HI-TAC

Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience

Cardiovascular diseases represent a growing medical and economic challenge in our ageing society. The Helmholtz Institute for Translational AngioCardioScience (HI-TAC) meets these challenges with its unique, systemic approach — “AngioCardioScience”.

AngioCardioScience combines approaches from vascular research (Angioscience) and cardiac research (Cardioscience) and thus make an important contribution in the fight against cardiovascular diseases – for a healthier life in advanced years.

The HI-TAC was founded by the Max Delbrück Center together with the University of Heidelberg (UHEI) as a branch of the Max Delbrück Center on the UHEI campus.

Governance

Karina Yaniv

Karina Yaniv is Scientific Director of HI-TAC.

Yaniv holds a joint appointment as Professor of Vascular and Lymphatic Biology at the Weizmann Institute. Her lab combines genetic, molecular, and imaging approaches to uncover how vascular systems develop, adapt, and interact with their surroundings – and how dysfunction contributes to disease, particularly in cardiovascular disorders and rare vascular malformations.

At HI-TAC, Yaniv plans to expand her research with a greater focus on translation into clinical applications. In recent years, her lab has been studying vascular malformations, complex disorders that frequently present in childhood and remain difficult to treat. Yaniv plans to model these conditions in zebrafish and screen for new therapies.

Dr. Karina Yaniv completed her PhD in developmental biology at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical School and conducted postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health in the U. S. before joining the Weizmann Institute in 2009. She is President of the European Vascular Biology Organization and is also among the 2024 winners of a prestigious ERC Synergy Grant, which offers funding of up to €10 million over six years. Her appointment underscores the Max Delbrück Center and Heidelberg University’s commitment to attracting world-leading scientists and strengthening translational biomedical research.

Karina Yaniv begins professorship at HI-TAC, Mannheim

Press Release No. 8 / April 15, 2026 / Berlin

Norbert Hübner

Norbert Hübner, M.D. leads the Genetics and Genomics of Cardiovascular Diseases Lab at the Max Delbrück Center and is Professor and Chair for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Sciences at Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin.

His work has opened up new avenues for understanding how genes and molecular networks influence heart failure. Dr. Hübner’s research focuses on patient-derived cells and tissues, thus contributing to a better understanding of the genetic basis of human heart failure. His lab pioneered single-cell analysis of the human heart. Moreover, his researchers discovered that many RNAs previously annotated as non-coding are, in fact, translated into proteins. These short open reading frames in e.g. long non-coding RNAs, upstream or downstream UTRs (untranslated regions), produce novel microproteins with unkown functions.

Hübners team is investigating single cell sequencing data and novel microproteins to find new strategies for prevention and limitation of cardiovascular diseases.

Hübner Lab

Johannes Backs

Prof. Johannes Backs is Director of the Institute of Experimental Cardiology at Heidelberg University, DZHK-Professor for Epigenetic Regulatory Mechanisms in the Heart and spokesperson of the CRC-1550 Molecular Circuits of Heart Disease.

Prof. Backs and his team investigate how environmental factors and comorbidities such as biomechanical or nutritive stress, obesity, or cancer signal to the cardiac genome and contribute to heart disease. He was among the first to uncover how histone deacetylases transmit stress signals to the heart genome. His research demonstrated that specific metabolic and inflammatory signals can cause cardiac dysfunction via these enzymes. For example, he discovered that lipid droplet-associated proteins regulate cardiac function by proteolysis of histone deacetylases, key regulators of O‑GlcNAcylation and heart contractility. Currently, his team focuses on the etiology of diastolic dysfunction and systemic metabolic complications in cardiometabolic disease. As a consequence, his team has developed novel translational strategies that led to the startup Revier Therapeutics.

Prof. Backs serves as a member of several research committees and organizes conferences such as the EMBL conference The New Cardiobiology.

Johannes Backs at Heidelberg University Hospital

Gergana Dobreva

Prof. Dr. Gergana Dobreva heads the Department of Cardiovascular Genomics and Epigenomics at the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University.

The main focus of her research group is to understand how epigenetic regulation governs cell fate and plasticity during normal development, postnatal growth, and pathological conditions, with a particular emphasis on the cardiovascular system and cancer. Mechanistically, her group investigates how specific gene expression programs are established in response to changing biochemical, biophysical, and cell-to-cell signals. Specifically, they explore the crosstalk between cellular metabolic states, mechanical forces, and epigenetic alterations in the development and function of the cardiovascular system, as well as in cancer. Their objective is to identify novel therapeutic strategies, particularly by targeting regulatory hubs that go awry in disease contexts.

Cardiovascular Genomics and Epigenomics: UMM Universitätsmedizin Mannheim

Franziska Hasslinger-Pajtler

People

Administration: Mannheim/Heidelberg

Michaela Frank

Michaela.Frank@mdc-berlin.de

Berlin

Aileen Ridwelski Cunningham

87: Timoféeff-Ressovsky-Haus

Room: 2.16

Aileen.Cunningham@mdc-berlin.de

+49 30 9406 – 2352
Scientific Co-ordination: Mannheim/Heidelberg

Dr. Jennifer Becker

Jennifer.Becker@mdc-berlin.de

Berlin

Dr. Kathrin Saar

87: Timoféeff-Ressovsky-Haus

Room: 0.06

ksaar@mdc-berlin.de

+49 30 9406 – 3534
Contact: hitac@mdc-berlin.de

Research at the HI-TAC aims at elucidating the communication mechanisms of cells of the cardiovascular system with their local and systemic interorgan environment. This scientific approach, called “AngioCardioScience”, has considerable application potential in medicine.

The HI-TAC uses synergies for its research: it closely interlinks cardiovascular research programs of the Max Delbrück Center and University of Heidelberg (UHEI), which enables the development of new preventive procedures and causal therapies.

The HI-TAC research program aims at the following:

Establishing an internationally leading role in the field of angiocardioscience;
Fostering the early translation of HI-TAC discoveries into diagnostic and therapeutic applications
Promoting synergy and coherence among a diverse range of stakeholders in AngioCardioScience in Germany
Establish an education and training program that advances cardiovascular research and trains the next generation of leading scientific talent.

Junior Groups

Koenen Lab

Tissue Dynamics and Organ Crosstalk

Singhal Lab

Blood vessels and circadian rhythms

Wu Lab

How heart cells cope with extra DNA

van den Hoogenhof Lab

RNA splicing errors and heart disease

Beisaw Lab

Cell communication to repair tissue

Tandem Teams

The overarching goal of the HI-TAC is to build expert networks from different fields of translational AngioCardioScience. In order to promote interdisciplinary cooperation, the HI-TAC has launched a series of tandem projects that bring together scientists from the medical faculties Mannheim and Heidelberg of Heidelberg University (UHEI) and the Max Delbrück Center to further advance research:

HI-TAC Adjunct Faculty

The HI-TAC Adjunct Faculty tandem projects connect established research groups from the Max Delbrück Center with experienced partners from Heidelberg University.

Currently, eight collaboratively developed, innovative projects focusing on the communication of cardiovascular cells with each other and with their environment are being funded in order to intensify interdisciplinary exchange and close collaboration between the two sites. In doing so, HI-TAC specifically supports the creation of innovative synergies that enhance scientific excellence and enable long-term, sustainable cooperation between the locations.

HI-TAC Early Career Investigators

The HI-TAC Early Career Investigators project is an initiative specifically aimed at early-career researchers in the field of AngioCardioScience.

The goal of the program is to bring together promising talents from the Max Delbrück Center and Heidelberg University, foster professional exchange, and to provide them with financial support for the implementation of their own research projects. Through this funding program, HI-TAC creates a platform for creative ideas and actively strengthens the next generation of scientists.

Core Facilities

Our partner institutions offer established core facilities and scientific support services, providing excellent infrastructure and assistance for a wide range of research activities.

For more information, please see here:

Physician Scientists

The Physician Scientist Program at HI-TAC, supported by funding from the Carl-Zeiss Foundation, provides an advanced training environment for clinical investigators specializing in vascular biomedicine, systems biology, and cardiovascular research. The program grants Physician Scientists two years of protected research time in addition to secured clinical training at Heidelberg University (UHEI), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) and University Hospital Mannheim (UMM)

Learn more about the program and the opportunities it offers at Physician Scientist Programm am HI-TAC | Carl-Zeiss-Stiftung.

Jobs

As a growing research institute within a lively and international scientific environment, HI-TAC welcomes dedicated and curious researchers at all career stages who would like to help shape its future. If you share our passion for AngioCardioScience, we look forward to receiving your unsolicited application.

PhD program

HI-TAC highly values the training of early-career researchers. Therefore, we are currently developing the School of AngioCardioScience, a structured graduate program that provides doctoral candidates with comprehensive academic training. In addition to courses on essential scientific skills, the School of AngioCardioScience aims to integrate knowledge from vascular and cardiovascular research to offer doctoral candidates thorough training in both fields. With this program, we aim to optimally support early-career talents and assist them in their scientific and personal development.

Internships

HI-TAC is always pleased to meet motivated researchers and early-career talents. If you are interested in an internship, please feel free to send us an unsolicited application.

Talent and Career Development

HI-TAC Early Career Investigators

The HI-TAC Early Career Investigators project connects early-career researchers from the Max Delbrück Center and Heidelberg University in the field of AngioCardioScience. It enables emerging scientists to realize their own innovative ideas by successfully obtaining funding, thereby actively laying the foundation for their scientific careers.

Physician Scientist Program at HI-TAC – funded by the Carl Zeiss Foundation

The Physician Scientist Program at HI-TAC offers scientifically interested physicians the opportunity to combine their clinical and scientific training, thus creating a bridge between bench and bedside. Participants in the program benefit from the scientific expertise of Heidelberg University and the Max Delbrück Center, as well as the long-standing clinical experience at Heidelberg University Hospital and University Hospital Mannheim.

Applications for the next round of the Physician Scientist Program at HI-TAC are now open.
The full call for applications, including information on eligibility, application documents, and deadlines, can be found here: