Affiliation: University of Bradford, School of Chemistry and Biosciences

Dr. Kirsten Riches-Suman is a Lecturer in Biomedical Science at the University of Bradford. She completed her PhD in Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Leeds in 2008, under the supervision of Dr. Karen Porter and the late Prof. Chris Peers. Her project identified molecular mechanisms underpinning the impairment of cardiac fibroblast function following myocardial infarction. Following this, Kirsten continued her research at Leeds examining the influence of disorders such as type 2 diabetes and abdominal aortic aneurysm on the behaviour of multiple primary vascular cell types. In 2015 she accepted a lectureship at the University of Bradford to start her independent career.

The focus of Kirsten’s laboratory is dissecting the changes that occur in the vascular system with type 2 or gestational diabetes, how this contributes to heart disease, and identifying new therapeutic targets that may help to counteract this. Through collaboration with clinicians, all the work in Kirsten’s laboratory is performed on primary human smooth muscle and endothelial cells. She has recently started a parallel program of work assessing how diabetes affects the small microvessels in the skin and how this impacts impaired wound healing in these patients.

Alongside her research, Kirsten is passionate about addressing the gender gap in science and is involved in a number of initiatives to increase recruitment, retention, and recognition of women and girls in STEM.