About
I am a postdoctoral researcher in the Cardiac Drug Discovery Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer. After finishing my BSc in Biomedical Sciences and MSc in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease at the Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands, I completed my PhD in the Cardiac Bioengineering Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer working with Prof James Hudson. The primary focus of my work was to better understand why the endotherm heart fails to regenerate after injury. Using human cardiac organoids, microscopy and a multi-omics approach, I studied the regulation of the cardiac cell cycle. Since finishing my PhD in November 2024, I have been working with Dr. Simon Foster in the Cardiac Drug Discovery Laboratory. Here, I am following my passion for fundamental science and understanding why cells/organs/tissues work the way they do. I am applying my skills in organoid culture, functional analysis and microscopy to improve our understanding of the dynamics of extracellular matrix remodeling, how this impacts cardiac function and vice versa under physiological and pathological conditions, including fibrosis. I am also working on setting up a cardiac panel for spatial proteomics to map the spatial cellular and ECM interactions in response to pathological stimuli.
Research Skills
- Stem cell culture and differentiation
- Human cardiac organoids
- Microscopy (live cell, fluorescence, confocal)
- Functional assays
- CRISPR Cas9 genome editing
- Spatial proteomics
Area of Interest
- Fundamental science
- Cardiac developmental biology
- Heart disease
Professional Associations
- International Society for Heart Research (ISHR)
- Queensland Cardiovascular Research Network (QCVRN)
- Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT)
Publications
Devilée LAC, Salama ABM, Miller JM, Reid JD, Ou Q, Baraka NM, Abou Farraj K, Jamal M, Nong Y, Rosengart TK, Andres D, Satin J, Mohamed TMA, Hudson JE, Abouleisa RRE. Pharmacological or genetic inhibition of LTCC promotes cardiomyocyte proliferation through inhibition of calcineurin activity. NPJ Regen Med. 2025 Jan 11;10(1):1. doi: 10.1038/s41536-025-00389-z. PMID: 39799185; PMCID: PMC11724930.
Mills RJ, Humphrey SJ, Fortuna PRJ, Lor M, Foster SR, Quaife-Ryan GA, Johnston RL, Dumenil T, Bishop C, Rudraraju R, Rawle DJ, Le T, Zhao W, Lee L, Mackenzie-Kludas C, Mehdiabadi NR, Halliday C, Gilham D, Fu L, Nicholls SJ, Johansson J, Sweeney M, Wong NCW, Kulikowski E, Sokolowski KA, Tse BWC, Devilée L, Voges HK, Reynolds LT, Krumeich S, Mathieson E, Abu-Bonsrah D, Karavendzas K, Griffen B, Titmarsh D, Elliott DA, McMahon J, Suhrbier A, Subbarao K, Porrello ER, Smyth MJ, Engwerda CR, MacDonald KPA, Bald T, James DE, Hudson JE. BET inhibition blocks inflammation-induced cardiac dysfunction and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Cell. 2021 Apr 15;184(8):2167-2182.e22. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.026. Epub 2021 Mar 16. PMID: 33811809; PMCID: PMC7962543.
Voges HK, Foster SR, Reynolds L, Parker BL, Devilée L, Quaife-Ryan GA, Fortuna PRJ, Mathieson E, Fitzsimmons R, Lor M, Batho C, Reid J, Pocock M, Friedman CE, Mizikovsky D, Francois M, Palpant NJ, Needham EJ, Peralta M, Monte-Nieto GD, Jones LK, Smyth IM, Mehdiabadi NR, Bolk F, Janbandhu V, Yao E, Harvey RP, Chong JJH, Elliott DA, Stanley EG, Wiszniak S, Schwarz Q, James DE, Mills RJ, Porrello ER, Hudson JE. Vascular cells improve functionality of human cardiac organoids. Cell Rep. 2023 May 30;42(5):112322. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112322. Epub 2023 Apr 26. PMID: 37105170.