Title Promoter Affiliations Abstract "Integrated computer modelling of cardiorespiratory fitness for personalised risk profiling and heart failure prevention (iCAREFIT)" "Tatiana Kouznetsova" "Cardiology, Research Group for Rehabilitation in Internal Disorders, Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology" "Clinical exercise tests could improve the personalized risk profiling and management of cardiovascular disease. Yet, current practice only considers a limited selection of cardiopulmonary exercise indexes in isolation. To utilize the full value of clinical exercise testing data, we will apply advanced machine learning (ML) approaches on big data that has been collected/will be collected in patients at UZ Leuven (n=1800) and within the general population (FLEMENGHO cohort; n=650). We will develop integrative models that characterize personalized cardiorespiratory fitness profiling and its relation to subclinical stages of heart failure. These models will be further validated in an external cohort of about 3500 patients at varying cardiovascular risk provided by the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (USA). We will combine innovative immunometabolic profiling measured by an advanced -omics technique with integrative ML approaches to elucidate key pathways of inflammatory and metabolic stress associated with the cardiopulmonary response to exercise and subclinical heart dysfunction. This pioneering project will lead to novel cardiopulmonary exercise-based algorithms that enable more precise evaluation of cardiac health and boost the development of personalized exercise programs." "PRomoting Omics for the non-invasive Screening for Subclinical ARTerial Disease (PROSSART)" "Zhenyu Zhang" "Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology" "PROSSART focuses on asymptomatic individuals having stiff large arteries with altered central haemodynamics that increase the load on the heart and/or subclinical atherosclerotic alterations along the arterial tree. PROSSART is nested within FLEMENGHO, a family-based population study, and within uPROPHET, a cohort of over 350 heart transplant recipients. The project’s objective is to identify and validate novel urinary proteomic and circulating metabolomic biomarkers to screen for subclinical arterial disease long before irreversible cardiovascular complications occur. By combining proteomics, metabolomics and systems biology, PROSSART will highlight the potential of applying a precision medicine approach in the promotion of health by the timely prevention and management of arterial disease. PROSSART will thereby address the sustainability of health care in ageing populations in epidemiological transition by a strategic change from “curing” to “preventing” cardiovascular complications." "Defining the role of exercise testing and cardiac rehabilitation in the detection and prevention of early-stage heart failure: a roadmap to personalised profiling" "Tatiana Kouznetsova" "Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, Cardiology, Research Group for Rehabilitation in Internal Disorders" "The postdoc will help in a planned clinical study that aims to define the role of exercise testing and cardiac rehabilitation in the detection and prevention of early-stage heart failure. The postdoc will be the key person for the study preparation, patient recruitment, the data acquisition and post-processing, the biobanking and the data management related to the study. He will also continue analysing data from the Flemish Study on Environment, Genes and Health Outcomes, a large-scale population study directed by the Research Unit of Hypertension and Cardiovascular Epidemiology. He will also participate in ongoing and planned projects led by this research unit as well as in projects resulting from our interuniversity partnership with the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute (Stanford University, California, USA). From next academy year on, he will also supervise Master students in Medicine and co-supervise a PhD student. Furthermore, he will help writing grant applications."