Yvan Devaux, PhD, FESC, FAHA, Head of Cardiovascular Research Unit at the Luxembourg Institute of Health
Yvan Devaux, PhD, FESC, FAHA, Head of Cardiovascular Research Unit at the Luxembourg Institute of Health
Biography
Yvan Devaux has obtained his PhD in Health and Biological Sciences in 2001. He has more than 20 years of research in molecular diagnostics and is the leader of the Cardiovascular Research Unit of the Luxembourg Institute of Health. His main research interest and expertise is the discovery and validation of novel RNA biomarkers and therapeutic targets of brain and heart diseases. Addressing complex diseases requires a systemic approach, hence his goal to tackle brain-heart interactions, considering that "A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination" (Nelson Mandela, April 1st, 1976). As his research focus is translational and he believes that collaboration is key, one of his professional goals is to bring together complementary expertise from clinicians, basic researchers, bioinformaticians, artificial intelligence experts, computational biologists, health economics and social sciences and humanities experts, as well as industrial partners towards the satisfaction of unmet medical needs. Dr Devaux’s team has developed and extensively validated biomarker discovery pipelines based on deep RNA sequencing, bioinformatics approaches, complex statistics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. He and his team were among the first to show associations between circulating levels of microRNAs, non-coding RNAs, or circular RNAs and cardiovascular and brain diseases such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, cardiac arrest, Parkinson’s disease. His research currently focuses on another level of complexity of the regulation of gene expression, represented by epitranscriptomics marks or RNA modifications (chemical, splicing, editing). Yvan Devaux is acquainted with coordinating large research projects and international consortia such as the CardioRNA and AtheroNET COST Action networks with 500+ members from 36 European and partner countries. He is active in several editorial, scientific and industrial boards and policy networks. He is a member of the Luxembourg Plan for Cardiovascular and Neurological Diseases, a Fellow Member of the Sciences Section of the Grand Ducal Institute of Luxembourg, a Fellow of the American Heart Association and a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology. He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed scientific articles and has a Scopus H-index of 43.
Interview
NanoSphere: Tell us a bit about yourself—your background, journey, and what led you to where you are today.
Yvan: Although I initially wanted to do research in plants, years ago, I ended up working in human health sector. My interest for RNA started when I was a post-doc in the United States, doing macroarray to study gene expression in pulmonary disease. With the advancement and miniaturization of research tools, macroarrays became microrarrays, which were subsequently replaced or supplemented by non-targeted RNA sequencing techniques. These techniques have greatly evolved in recent years with the development of single-cell RNA sequencing, spatial sequencing or direct sequencing which now allows to study epitranscriptomic marks, a major focus of my current research. My interest for the heart-brain axis became obvious when I realized that patients with neurological problems have a greater risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
NanoSphere: Could you explain to our readers what RNA biomarkers are and why they are so promising for both heart and brain diseases? How do RNA biomarkers fit into theranostics—the fusion of therapy and diagnostics concept, and how close are we to clinical applications? What are the biggest hurdles in validating RNA biomarkers for real-world clinical use?
Yvan: Precision or personalized medicine in cardiovascular and brain diseases is still at its infancy. This is partly due to the difficulty of risk stratifying patients because it is either very invasive or impossible to access cardiac or brain tissues to understand what is dys-functioning and how to treat patients. A biomarker is a molecule that reflects the state of a disease and that can be used to risk stratify patients. Blood is a non-invasive source of biomarkers. Biomarkers can be proteins, metabolites, lipids or RNA molecules. Blood RNAs are easily detectable and reflect disease progression, hence their potential as biomarkers for both heart and brain diseases. The concept of “theranostics” can be understood as a combination of therapeutics with diagnostics. In theranostics, an abnormal change in blood levels of a biomarker will be used to identify patients at high risk of developing symptoms but who will benefit from specific treatment restoring normal levels of the biomarker. The use of RNA for theranostics is highly promising, yet still mostly at a research stage. We anticipate that RNA biomarkers and theranostics will reach clinical application within next few years, once major hurdles such as reproducibility, specificity, efficacy, safety, cost-effectiveness, and adoptability by end-users, will be solved. Nanomedicine and nanoparticle carriers which show great promise to shuttle RNA molecules to their desired site of action in the body will certainly help solving the issues of efficacy, specificity and safety. These challenges are addressed through our networking activities, which are presented in the next question.
NanoSphere: You have played leading roles in COST Actions like CardioRNA and AtheroNET. What impact have these networks had on advancing RNA and cardiovascular research in Europe?
Yvan: Being relatively isolated in a small country such as Luxembourg, where only one lab is active in cardiovascular research, I decided to extend my partnerships to other countries. COST Action networks revealed to be very useful for this endeavor, offering funding to organize meetings, training schools, scientific missions between partner labs, and so one. Starting with CardioRNA COST Action network in 2018, we followed up with AtheroNET COST Action network in 2022. The network has grown a lot with more than five hundred members Worldwide. Leading these networks was not only a boost for my career but also allowed advancing RNA research for cardiovascular disease. Scientific articles, position papers, reviews or technical notes published by the network have undoubtedly helped moving towards clinical application of RNAs.
Yvan: Being relatively isolated in a small country such as Luxembourg, where only one lab is active in cardiovascular research, I decided to extend my partnerships to other countries. COST Action networks revealed to be very useful for this endeavor, offering funding to organize meetings, training schools, scientific missions between partner labs, and so one. Starting with CardioRNA COST Action network in 2018, we followed up with AtheroNET COST Action network in 2022. The network has grown a lot with more than five hundred members Worldwide. Leading these networks was not only a boost for my career but also allowed advancing RNA research for cardiovascular disease. Scientific articles, position papers, reviews or technical notes published by the network have undoubtedly helped moving towards clinical application of RNAs.
NanoSphere: As a Fellow of the ESC and the AHA, you stand at the crossroads of European and American cardiovascular science. Where do you see the RNA field going in the next decade? If there’s one key message or insight you’d like to share with readers about the future of nanomedicine, what would it be?
Yvan: Being a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association is not only a testimony for recognition of scientific achievements, it is also a passport to approach peoples worldwide. If there has been a positive consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is certainly the boosting of the RNA field. Starting with messenger RNA-based vaccines, the RNA field is becoming less a “danger” for the general population. Yet, there is still a lot of work and communication to be done before RNA biomarkers and drugs (cf. the notion of theranostics) reach clinical application. One major step is to ensure adoption by end-users, and for this, large joint efforts from peoples with diverse disciplines (scientific, medical, industrial, economic, non-profit organization) are needed. This will be a major goal of my next networking activities. Nanomedicine and nanoparticles are certainly of utmost importance for the development and clinical application of RNA therapeutics that are safe, effective and acceptable by patients.
Yvan: Being a Fellow of the European Society of Cardiology and the American Heart Association is not only a testimony for recognition of scientific achievements, it is also a passport to approach peoples worldwide. If there has been a positive consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is certainly the boosting of the RNA field. Starting with messenger RNA-based vaccines, the RNA field is becoming less a “danger” for the general population. Yet, there is still a lot of work and communication to be done before RNA biomarkers and drugs (cf. the notion of theranostics) reach clinical application. One major step is to ensure adoption by end-users, and for this, large joint efforts from peoples with diverse disciplines (scientific, medical, industrial, economic, non-profit organization) are needed. This will be a major goal of my next networking activities. Nanomedicine and nanoparticles are certainly of utmost importance for the development and clinical application of RNA therapeutics that are safe, effective and acceptable by patients.
Brain heart interactions
Illustration depicting the connection between the brain and the heart, symbolizing brain–heart interactions and their molecular communication through RNA and signaling pathways.
