Sanjay Sinha
British Heart Foundation (BHF) Senior Research Fellow and a Professor in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the University of Cambridge
Email: ss661@cam.ac.uk
Laboratory: Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre
Departmental Affiliation: Medicine
Biography
Sanjay Sinha is a British Heart Foundation (BHF) Senior Research Fellow and a Professor in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at the University of Cambridge. He completed medical training in Cambridge, followed by cardiology clinical training and a PhD in Manchester. Dr Sinha then carried out post-doctoral studies in the USA with Prof Gary Owens on smooth muscle biology before establishing an independent group at Cambridge. He is also a Consultant in Cardiology and he combines his research work with clinical duties at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, where he treats patients with a wide variety of cardiovascular diseases.
Research
The Sinha lab’s overall aim is to develop new treatments for cardiovascular diseases, using their expertise in cardiovascular development, regeneration and disease modelling.
They have pioneered the generation of embryonic lineage-specific vascular smooth muscle cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells, using chemically defined conditions. They have utilised this system to model genetically triggered aortopathies, such as Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes. These “disease-in-a-dish” models are being used to understand the pathobiology of these conditions and to screen for new treatments.
Additionally, they are they are generating a detailed multiomic and spatial atlas of human heart development and modelling key developmental niches and events in vitro using hESC-based 3D system to define key regulatory mechanisms in humans.
Finally, they are testing the regenerative potential of hESC-derived epicardium and other cardiovascular cell types for heart repair after myocardial infarction, either through direct injection or in the form of an in vitro generated myocardial “patch”.
GROUP MEMBERS:
Johannes Bargehr
Lottie Grey-Wilson
Peter Holt
Aishwarya Jacob
Vincent Knight-Schrijver
Maria Koehne
Jonathan Lee
Franklin Lo
Laura Nicastro
Deborah Passey
Carrie Shi
Beatrice Waller
Anna Pullinger
Alex Petchey
Deeti Shetty
Aminder Singh
