Cardiovascular disease is the major killer worldwide with Congenital Heart Disease affecting 1 in 100 live born babies in Australia. The del Monte-Nieto group is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms and developmental processes orchestrating normal heart development in embryos and the translation of this knowledge to better understand congenital and adult heart disease, and cardiac regeneration.
The understanding of the cellular and molecular processes normally happening during embryonic development that when dysregulated lead to disease will allow us to design efficient genetic screening methods and therapies to ameliorate disease sequelae including the process of cardiac regeneration after myocardial infarction.
Open positions in the del Monte-Nieto Group
PhD students
PhD positions available on projects related to the study of heart development, congenital heart disease models, heart regeneration and the development of image analysis and segmentation tools.
Click here to check if you are competitive for a Monash PhD scholarship and the deadlines for applications.
Contact Gonzalo del Monte Nieto (gonzalo.delmontenieto@monash.edu) for more information.
Follow Gonzalo del Monte-Nieto on Twitter
Group Members
Research Themes
- To study the molecular mechanisms and developmental processes controlling heart development.
- To understand the molecular and cellular etiology of Congenital Heart Disease.
- To study ECM composition/patterning during heart development, adulthood and disease/injury models.
- To develop computational models for the different developmental processes in the heart.
- To apply the knowledge generated from developmental biology to improve heart regeneration, organ-on-a-chip technologies and tissue engineering.
Featured Publications
| Authors | Title | Published In |
|---|---|---|
Chiang I K-N, Humphrey D, Mills R J, Kaltzis P, Saha D, Wu Z, Young P, Sim C-B; Davidson T, Hernandez-Garcia A, Scott D A, Porrello E R, Wong E, Hudson J E, Red-horse K, del Monte-Nieto G* & Francois M*. * co-corresponding author |
A Sox7-positive endothelial progenitors cell population establishes coronary arteries and instructs ventricular compaction. |
EMBO Reports. 2023 Aug 8:e55043. doi: 10.15252/embr.202255043. PMID: 37551717 (Q1; CiteScore: 11.0; CiteScore Rank: 28/335 in Genetics; IF: 8.8). |
Voges H K, Foster S R, Reynolds L, Parker B L, Devilée L, Quaife-Ryan G A, Fortuna P R J, Mathieson E, Fitzsimmons R, Lor M, Batho C, Friedman C E, Mizikovsky D, Francois M, Palpant N J, Needham E J, Peralta M, del Monte-Nieto G, Jones L K, Smyth I M, Mehdiabadi N R, Bolk F, Janbandhu V, Yao E, Harvey R P, Chong J J H, Elliott D A, Stanley E G, Wiszniak S, Schwarz Q, James D E, Mills R J, Porrello E R*, Hudson J E*. |
Vascular cells improve functionality of human cardiac organoids. |
Cell Reports. 2023 May 30;42(5):112322. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112322. Epub 2023 Apr 26. (Q1; CiteScore: 15.1; CiteScore Rank: 13/204 in General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; IF:9.99) |
Mohenska M, Tan NM, Tokolyi A, Furtado MB, Costa MW, Perry AJ, Hatwell-Humble J, van Duijvenboden K, Nim HT, Ji YMM, Charitakis N, Bienroth D, Bolk F, Vivien C, Knaupp AS, Powell DR, Elliott DA, Porrello ER, Nilsson SK, Del Monte-Nieto G, Rosenthal NA, Rossello FJ, Polo JM, Ramialison M. |
3D-cardiomics: A spatial transcriptional atlas of the mammalian heart. |
J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2022 Feb;163:20-32. doi:10.1016/j.yjmcc.2021.09.011. Epub 2021 Oct 5. PMID: 34624332 |
Gonzalo del Monte-Nieto and Richard Paul Harvey. |
Embryology of the Heart. In book: Skin and the Heart. |
Springer. 16 February 2021. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-54779-0_2. Book Chapter. |
Del Monte-Nieto G, Fischer JW, Gorski DJ, Harvey RP, Kovacic JC. |
Basic Biology of Extracellular Matrix in the Cardiovascular System, Part 1/4: JACC Focus Seminar. |
J Am Coll Cardiol. 2020 May 5;75(17):2169-2188. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2020.03.024. Review. |
del Monte-Nieto G*, Ramialison M, Adam AAS, Wu B, Aharonov A, D’Uva G, Bourke LM, Pitulescu ME, Chen H, de la Pompa JL, Shou W, Adams RH, Harten SK, Tzahor E, Zhou B and Harvey RP*. *Co-corresponding author. |
Control of cardiac jelly dynamics by NOTCH1 and NRG1 defines the building plan for trabeculation. |
Nature. 2018 May 17;557(7705):439-445. doi:Â 10.1038/s41586-018-0110-6. Epub 2018 May 9. PMID:29743679. |
More Publications
| Authors | Title | Published In |
|---|---|---|
Moradi Marjaneh M, Kirk E P, Patrick R, Alankerage D, Humphreys D T, del Monte-Nieto G, Cornejo-Paramo P, Janbandhu V, Doan T B, Dunwoodie S L, Wong, E S, Moran C, Martin I C A, Thomson P C, Harvey R P. |
Quantitative trait and transcriptome analysis of genetic complexity underpinning cardiac interatrial septation in mice using an advanced intercross line. |
eLife. 2023 Jun 5;12:e83606. doi: 10.7554/eLife.83606. (Q1; CiteScore: 11.6; CiteScore Rank: 21/204 in Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology; IF: 8.71). |
Chimenti I , Sattler S , del Monte-Nieto G and Forte E |
Fibrosis and Inflammation in Tissue Pathophysiology |
Frontiers in Physiology 2022 Jan. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2021.830683 |
Hulshoff MS*, Del Monte-Nieto G*, Kovacic J, Krenning G. *Co-first author. |
Non-coding RNA in endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition |
Cardiovascular Research. 2019 Oct 1;115(12):1716-1731. doi:10.1093/cvr/cvz211. PMID:31504268 |
Moreau JLM, Kesteven S, Martin EMMA, Lau KS, Yam MX1, O’Reilly VC, del Monte-Nieto G, Moon AM, Baldini A, Feneley MP, Harvey RP, Sparrow DB, Chapman G, Dunwoodie SL. |
Gene-environment interaction impacts on heart development and embryo survival |
Development. 2019 Feb 20. 146(4). doi: 10.1242/dev.172957. PMID:30787001. |
Conway JRW, Sean C, Warren SC, Herrmann D, Murphy KJ, Cazet AS, Vennin C, Shearer RF, Killen MJ, Magenau A, Melenec P, Pinese M, Nobis M, ZaratzianA, Boulghourjian A, Da Silva AM, del Monte-Nieto G, Adam ASA, Harvey RP, Haigh JJ, Wang Y, Croucher DR, Sansom OJ, Pajic M, Caldon E, Morton JP and Timpson P. |
Intravital imaging to monitor therapeutic response in moving hypoxic regions resistant to PI3K pathway targeting in pancreatic cancer. |
Cell Reports. 2018 June 12. 23(11):3312-3326. doi:Â 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.05.038. PMID: 29898401. |
Nobis M, Herrmann D, Warren SC, Kadir S, Leung W, Killen M, Magenau A, Lucas MC, Stevenson D, Reischmann N, Vennin C, Conway JRW, Boulghourjian A, Zaratzian A, Law AM, Gallego-Ortega D, Ormandy CJ, Walters SN, Grey ST, Bailey J, Chtanova T, Quinn J, Baldock P, Croucher P, Schwarz JP, Mrowinska A, Zhang L, Herzog H, Masedunskas A, Hardeman EC, Gunning PW, del Monte-Nieto G, Harvey RP, Pajic M, McGhee EJ, Johnsson AKE, Sansom OJ, Welch HCE, Morton JP, Matsuda M, Strathdee D, Anderson KI and Timpson P. |
A RhoA-FRET biosensor mouse for real-time intravital imaging of RhoA activity in normal tissue homeostasis and disease contexts. |
Cell Reports. 2017 October. 21(1):274-288. doi:Â 10.1016/j.celrep.2017.09.022. PMID: 28978480. |
Wang Y, Wu B, Lu P, Zhang D, Wu B, Varshney S, del Monte-Nieto G, Zhuang Z, Charafeddine R, Kramer AH, Sibinga NE, Frangogiannis NG, Kitsis RN, Adams RH, Alitalo K, Sharp DJ, Harvey RP, Stanley P, Zhou B. |
Uncontrolled angiogenic precursor expansion causes coronary artery anomalies in mice lacking Pofut1. |
Nature Communications. 2017 Sep 18;8(1):578. doi:Â 10.1038/s41467-017-00654-w. PMID: 28924218. |
Vennin C, Chin VT, Warren SC, Lucas MC, Herrmann D, Magenau A, Melenec P, Walters SN, del Monte-Nieto G, Conway JR, Nobis M, Allam AH, McCloy RA, Currey N, Pinese M, Boulghourjian A, Zaratzian A, Adam AA, Heu C, Nagrial AM, Chou A, Steinmann A, Drury A, Froio D, Giry-Laterriere M, Harris NL, Phan T, Jain R, Weninger W, McGhee EJ, Whan R, Johns AL, Samra JS, Chantrill L, Gill AJ, Kohonen-Corish M, Harvey RP, Biankin AV; Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APGI), Evans TR, Anderson KI, Grey ST, Ormandy CJ, Gallego-Ortega D, Wang Y, Samuel MS, Sansom OJ, Burgess A, Cox TR, Morton JP, Pajic M, Timpson P. |
Transient tissue priming via ROCK inhibition uncouples pancreatic cancer progression, sensitivity to chemotherapy and the onset of the metastatic niche. |
Science Translational Medicine. 2017 Apr 5;9(384). pii: eaai8504. doi:Â 10.1126/scitranslmed.aai8504. PMID: 28381539. |
Bourke LM*, del Monte-Nieto G*, Outhwaite JE, Bharti V, Pollock PM, Simmons DG, Adam A, Hur SS, Maghzal GJ, Whitelaw E, Stocker R, Suter CM, Harvey RP, Harten SK. *Co-first Author |
Loss of Rearranged L-Myc Fusion (RLF) results in defects in heart development in the mouse. |
Differentiation. 2016 Dec 5;94:8-20. doi: 10.1016/j.diff.2016.11.004. PMID: 27930960. |
MacGrogan D, D´Amato G, Travisano S, Martinez-Poveda B, Luxán G, del Monte-Nieto G, Sbroggio M, Gomez del Arco P, Gómez MJ, Zhou B, Redondo JM, de la Pompa JL. |
Sequential ligand-dependent Notch signalling activation regulates valve primordium formation and morphogenesis. |
Circulation Research. 2016 May 13;118(10):1480-97. doi:Â 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.115.308077. Epub 2016 Apr. PMID: 27056911. |
D’Amato G, Luxán G, del Monte-Nieto G, MartÃnez-Poveda B, Torroja C, Walter W, Bochter MS, Benedito R, Cole S, Martinez F, Hadjantonakis AK, Uemura A, Jiménez-Borreguero LJ and de la Pompa JL. |
Sequential Notch activation regulates ventricular chamber development. |
Nature Cell Biology. 2016 Jan; 18(1):7-20. doi: 10.1038/ncb3280. Epub 2015 Dec 7. PMID: 26641715. |
Harvey RP, Wystub-Lis K, del Monte-Nieto G, Graham RM, Tzahor E. |
Cardiac regeneration therapies – targeting Neuregulin 1 signalling. |
Heart, Lung and Circulation. 2016 Jan;25(1):4-7. doi: 10.1016/j.hlc.2015.08.014. Epub 2015 Sep 25. PMID: 26476583. |
del Monte G, Harvey RP. |
An endothelial contribution to coronary vessels. |
Cell. 2012 Nov 21;151(5):932-4. doi:Â 10.1016/j.cell.2012.11.004. PMID: 23178115. |
del Monte G, Casanova JC, Guadix JA, MacGrogan D, Burch JB, Perez-Pomares JM, de la Pompa JL. |
Differential Notch signalling in the epicardium is required for cardiac inflow development and coronary vessel morphogenesis. |
Circulation Research. 2011 Apr 1;108(7):824-36. doi:Â 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.110.229062. Epub 2011 Feb 10. PMID: 21311046. |
Luna-Zurita L, Prados B, Grego-Bessa J, Luxan G, del Monte G, Benguria A, Adams RH, Perez-Pomares JM, de la Pompa JL. |
Integration of a Notch-dependent mesenchymal gene program and Bmp2-driven cell invasiveness regulates murine cardiac valve formation. |
Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2010 Oct;120(10):3493-507. doi:Â 10.1172/JCI42666. Epub 2010 Sep 20. PMID: 20890042. |
Ferjentsik Z, Hayashi S, Dale JK, Bessho Y, Herreman A, De Strooper B, del Monte G, de la Pompa JL, Maroto M. |
Notch is a critical component of the mouse somitogenesis oscillator and is essential for the formation of the somites. |
PLoS Genetics. 2009 Sep;5(9):e1000662. doi:Â 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000662. Epub 2009 Sep 25. PMID: 19779553. |
del Monte G, Grego-Bessa J, Gonzalez-Rajal A, Bolos V, De La Pompa JL. |
Monitoring Notch1 activity in development: evidence for a feedback regulatory loop. |
Developmental Dynamics. 2007 Sep;236(9):2594-614. doi:Â 10.1002/dvdy.21246. PMID: 17685488. |
Grego-Bessa J, Luna-Zurita L, del Monte G, Bolos V, Melgar P, Arandilla A, Garratt AN, Zang H, Mukouyama YS, Chen H, Shou W, Ballestar E, Esteller M, Rojas A, Perez-Pomares JM, de la Pompa JL. |
Notch signaling is essential for ventricular chamber development. |
Developmental Cell. 2007 Mar;12(3):415-29. doi: 10.1016/j.devcel.2006.12.011. PMID:17336907. |
