Yigal M. Pinto

Dr. Yigal M. Pinto completed medical school and cardiology residency at Groningen University in the Netherlands. There he also started his experimental work on the molecular genetics and biology of cardiomyopathy and heart failure. He received training as a research fellow and postdoc in molecular approaches to heart research at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston (USA) and at the Free University and Max-Delbrueck Center in Berlin (Germany). After finishing his training as a cardiologist, he was staff cardiologist and Professor of Cardiology at the University of Maastricht (2001-2008) until he joined the University of Amsterdam to lead the department of Experimental Cardiology in conjunction with his clinical practice in cardiology focusing on heart failure. He initiated and executed several prospective clinical trials on heart failure management.

In 2004, his scientific work led to the discovery of galectin-3 as a novel biomarker for heart failure which eventually led to galectin-3 being the second biomarker approved by the FDA for heart failure in 2010. This exemplifies his passion to bring basic biologic insights to clinical concepts and applications. In recent years his group has focused on RNA biology and uncovered a number of novel mechanisms in relation to microRNAs and recently circular RNAs. His h-index is 67, and he currently coordinates national consortia that aim to translate novel insight in RNA biology towards clinical therapies for patients with cardiomyopathies.