Dr. Nils Bömer received his PhD from the Leiden University in the Netherlands. During his PhD at the Department of Molecular Epidemiology at the Leiden University Medical Centre, he used functional genomics (functional follow-up of genetic associations) as a tool to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that underlie the development and progression of osteoarthritis (OA). His work focused on the development of specialized 3D-chondrogenic cell models for OA research, primarily to investigate the role of intra-cellular thyroid hormone herein, and specialized animal-models.
As a Postdoctoral researcher at the Experimental Cardiology department he focuses on translation of clinical observations towards in vitro disease modelling using hPSCs, to identify key disease drivers and their mechanisms in the development of heart failure.
Currently, Nils is establishing his own line of research on selenium, selenoproteins and heart failure. His translational research line is focusing on synergy between lifestyle interventions and treating HF. The pathophysiological mechanisms affected by Se deficiency are explored in depth using both clinical/biomarker studies and state-of-the-art 3D tissue engineering of human heart tissues.