DZHK

To improve the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in the future, a European partnership is awarding more than five million euros to four international research teams. A project on the consequences of pulmonary hypertension, co-led by Gabriele G. Schiattarella, is also being funded.

They have their sights set on serious diseases: Gabriele G. Schiattarella analyzes mechanisms of heart failure, Simon Haas wants to improve immunotherapies for leukemia and Michael Sigal would like to prevent gastrointestinal diseases. Now, the ERC is awarding the researchers with a Starting Grant.

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.

Titin is the largest protein in the human body which takes on a central role in muscle fibers. A DZHK team now reports in „Science Translational Medicine“ how mutations in the titin gene can cause a disease of the heart muscle, dilated cardiomyopathy.

Daniela Panáková is studying a signaling pathway that is of critical importance for the heart muscle and congenital heart defects. The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) has now awarded her a grant of €80,000 to support this research.

As physician-scientist, Dr. Gabriele G. Schiattarella seeks to gain a detailed understanding of the most common cause of death in the Western world: cardiovascular diseases. The MDC and Charité are delighted to welcome him as a new research group leader at the Buch campus from November 1, 2020.

An international research team recently created the first atlas of the human heart. Now the scientists want to add a new dimension to the project: diversity. They are being supported by an additional Seed Networks grant from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

Researchers from three continents have produced a first extensive draft of a cell atlas of the human heart to understand how this vital organ functions and to shed light on what goes wrong in cardiovascular disease. As the team reports in Nature, it reveals a huge cellular and molecular diversity.

The cellular biologist Thomas Sommer, who is the interim Scientific Director of the MDC, is celebrating his 60th birthday on May 23. We congratulate him on this milestone.