Professor Magnus Bäck
Disclosure details
Speaker and consultant fees to the institution from Amarin, Amgen, Novartis, and Fresenius Kabi.Professor of Cardiology, Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden
Invited Guest Professor at the University of Lorraine, Nancy, France
Professor Bäck is actively involved in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and has served as chair of the ESC Working Group on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology. He is an ex officio board member of the Stroke Council and the Cardiovascular Basic Science Council. He is currently the inaugural Editor-in-Chief for the ESC journal European Heart Journal Open.
Professor Bäck’s present work is focused on lipids in the regulation of cardiovascular inflammation. In addition to triglyceride-lowering actions, omega-3 fatty acids are substrates for the generation of bioactive lipid mediators transducing an active resolution of inflammation. His work has shown that genetic variations in fatty acid desaturase alter omega-3 fatty acid metabolism in cardiovascular tissues and associate with vascular stiffness. From omega-3 fatty acids, the biosynthesis of proresolving lipid meditators termed resolvins, which signal through specific receptors to exert immunomodulation. By means of specific actions to actively stop cardiovascular inflammatory pathways, omega-3-derived resolvins directly contribute to beneficial protective effects on valvular heart disease and atherosclerosis.
