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Dr Svetlana Mastitskaya is Senior Lecturer in Cardiovascular Regenerative Medicine at Bristol Medical School (Translational Health Sciences) at the University of Bristol, where she also holds a British Heart Foundation Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship. She holds an MSci in Immunology (2003) from the International Sakharov Environmental University and a PhD in Cell Biology (2009) from the Belarusian Medical Academy for Post-Graduate Education. Her research examines neural mechanisms of cardioprotection, autonomic regulation of the heart, coronary microcirculation, and the interactions between the brain, heart, and gut mediated by the vagus nerve, with a particular focus on the role of cardiac pericytes in regulating blood flow and mediating no-reflow after myocardial ischaemia.
Dr Mastitskaya leads a research group that employs in vivo physiology, transgenic models, optogenetics, calcium imaging, and human cell platforms to investigate central circuits governing cardiovascular and metabolic homeostasis and their translation to interventions for cardiac-neurological comorbidities. Key recent publications include the 2026 paper in Nature Communications on GLP-1 activation of KATP channels in coronary pericytes as the effector of brain-gut-heart signalling for cardioprotection, as well as work on glial cells in the heart and the role of amyloidosis in cardiac complications of Alzheimer’s disease. She has received the BHF Intermediate Basic Science Research Fellowship (2021), a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship (2016–2018), and awards including the European Society of Cardiology Best Poster Presentation (2016) and American Physiological Society CNS Section Research Recognition Award (2016). She accepts PhD students and contributes to invited talks and collaborative projects in cardiovascular neuroscience.
Explore the University of Bristol's groundbreaking study on how semaglutide and GLP-1 drugs could prevent fatal no-reflow complications after heart attacks, advancing UK cardiovascular research.
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