Angelika Svetlove is a PhD student at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences, Göttingen, whose project focuses on understanding the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 on cardiac function. Via ISIDORe, she successfully applied for access to the Elettra Synchrotron at Euro-BioImaging’s Node in Trieste. Using their Phase Contrast imaging, she was able to quantify the structural changes caused by infection, including in ventricular wall thickness, lumen volume, and the state of the heart valves. High resolution CT scans took the analysis to a further level of detail, providing information on muscle fibre orientation, and the occlusion of the micro-coronary vessels. From these data, she was able to make a detailed 3D reconstruction, allowing then to zoom in on precise areas of pathology for high-resolution two-photon microscopy. Image analysis, comparing normal and diseased tissues is ongoing, and promises to give new insight into the effects of viral infection on the heart, that could only be obtained by this combination of imaging techniques available in Euro-BioImaging‘s cutting-edge facilities.
