PhD defence F. (Francesca) Razzi

Brief summary of the doctoral thesis:

This thesis aims to contribute to the principles of the MKMD program, which seeks to promote the generation of scientific knowledge while minimizing the use of animals. When it becomes unavoidable to use animals, the program focuses on maximizing the outcomes of animal experiments. The primary focus of this thesis is on preclinical models of coronary artery disease. In Part I, knowledge was acquired and optimized from a familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) swine model using historic data and materials. In Part II, this knowledge was utilized to support the development of alternatives to experimental animal models. As a result, this thesis has produced valuable evidence on the following aspects: • Establishing a relationship between plaque burden, plaque composition, and neointima formation after DES placement in an FH swine model. • Demonstrating the potential of intravascular imaging and the spatial lipid signal, as visualized through OCT and MALDI-MSI, as viable biomarkers for assessing plaque vulnerability. • Highlighting the promise of alternative approaches to experimental swine models. In the subsequent sections, the outcomes are discussed and contextualized in a clinical perspective, and potential future research directions will also be outlined.