My long-term research interests involve a comprehensive understanding of key developmental pathways, genetic underpinnings, and how alterations in gene expression eventually contribute to cardiovascular disease. One of my scientific endeavors will be understanding and modulating cell state changes to reprogram and reverse cardiovascular disease phenotypes. The use of induced pluripotent stem cells, functional genomics using the CRISPR toolbox, and bioinformatics during my academic training and research experience have provided me with an excellent background to tackle the role of protein-coding genes and cis-regulatory elements in the human genome. I completed my Ph.D. training with Professor Roger Foo, now the head of Cardiovascular Research Institute at NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, and is one of the key opinion leaders in the cardiovascular field. Being trained in both dry and wet laboratory work, I have contributed as co-first and co-authors to many of the laboratory’s seminal works on cardiac enhancers and epigenetics in heart failure (Tan et al., 2019. Circulation Research; Anene-Nzelu et al., 2020 Circulation; Anene-Nzelu et al., 2021. Nature Cardiology Review), including the use of CRISPR tools to validate the role of prioritized heart disease-relevant enhancers. In my post-doctoral training with Prof Foo, I continued to expand my research focus on functional genomics in cardiac development, disease, and regeneration with a cardiometabolic focus, using CRISPR on human induced pluripotent stem cells and playing a leading role in establishing the iPSC work and preclinical models in the laboratory, as well as extending support to other research groups both locally and internationally.