Stefan van Duijvenboden

Research project title:  Exploring the mediating influence of vagal tone in the association between physical activity and cardiovascular disease

Research summary 

My main research interest is the neurological control of the heart. An increasing amount of evidence suggests that autonomic dysfunction plays a key role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this fellowship, I aim to drive forward our understanding by studying how variations in physical activity and the autonomic nervous system are associated with cardiovascular disease. As part of my fellowship, I will bring together previously unlinked cardiovascular activities across Oxford to develop a new independent programme of research to use wearable technology.

Neurological control of the heart is a highly dynamic process. I believe wearable cardiac monitors provide a promising avenue to study these dynamics by obtaining continuous measurements of physical and cardiac activity recorded during longer periods in large cohorts in real world free-living environments. As a researcher with a background in technical medicine and biomedical engineering, I am very interested in developing methodologies to unlock these features to better understand the mechanisms and clinical consequences of autonomic nervous activity. The wearable group from Prof. Aiden Doherty has extensive expertise in developing reproducible methods for analysing wearable sensor data in large-scale health studies, providing an ideal place environment to conduct my fellowship and establish an expert working group in wearable sensors, cardiovascular disease, and cardiac autonomic function.