Dr Mariana Fernandez Caggiano

Profile

Mariana is an Intermediate British Heart Foundation Research Fellow at the William Harvey Research Institute, where she leads innovative research on cardiac metabolism. She holds a BSc in Biology and a PhD in Biomedicine from the University of A Coruña. After completing her PhD, Dr. Fernandez Caggiano gained valuable experience as a research associate at the School of Cardiovascular Medicine & Sciences at King’s College London. In 2019, she joined the William Harvey Research Institute at Queen Mary University of London. In addition to her research, Mariana is passionate about teaching and mentoring. She supervises research projects at Queen Mary University and designs training programs for PhD students, while also engaging in STEM outreach initiatives to inspire the next generation of scientists.

Research

Dr. Mariana Fernandez-Caggiano’s research focus on cardiac metabolism, with a particular attention on the role of mitochondrial function in heart disease. Her work focusses on the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC), a critical regulator of pyruvate entry into mitochondria. Her research shown that the loss of MPC contributes to detrimental hypertrophic remodelling by diverting glucose-derived carbon away from mitochondrial energy production and towards the pentose phosphate pathway. This shift impairs cardiac function and accelerates the progression to heart failure. A key finding of her work is that preserving MPC1/2 expression in cardiomyocytes under conditions of pressure overload can prevent the onset of heart failure. This discovery opens the door to potential therapeutic strategies aimed at targeting the signalling pathways that regulate MPC expression.

Key Publications

1. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Eaton P. Heart failure-emerging roles for the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Apr;28(4):1149-1158
2. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Kamynina A, Francois AA, Prysyazhna O, Eykyn TR, Krasemann S, Crespo-Leiro MG, Vieites MG, Bianchi K, Morales V, Domenech N, Eaton P. Mitochondrial pyruvate carrier abundance mediates pathological cardiac hypertrophy. Nat Metab. 2020 Nov;2(11):1223-1231 (Accompanying Editorial)
3. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Schröder E, Cho HJ, Burgoyne J, Barallobre-Barreiro J, Mayr M, Eaton P. Oxidant-induced Interprotein Disulfide Formation in Cardiac Protein DJ-1 Occurs via an Interaction with Peroxiredoxin 2. J Biol Chem. 2016 May 6;291(19):10399-410
4. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Prysyazhna O, Barallobre-Barreiro J, De Oliveira E, Yin X, Calviño R, Aldama G, Mayr M, Eaton P, Doménech N. Elevated mitochondrial pyruvate carrier expression mediates tissue viability in surviving myocardium in the infarct border zone. Mol Cell Proteomics. 2016 Jan;15(1):246-55
5. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Barallobre-Barreiro J, Rego-Pérez I, Crespo-Leiro M, Paniagua MJ, Grillé Z, Blanco F, Doménech N. Mitochondrial DNA haplogroup H as a risk factor for idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy in Spanish population. Mitochondrion. 2013 Jul; 13(4):263-8
6. Fernandez-Caggiano M, Barallobre-Barreiro J, Rego-Pérez I, Crespo M, Grillé Z, Blanco F, Doménech N. Mitochondrial haplogroups H and J: risk and protective factor for ischemic cardiopathy. Plos One. 2012;7(8)
7. Lopez-Vazquez P, Fernandez-Caggiano M, Barge-Caballero E, Barge-Caballero G, Couto-Mallon D, Grille-Cancela Z, Blanco-Canosa P, Paniagua-Martin MJ, Enriquez-Vazquez D, Vazquez-Rodriguez JM, Domenech N, Crespo-Leiro MG. Front. Cardiovasc. Med. 2024 March. Vol 11 https://doi.org/10.3389/fcvm.2024.1349417
8. De Nicola GF, Bassi R, Nichols C, Fernandez-Caggiano M, Golforoush PA, Thapa D, Anderson R, Martin ED, Verma S, Kleinjung J, Laing A, Hutchinson JP, Eaton P, Clark J, Marber MS. The TAB1-p38α complex aggravates myocardial injury and can be targeted by small molecules. JCI Insight. 2018 Aug 23;3(16):e121144
9. Barallobre-Barreiro J, Didangelos A, Schoendube FA, Drozdov I, Yin X, Fernandez-Caggiano M, Willeit P, Puntmann VO, Aldama-López G, Shah AM, Doménech N, Mayr M. Proteomics analysis of cardiac extracellular matrix remodeling in a porcine model of ischemia/reperfusion injury. Circulation. 2012 Feb 14;125(6):789-802

Collaborators

External

• Damian Tyler. Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance
• Kyle McCommis. Saint Louis University School of Medicine
• Dr Marisa Crespo Leiro. Heart Transplant Unit A Coruña Hospital
• Dr Nieves Domenech. Biobank A Coruña Hospital
• Friederike Cuello University Medical Center Hamburg