One name that stands out in the line of Bulgarians the nation can be proud of is that of Prof. Emilia Entcheva, head of the Cardiac Optogenetics and Optical Imaging Laboratory at George Washington University, USA. Prof. Entcheva recently published her innovative method of diagnostication and treatment of patients with cardiac problems in the prestigious Nature Communications magazine.

Algae, light and genetic engineering are all involved in Emilia Entcheva’s medical discovery.

“My laboratory was the first to have been able to extract photosensitive proteins from algae and use them in cardiac cells,” Prof. Entcheva says. “We stimulate these cells and record their electrical activity. This means we can test medicines and chemical components for possible toxicity very quickly. And as there is no such system in existence at this time, there is a great deal of interest in our work.”

Prof. Emilia Entcheva has only headed the Cardiac Optogenetics and Optical Imaging Laboratory at George Washington University for six months and is one of very few people in the world to have made a discovery with a potential in two directions in so short a time:

“One of them is the mass testing of medicines so as to make them safe with no side effects. The second application is in developing new pacemakers and defibrillators that use less energy. This will mean the batteries of the implanted devices will not have to be replaced. By way of optical stimulation we are hoping to change the way people with cardiac diseases are treated.”

After spending 15 years in New York, Prof. Entcheva left her professorship and brought in her team to create the new department of biomedical engineering at the university in Washington. Her own American dream started in 1994 when she arrived in Memphis with the intention of working as a research scientist.

“What appeals to me is that here society gives everyone a chance – whatever their age – as long as there is motivation and ambition,” Prof. Entcheva remembers. “I have a PhD here, I brought my family, for three years I was at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland and then got a professorship in New York. It wasn’t easy but the hardships are behind us now and I do not regret my decision to make this transition.”

One would be hard put to find a country with such opportunities and investments in science, the Bulgarian research scientist says. That is why USA is the science centre of the world, though there are creative people everywhere, she says. But it is here that Prof. Emilia Entcheva feels she is appreciated.

“The further one advances in one’s career, the more the atmosphere gets political and, as anywhere else, the higher echelons are male-dominated. Once you have crossed certain stages of success, it gets more difficult to compete with men and to establish a reputation. But success is attainable – it is not easy, you have to be persistent and persevering, fight all the way, never give up or despair. That is the most important thing here,” she says.

Another publication came out at the same time and on the same subject by Prof. Natalia Trayanova who adds computer-generated models of the innovative method that can predict which patients are suitable for defibrillator implants. Though it is coincidental, the two Bulgarian researchers made their breakthrough in science together – in 1996 they published their first article, written together, which marked the start of their successful careers.

English version: Milena Daynova