DrDaria Kostyunina

I am an Imperial College Research Fellow since 2024 in the Vascular Section at the National Heart and Lung Institute. My research focuses on how biological sex (sex hormones and sex chromosomes) shapes vascular function and dysfunction across health and disease. I have particular expertise in sex differences in vascular physiology. Methodologically, my group integrates advanced in vitro and -omics approaches, including organ-on-chip platforms to dissect cell-specific and sex-specific signalling pathways.

My long-term vision is to build an internationally recognised research programme that advances women’s health and reshapes how sex differences are incorporated into experimental and translational science. I serve as a co-lead of the Women’s Health Task Force within the PVRI.

I am actively building my research group and am looking for keen students and postdoctoral researchers to join. I enjoy working in collaborative, interdisciplinary environments and take pride in clear communication and contributing to a positive research culture.

BACKGROUND

I completed my PhD at University College Dublin in Prof. Paul McLoughlin’s laboratory, where I developed a novel experimental approach to study hypoxic responses of human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells under physiological shear stress. Using this system, I identified proteins whose hypoxic responses were altered under flow conditions but not detected using standard static cultures (PMID: 36730645). Importantly, applying this physiologically relevant model revealed intrinsic sex differences in human pulmonary endothelial cells both at baseline and in response to hypoxia (PMID: 38047313), highlighting the critical importance of incorporating sex as a biological variable in vascular research.

As part of my MSc training, I undertook a research placement at Aarhus University (Denmark) in Prof. Vladimir Matchkov’s laboratory, where I gained expertise in electrophysiology. There, I demonstrated that the contribution of chloride ions to arterial smooth muscle cell function declines during postnatal maturation (PMID: 33203943). Earlier, during my BSc at Lomonosov Moscow State University in Prof. Olga Tarasova’s laboratory, I worked extensively with in vivo models of cardiovascular disease and isolated arteries. This work showed that maternal hypothyroidism during pregnancy has long-lasting, detrimental effects on vascular function in adult offspring (PMID: 28017871; PMID: 28794003), strengthening my long-standing interest in developmental and sex-specific determinants of vascular health.