CV Science

Pierre Sicard PhD, HDR in Cardiovascular physiopathology

Course and current status

I obtained from the University of Burgundy, a PhD in Cardiovascular physiology (under the supervision of Pr ROCHETTE) in October 2007. During my PhD I studied the interplay between oxidative stress, hypertension and their consequences on the heart. We published four publications from my PhD work in peer review journals (e.g. British Journal of Pharmacology, American journal of hypertension) and we have confirmed the major importance of oxidative stress during cardiovascular pathology. On top of this, I have accumulated three years of experience in clinical research in cardiology, which has given me the opportunity to work closely with cardiologists, biologists and bioengineers.

In November 2007, I joined Michael MARBER’s group at King’s College London for my first postdoctoral position. My aim was to study the importance of p38 MAPK isoforms during myocardial infarction. In addition, we discovered a new biomarker (MYBP-c) for the early detection of myocardial infarction in patient.

In 2011, I obtained 3 grants from different French research foundations (310Keuros) and took the opportunity to develop my own project at the Institute of Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases in Toulouse, France. The aim of this bench to bedside study was to determine the potential contribution of Gadd45 proteins in post-infarction remodeling. To do so, I developed a number of specific experimental models (e.g. adult cardiomyocytes isolation and culture, Langendorff perfusion, PV-loop analysis, echocardiography and speckle tracking using the Vevo2100, in an in vivo model of myocardial infarction in mice. Following this work.

Since 2016, I hold a permanent position at INSERM Montpellier (PhyMedExp Lab) as a research engineer. I am in charge of the ultrasound/photoacoustic facility (Vevo LAZR-X). I obtained my Habilitation à Diriger des Recherche in 2024.

Scientific summary

My main scientific interest is focused on experimental model of heart failure and new imaging modality using photoacoustic and high resolution ultrasound. I am in charge of the ultrasound/photoacoustic facility (Vevo LAZR-X) at IPAM/Biocampus (Iso9001; France Life Imaging; IBISA; France BioImaging) https://www.ipam.cnrs.fr/

Actual research projects as a principal investigator: 

•  Brain-Heart interaction: Oxygen saturation mapping by photoacoustic and 4D speckle tracking (Coll. Dr Craig GOERGEN Lab. Purdue University, USA 

Leyba, K et al. Acta Physiol (Oxf). 2023 Jun;238(2):e13933. doi: 10.1111/apha.13933

_{Salvas JP; et al. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2023 Apr 12;PP . doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2023.3265800}

_{David H et al. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 2021 7:615507 doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2020.615507}

_{Sicard, p et al. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2019 doi: 10.1152/ajpheart.00573.2018}

• Nanoparticles and cardioprotection (Coll. UFMG, Brazil)

_{Borges GSM et al. AAPS PharmSciTech. 2023 Mar 14;24(3):79. doi: 10.1208/s12249-023-02531-w.}

_{Lages EB, et al. Biomed Pharmacother. 2021 Dec;144:112373. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2021.112373.}

• Lebetin and cardioprotection (Coll. Sorbonne université, Institut Pasteur de Tunis)