Dr Dumitriu joined Cardiovascular Sciences at the University of Birmingham in 2020. From 2008, she was a Reader at St. George’s, University of London, where she lead the Cardiovascular Immunology research group in the Cardiology Clinical Academic group, Molecular and Clinical Sciences Research Institute. She secured competitive research funding and set up a patient-oriented research programme on the immune cells that regulate the complex inflammatory networks underlying atherosclerosis and atrial fibrillation with a view to applying this knowledge for targeted immunomodulation in cardiovascular disorders. Other research areas included checkpoint inhibitors/costimulatory molecules and angiogenesis in cancer. This research resulted in a number of publications (Cardiovascular Research 2019, Frontiers in Immunology 2019, European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Pharmacotherapy 2016, Circulation 2015, British Journal of Cancer 2015, Circulation Research 2012) and presentations at international scientific conferences and public engagement events.

During her postdoctoral work at Imperial College London (2007-8) and at the MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh (2006-7) she worked on regulatory T cells (Treg) in animal models of autoimmune disorders and on Treg induction in lung cancer.

She was awarded her PhD in Immunology at the San Raffaele DIBIT Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy in 2005. Her PhD thesis on HMGB1 release from dendritic cells and its role in T cell activation led to seminal publications and was awarded the PBI International Prize by the Italian Society of Immunology.

Dr Dumitriu has a long standing research interest in inflammation and immunomodulation in cardiovascular diseases and chronic inflammatory disorders.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide and atherosclerosis is a major cause of cardiovascular disease. Innate and adaptive immune cells (such as T cells, regulatory T cells) infiltrate atherosclerotic plaques and influence plaque development and progression. Treatments that specifically target immune cells in atherosclerosis are not currently available. Dr Dumitriu’s research investigates the mechanisms underlying inflammation in atherosclerosis and other cardiovascular and chronic inflammatory diseases and seeks to identify new therapeutic targets. This research has translational applications such as improving the risk stratification, selection into clinical trials, management and outcomes of patients with cardiovascular and inflammatory disorders.

Dr Dumitriu’s research employs several techniques: multi-colour flow-cytometry, cell-sorting, analysis of effector and regulatory T-cell function, transcriptome profiling, immunohistochemistry, confocal microscopy, etc.