Elisa Villalobos

Elisa Villalobos is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science, University of Edinburgh, with prior research experience at UT Southwestern Medical Center and the University of Chile. Her work bridges cardiovascular biology and metabolic disease research, focusing on molecular mechanisms of cardiac fibrosis and inflammation in obesity.

Her research interests center on primary cilia as cardiac mechanosensors and calcium signaling pathways in adipose tissue. Key investigations include polycystin-dependent regulation of fibroblast activity in heart failure, cGAS-mediated inflammatory responses in myocardial injury, and calcium sensing receptor modulation of adipocyte inflammation. This work reveals fundamental connections between cellular structures, signaling pathways, and disease pathogenesis.

Analysis of her 14 publications shows consistent progression from metabolic inflammation research (2011-2014) toward cardiovascular mechanisms (2015-2019), with increasing emphasis on translational aspects of heart failure. Her recent work in Nature and Circulation demonstrates significant contributions to understanding nitrosative stress in diastolic dysfunction and primary cilia in cardiac fibrosis.

Dr. Villalobos actively contributes to the academic community through editorial roles at Frontiers in Physiology and peer review for major cardiology journals. While not independently supervising students, she mentors junior researchers within collaborative projects funded by British Heart Foundation grants at the Centre for Cardiovascular Science, which provides state-of-the-art facilities for cardiovascular research including advanced imaging and molecular phenotyping platforms.