Virginie Bito

Prof. Virginie Bito is a leading cardiovascular researcher at Hasselt University (UHasselt), jointly directing the CARDIOlab within BIOMED. Her work focuses on understanding and mitigating heart failure through innovative therapies targeting diabetes, myocardial infarction (MI), and chemotherapy-induced cardiotoxicity. She collaborates with Dr. Dorien Deluyker and a dynamic research team to explore mechanisms like stem cell therapy using atrial appendage-derived cells and cardioprotective nutritional supplements. Her lab emphasizes translational research, aiming to bridge preclinical models (costing up to €100,000) to clinical applications.

Key research areas include:

• Diabetes-induced cardiac dysfunction and exercise interventions
• Stem cell repair strategies post-MI
• Cardio-oncology, specifically mitigating chemotherapy effects

Her recent publications highlight breakthroughs in pyridoxamine’s cardioprotective role, biopolymer-based therapies, and advanced glycation end-product (AGE) impacts on cardiac cells. Funding priorities include expanding clinically relevant models to accelerate patient benefit.