Physicist Elen Tolstik Conducts Research for the Heart

Dortmund, 11th February 2021

There are around 1,400 kilometers between Minsk, home of Elen Tolstik, postdoc at ISAS, and the institute's headquarters in Dortmund. Her way to the city in the Ruhr area led the mother of two young children first to Jena for her doctorate before she came to ISAS in 2018. Since then, the physicist has been working in the cardiovascular pharmacology group.

Search for the molecular fingerprint

Tolstik is researching biomarkers with which common diseases such as cardiovascular diseases can be detected earlier and better treated. To do this, she uses vibrational spectroscopic imaging and high-resolution microscopy. With these two instruments, the scientist examines lipids and proteins in cells and tissues of healthy and sick mice. How many of these fats and proteins are present when and where in a sample provide - as a molecular fingerprint - information about the cause and course of the disease. The animals' therapy and the analysis of the local effects of the drugs in their body are also part of Tolstik's work.

The 36-year-old's research is not only important for the quality of life of people with cardiovascular diseases. Her scientific results help to better understand and treat other diseases with similar deposits of proteins and lipids in the future.

Elen Tolstik forscht als Physikerin nach Biomarkern bei Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen.

© ISAS

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