Paula da Costa Martins received her PhD in 2005 at the University of Amsterdam. After developing her postdoctoral research at the Hubrecht Institute (Utrecht, The Netherlands), she engaged in a tenure-track program at Maastricht University. She is mostly recognized by her work on deciphering the contribution of non-coding RNAs, specially microRNAs, to the development and progression of cardiac disease, and the identification of specific microRNAs as new therapeutic targets for heart failure. Paula is currently an Associate Professor at CARIM School for Cardiovascular Diseases, Maastricht University. More recently, she is focusing her research on understanding how different cardiac cell types communicate to influence each other’s phenotype and in a concerted manner contribute to pathologic cardiac remodeling. Her main interest is unveiling how cardiomyocytes send “microRNA messages’ to cardiac endothelial cells and inflammatory cells via exosomes, to alter their angiogenic and inflammat