Hübner Lab

The ion channel PIEZO2 doesn’t just convey touch stimuli. It also plays a key role in the development of coronary vessels, a team led by Annette Hammes from the Max Delbrück Center reports in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.” The findings could improve our understanding of congenital heart defects.

A group of Berlin researchers in collaboration with international scientists have found differences in heart inflammation caused by COVID-19, anti-COVID-19 vaccination, and non-COVID-19 myocarditis. The find paves the way for more personalized therapies, they report in “Nature Cardiovascular Research.”

In her exhibition “Metamorphosis,” Eleonora Adami showcases digital illustrations and cyanotype prints. These works, which invite viewers to reflect on the concepts of change and transformation, will be on display at MDC-BIMSB until the end of January.

A team in the Hübner and Diecke Labs at the Max Delbrück Center have shown how human and non-human primate hearts differ genetically. The study, published in “Nature Cardiovascular Research,” reveals evolutionary adaptations in human hearts and provides new insights into cardiac disease.

Science has something exploratory about it, says Norbert Hübner. You never know exactly where you are heading. Despite this, cartographic works are the focus of his interest: the researcher creates atlases of the human heart. And amongst other things, he uses them to understand heart conditions better.

British and German scientists created the most comprehensive cell atlas of the human heart. As reported in the journal “Nature”, it is the first to include the cells from which the heartbeat originates. Among other things, this data will provide a reference for studies on cardiac arrhythmias.

Dr. Eleonora Adami is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Max Delbrück Center. The molecular biologist and geneticist studies heart failure by applying single-cell genomics approaches in the Hübner lab.

Evolutionarily young miniproteins are unique in humans, and researchers have recently discovered thousands of them. Writing in Molecular Cell, Norbert Hübner and colleagues from the BIH and other institutions describe the origins of these tiny proteins and explain that they probably influence important cellular processes.

An overactive enzyme that causes an inherited form of high blood pressure also appears to protect against hypertension-induced cardiac damage. A team of researchers from the Max Delbrück Center, ECRC, and DZHK led by Enno Klußmann explains in the journal Circulation how this could fundamentally change the way hearts can be protected from damage.

Cardiomyopathy is not a uniform disease. Rather, individual genetic defects lead to heart failure in different ways, an international consortium reports in “Science”. MDC researcher Norbert Hübner is one of the senior authors.