07-07-2026
Could cardiovascular disease begin long before the first symptoms appear—or even before birth? This is the question driving the research of Susana P. Pereira, a researcher at UCIBIO – NOVA FCT, recently awarded funding from the highly competitive RESTART Programme of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) to develop the project MetaHEART – Decoding Maternal Metabolism's Impact on the Offspring Heart.
Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for around 20 million deaths per year. Despite major advances in medicine, prevention continues to focus primarily on adult risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, diabetes, and sedentary lifestyles. However, a growing body of research suggests that part of this vulnerability may be determined much earlier, during fetal life.
This is precisely the paradigm that the MetaHEART project aims to explore. The research is based on the hypothesis that alterations in maternal metabolism during pregnancy—such as obesity, gestational diabetes, or inadequate nutrition—may leave a “biological signature” on the baby’s heart, affecting cardiac metabolism, mitochondrial function, and mechanisms associated with cardiovascular aging, thereby increasing susceptibility to disease later in life.
To address this question, the team will use a unique non-human primate model, whose pregnancy and cardiovascular development closely resemble those of humans. Previous studies by the team have shown that changes in maternal nutrition lead to early alterations in fetal cardiac mitochondrial bioenergetics, with sex-specific differences that persist throughout life (doi: 10.1042/CS20201339), and that metabolic alterations are among the earliest signs of cardiac aging (doi: 10.1002/advs.202309211).
The project will combine molecular biology, cardiovascular physiology, mitochondrial bioenergetics, and multi-omics approaches to identify early biomarkers of cardiovascular vulnerability. These will later be validated in human umbilical cord blood samples, bridging fundamental research and clinical practice.
“For decades, we have tried to prevent cardiovascular disease once risk factors were already established. Our goal is to understand whether part of this story begins before birth—and, above all, whether we can identify this vulnerability long before disease develops. If we understand how the heart is ‘programmed’ early in life, we may open the door to truly early prevention strategies,” explains Susana Pereira.
The RESTART Programme was created by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology to support researchers returning to scientific activity after parental leave, recognizing that parenthood can significantly impact scientific output, team leadership, funding acquisition, and career progression.
For Susana Pereira, a mother of three daughters, this support also represents a personal milestone: “Receiving this funding has a very special meaning. It allows me to consolidate an independent line of research at UCIBIO at a particularly challenging stage of life, balancing a return to science with motherhood. It is a strong incentive to continue a scientific mission that has guided me for over a decade: understanding how early life shapes cardiovascular health in future generations.”
“I hope this programme encourages more researchers not to feel that they must choose between building a family and building a scientific career. Parenthood changes us profoundly, but it does not diminish our ability to do excellent science. On the contrary, it often strengthens our resilience, creativity, and leadership. Programmes like RESTART show that it is possible to recognize this reality and create conditions for scientific talent to continue to thrive,” she adds.
This is the second RESTART grant awarded to the NOVA FCT community, reinforcing the recognition of the quality and impact of the research developed at the institution.
