Rate My Professor Elizabeth Cartwright

Professor Elizabeth Cartwright is a Professor of Cardiovascular Sciences and Head of the Division of Cardiovascular Sciences within the School of Medical Sciences at the University of Manchester. She earned her PhD in 1995 from the University of Manchester under Prof. Paul T. Sharpe, studying gene expression during heart development, along with an MSc and BSc (Hons). Her career includes a Research Fellowship at the University of Leeds from 1994 to 2002, focusing on genes in gastro-intestinal cancer progression. Since joining the University of Manchester in 2002 as a Lecturer in the Heart Failure Group under Prof. Ludwig Neyses, she has advanced through positions: Senior Lecturer (2011-2017), Reader (2017-2021), and Professor since 2021.

Professor Cartwright's research investigates the molecular mechanisms underlying left ventricular dysfunction and heart failure, employing transgenesis, gene knockout, molecular biology, and cardiac physiology techniques. Central to her work is the plasma membrane calcium pump (PMCA), particularly PMCA1 and PMCA4, whose roles in cardiac pathophysiology position them as potential therapeutic targets. Funded by the British Heart Foundation and Medical Research Council, her studies contribute to major initiatives including the BHF Centre for Research Excellence and NIHR Manchester Biomedical Research Centre. She has supervised 36 PhD and 4 MPhil students. Notable publications encompass "A comparative phenotypic and genomic analysis of C57BL/6J and C57BL/6N mouse strains" (Genome Biology, 2013), "Exercise training reduces resting heart rate via downregulation of the funny channel HCN4" (Nature Communications, 2014), "The Plasma Membrane Calcium ATPases and Their Role as Major New Players in Human Disease" (Physiological Reviews, 2017), and recent papers like "Expression of foetal gene Pontin is essential in protecting heart against pathological remodelling and cardiomyopathy" (Nature Communications, 2025). In leadership, she directs the BHF 4-year PhD programme and MRes in Cardiovascular Sciences, leads foundation programmes, and serves as Assistant Editor for Pharmacology Research & Perspectives while having contributed to MRC peer review panels.