Dr Svetlana Mastitskaya
MSci, PhD
Current positions
Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine
Bristol Medical School (THS)
Contact
Press and media
Many of our academics speak to the media as experts in their field of research. If you are a journalist, please contact the University’s Media and PR Team:
Biography
I trained as a stem cell biologist in Belarus before moving to UCL for postdoctoral work that progressively shaped my interest in the brain-heart axis: first in central autonomic circuits and cardiovascular reflex processing, then in vagus nerve anatomy and selective stimulation in the Medical Physics Department. I won a Marie Curie Individual Fellowship to work with Professor Alex Gourine on the neural mechanisms of cardioprotection, and later a BHF Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship with Professor David Attwell to study cardiac pericyte biology - the cells where much of that protection turns out to be executed.
In 2024 I joined Bristol Medical School, where I run my own research programme and teach on the MSc programmes in Translational Cardiovascular Medicine and Clinical Perfusion Science. Together with Dr Elisa Avolio, I co-lead the Cardiac Pericytes group, combining Elisa's expertise in molecular medicine with my own in in vivo physiology. Close collaboration with Professor Raimondo Ascione drives our translational projects on coronary microvascular disease and cardiac regeneration. Wider collaborations across Bristol span cardiac electrophysiology and the neural control of cardiovascular and metabolic homeostasis.
Research interests
My research group studies brainstem and hypothalamic circuits that govern cardiovascular and metabolic homeostasis, and the autonomic and humoral pathways through which they communicate with the heart and peripheral tissues.
We have shown that activation of vagal preganglionic neurones reduces myocardial infarct size and preserves ventricular function in heart failure. At the microvascular level, this protection is mediated by GLP-1 acting on cardiac pericytes: GLP-1 receptor activation opens ATP-sensitive K⁺ channels, maintaining coronary blood flow after ischaemia.
Current work spans three themes: how central circuits coordinate systemic tissue resilience beyond the heart; autonomic-vascular crosstalk in 3D neurovascular unit platforms; and pericyte-mediated coronary microvascular dysfunction in cardiometabolic disease and ageing, where restoring autonomic tone may rescue the cardiac neurovascular unit.
The group combines in vivo cardiac physiology, transgenic mouse models of diabetes and Alzheimer's disease, Ca²⁺ imaging and optogenetics, ex vivo perfused heart preparations with live capillary imaging, and patient-derived human cell platforms.
Our goal is to understand how the autonomic nervous system shapes cardiovascular health, and to translate that understanding into interventions for patients with cardiac-neurological comorbidity.
Publications
Recent publications
14/02/2026GLP-1 activates KATP channels in coronary pericytes as the effector of brain-gut-heart signalling mediating cardioprotection
Nature Communications
The causative role of amyloidosis in the cardiac complications of Alzheimer's disease
Journal of Physiology
Glial cells in the heart
The Journal of Physiology
Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Links Ingestion, Homeostasis, and the Heart
Comprehensive Physiology
