term atherosclerotic plaque progression and adverse left ventricular remodelling after myocardial infarction (NCT04073810); ii) for diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring in large vessel vasculitis (NCT04071691); and 3) as an early readout of cardiovascular drug efficacy in patients with elevated lipids (NCT04073797).
- In the collaborative PLAK-TALK study, we will investigate intercellular communication pathways in atherosclerosis and plaque destabilisation, linking molecular mechanisms and cellular interactions with clinically measurable imaging and blood-based biomarkers.
Selected Publications
- Ćorović A, Wall C, Nus M, Gopalan D, Huang Y, Imaz M, Zulcinski M, Peverelli M, Uryga A, Lambert J, Bressan D, Maughan RT, Pericleous C, Dubash S, Jordan N, Jayne DR, Hoole SP, Calvert PA, Dean AF, Rassl D, Barwick T, Iles M, Frontini M, Hannon G, Manavaki R, Fryer TD, Aloj L, Graves MJ, Gilbert FJ, Dweck MR, Newby DE, Fayad ZA, Reynolds G, Morgan AW, Aboagye EO, Davenport AP, Jørgensen HF, Mallat Z, Bennett MR, Peters JE, Rudd JHF, Mason JC, Tarkin JM. Somatostatin Receptor PET/MR Imaging of Inflammation in Patients With Large Vessel Vasculitis and Atherosclerosis. J Am Coll Cardiol 2023;81(4):336-354.
- Ćorović A, Gopalan D, Wall C, Peverelli M, Hoole SP, Calvert PA, Manavaki R, Fryer TD, Aloj L, Graves MJ, Bennett MR, Rudd JHF, Tarkin JM. Novel Approach for Assessing Postinfarct Myocardial Injury and Inflammation Using Hybrid Somatostatin Receptor Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Circ Cardiovasc Imaging 2023;16(1):e014538.
- Wall C, Huang Y, Le EPV, Ćorović A, Uy CP, Gopalan D, Ma C, Manavaki R, Fryer TD, Aloj L, Graves MJ, Tombetti E, Ariff B, Bambrough P, Hoole SP, Rusk RA, Jayne DR, Dweck MR, Newby D, Fayad ZA, Bennett MR, Peters JE, Slomka P, Dey D, Mason JC, Rudd JHF, Tarkin JM. Pericoronary and periaortic adipose tissue density are associated with inflammatory disease activity in Takayasu arteritis and atherosclerosis. Eur Heart J Open 2021;1(2):oeab019.
- Tarkin JM, Calcagno C, Dweck MR, Evans NR, Chowdhury MM, Gopalan D, Newby DE, Fayad ZA, Bennett MR, Rudd JHF. 68Ga-DOTATATE PET identifies residual myocardial inflammation and bone marrow activation after myocardial infarction. J Am Coll Cardiol 2019; 73(19):2489-2491.
- Tarkin JM, Joshi FR, Evans NR, Chowdhury MM, Figg NL, Shah AV, Starks LT, Manavaki R, Martin-Garrido A, Yu E, Kuc RE, Grassi L, Kreuzhuber R, Kostadima M, Frontini M, Ouewhand WH, Groves AM, Gopalan D, Kirkpatrick PJ, Coughlin PA, Buscombe JR, Fryer TD, Bennett MR, Warburton EA, Davenport AP, Rudd JH. Detection of atherosclerotic inflammation by 68Ga-DOTATATE PET compared to 18F-FDG PET imaging. J Am Coll Cardiol 2017;69(14):1774-91.
Group Members:
Dr Andrej Ćorović (BHF Clinical Research Fellow/PhD candidate)
Dr Christopher Wall (BHF Cambridge CRE Clinical Research Fellow/PhD candidate)
Dr Marta Peverelli (Academic Clinical Fellow)
Collaborators: Prof James Rudd
Prof Ziad Mallat
Dr Meritxell Nus
Dr Helle Jørgensen
Dr Nicholas Evans
Dr Jonathan Weir-McCall
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