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Grant recipient

Jacob Fog Bentzon

Functional Consequences of Smooth Muscle Cell Plasticity and Clonal Expansion in Atherosclerosis

Jacob Fog Bentzon says: “The development of atherosclerosis in arteries supplying the heart and brain is an important obstacle to living long and healthy lives. Most researchers today consider atherosclerosis an inflammatory disease driven by macrophages, but recent studies by others and us have shown that local smooth muscle cells participate much more abundantly in atherosclerotic plaques than previously thought. The majority of these cells have escaped detection because they lose normal smooth muscle characteristics and take on the appearance of other cell types. In the present study, we will explore the functional consequences of this mysterious cell population for atherosclerosis development. The goal is to find novel targets for therapy.”

Jacob Fog Bentzon
Associate Professor, Department of Clinical Medicine
Aarhus University