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Professor Dunja Aksentijevic

Dunja

Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology and Metabolism, Wellcome Trust Career Re-Entry Fellow, Director of Education WHRI

Centre: Biochemical Pharmacology

Email: d.aksentijevic@qmul.ac.uk
Telephone: +44(0) 20 7882 5920

Profile

Dunja Aksentijevic is Professor of Cardiovascular Physiology and Metabolism at the William Harvey Research Institute, Queen Mary University of London. Dunja graduated from the University of Hull in 2004 with a BSc (Hons First Class) in Biomedical Science and was the recipient of the Faculty of Science Academic Scholarship. She was awarded the University of Hull Frederick Atkinson Prize Scholarship and NHS Renal Research Fund Fellowship for her doctoral studies to examine myocardial insulin resistance in chronic kidney disease. Immediately upon completion of her doctoral thesis in 2008, she joined the group of Prof Stefan Neubauer at the Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford.

Her first postdoctoral position focused on investigating the therapeutic potential of modulating myocardial energetics in heart failure. In 2013, she moved to King’s College London, The Rayne Institute, St Thomas Hospital as the senior research fellow in the laboratory of Prof Michael Shattock to study impact of sodium modulation on heart metabolism. In 2017 Dunja was appointed Lecturer in Physiology/Biochemistry at the School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London. In 2020, she joined William Harvey Research Institute (British Heart Foundation Accelerator Fellow) and in 2021 received her Wellcome Trust Career Development Fellowship. 

Current roles include Co-PI Barts Metabolism Network, Honorary Chair in Medical Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia; Academic Visitor University of Oxford, Honorary Research Fellowship, The Rayne Institute, King’s College London.

Awards and Honours

  • Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology  
  • Fellow of the Higher Education Academy
  • Fellow of the Institute of Biomedical Science
  • European Union METAHEART Cost Action Work Package 4 Lead
  • British Society for Cardiovascular Research, Elected Committee Member
  • International Academy of Sciences and Arts Bosnia and Herzegovina, Corresponding Member
  • Bosnian-Herzegovinian American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Corresponding Member
  • Queen Mary Education Excellence Award (Biomedical Science)
  • Queen Mary Faculty of Science and Engineering, Education Excellence Award
  • Teaching Excellence Award in Biomedical Science, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London

Contact

Research

Research group members (current and alumni)

Dr Megan Young; Dr Zenouska Ramchunder, Dr Ivana Iveljic; Sanushi Dambure, Olin Thoundayil Joseph Jerson, Fenn Cullen, Dr Loucia Karatzia, Dr Zorana Staka, Shing Hei Lam, Kimia Jarrah, Fariha Akter, Umar Hoque Chowdhury, Nayan Dhokia, Molly Horsfield

Summary

Heart failure affects more than 64 million people globally and remains a major clinical, societal, and economic burden. Despite significant advances in cardiovascular medicine, therapeutic options remain limited, particularly for patients with cardiometabolic disease.

Increasing evidence suggests that abnormalities in cardiac energetics and substrate utilisation are key drivers of heart failure progression, yet cardiac metabolism remains comparatively under-investigated. My research focuses on understanding how metabolic remodelling contributes to heart failure pathophysiology across a range of clinically relevant conditions, with the goal of identifying new metabolic-targeted therapeutic strategies.

My work spans type 2 diabetes, obesity, and chronic kidney disease, with particular focus on the roles of mitochondrial dysfunction, sodium dysregulation, inflammation and sex-specific responses in driving metabolic impairment. A complementary theme includes the use of non-model species biology (naked mole rats, bats) to uncover novel metabolic resilience pathways with translational relevance.

To explore these questions, my group combines integrated physiology with advanced in situ NMR spectroscopy (23Na, 31P, 13C, 1H) to quantify cardiac energetics, substrate utilisation, mitochondrial function, and sodium handling in vivo. These approaches enable mechanistic insight that bridges cellular biochemistry with whole-organ physiology.

Join the group

Opportunities: I welcome enquiries from highly motivated candidates interested in pursuing a PhD or postdoctoral research in my group. We are able to support self-funded or externally funded applicants (e.g., competitive fellowships, international scholarships, or industry-linked awards). Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact me with a CV and brief research statement.

Publications

  • Evans PC, Vilahur G, Kleinbongard P et al. (2026). Novel cardiovascular metabolic risk factor mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities.. nameOfConference


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Anderson S, Karlstaedt A, Young M et al. (2026). Targeting immunometabolic pathways with AZD1656 alleviates inflammation and metabolic dysfunction in type 2 diabetic cardiomyopathy. nameOfConference


  • Young M, Jarrah K, Dambure S et al. (2025). P1 Diltiazem alleviates cardiometabolic phenotype in type 2 diabetes independent of lowering elevated myocardial Nai. Poster


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Cullen F, Karlstaedt A, Drinkwater R et al. (2025). P26 Bat power-metabolic profiling of the Egyptian fruit bat Rousettus aegyptiacus reveals distinctive cardiac adaptations. Poster


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Dambure S, Young M, Cullen F et al. (2025). P4 Impact of dual SGLT1/2 inhibitor sotagliflozin on the cardiac genetic profile in cardiorenal heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Poster


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Rodrigo N, Aksentijevic D, Patel N et al. (publicationYear). Liraglutide-Driven Weight Loss Modulates Placental Remodeling in Obese Pregnancies in Mice. nameOfConference


  • Miljkovic JL, Burger N, Yu CS et al. (publicationYear). Simultaneous and sensitive quantification of protein and low molecular weight persulfides, polysulfides and H2S in biological samples. nameOfConference


  • Young M, Aastrup M, Patel N et al. (publicationYear). Altered systemic bioenergetic reserve in chronic kidney disease predisposes hearts to worse functional outcomes. nameOfConference


  • Young M, Aksentijevic D (2025). Impact of Cardiotoxicity on Cardiac Bioenergetics. nameOfConference


    QMRO: qmroHref
  • Iveljic I, Nurkanovic LA, Krdzalic A et al. (2025). Fluoropyrimidine adjuvant chemotherapy leads to long-term impact on coronary arteries, blood cell profile and iron in colorectal cancer survivors. nameOfConference


View profile publication page

Sponsors

 

Collaborators

Queen Mary University of London

UK

  • Prof Michael Murphy (University of Cambridge)
  • Prof Thomas Krieg (University of Cambridge)
  • Prof Milos Filipovic (University of Glasgow)
  • Prof Michael Shattock (King’s College London)
  • Dr Thomas Eykyn (King’s College London)
  • Prof Damian Tyler (University of Oxford)
  • Prof Lisa Heather (University of Oxford)
  • Prof Blanca Rodriguez (University of Oxford)

International

  • Dr Lana McClements (University of Technology, Sydney, Australia)
  • Dr Sarah Glastras (University of Sydney, Australia)
  • Prof Lejla Kapur Pojskić (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
  • Prof Adaleta Durmic (University of Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina)
  • Prof Jack Miller (University of Aarhus, Denmark) 
  • Prof Christoffer Laustsen (University of Aarhus, Denmark)
  • Prof Mélanie Paillard (INSERM, INRA, Université Claude Bernard Lyon-1, France)
  • Prof Luke O’Neill (Trinity College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Prof Nigel Bennett (University of Pretoria, South Africa)
  • Prof Anja Karlstaedt (Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre, Los Angeles, USA

News

Inaugural Lectures

  • Honorary Professorship Inaugural Lecture, Faculty of Medicine, University of Belgrade, Serbia, “Cardiac Energetics in the Age of Comorbidity: Sodium, Inflammation and Metabolic Dysfunction”, December 2025
  • Barts Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry Professorial Inauguration Lecture, “A metabolic tale of risk, resilience and repair”, July 2025 - Professor Aksentijevic Inaugural Lecture Recording - July 2025.mp4

Invited Speaker (World Congress)

  • Society for Heart and Vascular Metabolism 23rd Annual Scientific Sessions (2026), “Metabolic Imaging of the Failing Heart: From Energy Metabolism to Therapeutic Targets”,  Osaka, Japan
  • International Society for Heart Research, XXV World Congress (2025), “Cardiometabolic Adaptations for the enhancement of longevity”, Nara, Japan
  • International Society for Heart Research, XXIV World Congress (2022), “Intracellular sodium elevation and metabolic remodelling in cardiac hypertrophy” (Ion channel mechanisms and arrhythmias session), Berlin, Germany
  • Society for Heart and Vascular Metabolism 19th Annual Scientific Sessions (2022), “With a grain of salt: sodium elevation and metabolic remodelling in heart failure”, Seoul, South Korea   

Invited Speaker International meetings

  • MAC 2025 Advances in Mitochondrial Mechanisms and Therapy (2025), “Of Mice, Men, and Ions: Sodium, Calcium, and Mitochondrial Metabolism in HFpEF”, London UK
  • EU METAHEART COST Action Conference (2025), “Targeting the immune-cardiometabolic axis in the diabetic heart”, Riga, Latvia
  • Societe Francaise de Cardiologie, Printemps de la Cardiologie (2025), “Sodium Elevation and metabolic remodelling in heart Failure”, St Malo, France
  • EU METAHEART COST Action MC Meeting (2025), “With a grain of salt: Sodium elevation and metabolic remodelling in heart failure” Heraklion, Greece
  • European Society of Cardiology, Heart Failure Meeting (2025), “Cardiometabolic adaptations for the enhancement of longevity”, Vienna, Austria
  • Federation of European Physiological Societies, Scandinavian Physiological Society & Baltic Physiological Societies Physiology in Focus (2023), “Metabolic adaptations in non-model organisms yield cardiac pathophysiology insights” Tallinn, Estonia
  • 60th European Renal Association Congress (2023), “Cardiac metabolic remodelling in chronic kidney disease” Milan, Italy
  • 37th Annual Meeting of the International Society for Heart Research European Section (2023), “Immunometabolic cross-talk in the diabetic heart”, Porto, Portugal
  • Australian Physiological Society and Australian Society for Biophysics Annual Meeting, (2022) “Strange species-specific sugar metabolic adaptations yield cardiac pathophysiology insights”, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia

Keynote Speaker

  • University of Oslo International Workshop (2022), “Targeting mitochondria in cardiovascular disease”, Mitochondria in heart failure: Causality Dilemma, Oslo, Norway

Invited Speaker UK Meetings

  • British Society for Cardiovascular Research Autumn Meeting (2025), “Sugar, sex and cells: unpacking metabolic mechanisms in diabetic cardiomyopathy”, London
  • British Society for Cardiovascular Research 50th Anniversary Meeting (2023), “Immunometabolic cross-talk in the diabetic heart”, Oxford
  • British Cardiovascular Society Centenary Meeting/British Society for Cardiovascular Research, (2022), “Intracellular sodium elevation and metabolic remodelling in cardiac hypertrophy”, Manchester

Academic seminars/Visiting Speaker

  • Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité (2025), “The impact of dysregulated metabolism on cardiovascular function” Berlin, Germany
  • University of Louvain, (2024), “The impact of dysregulated metabolism on cardiovascular function” Brussels, Belgium
  • University of Cambridge Cardiovascular Seminar Series (2023), “The impact of dysregulated metabolism on cardiovascular function”, Cambridge
  • Kings College London, The Rayne Institute Seminar Series (2023), “Evolution and physiology of the naked mole rat- why don’t they get cardiovascular disease?”, London
  • University of Alberta, Pharmacology Seminar Series, Department of Pharmacology (2023), “Cardiac metabolic remodelling in heart failure”, Alberta, Canada

International Interviews

Webinars

Teaching

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