GRK 754:  Myocardial Gene Expression und Function - Myocardial Hypertrophy

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine ; Medicine
• Term: from 2001 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 273389

Heart failure represents one of the most prominent cardiac problems of all western societies. In most cases it is preceded by myocardial hypertrophy which develops following cardiac overload in hypertension or after myocardial infarction and is frequently associated with old age. Mechanical overload leads to an augmented growth response of the affected cardiac muscle which includes changes in myocardial gene expression. In varying time intervals after development of hypertrophy, remodeling and contractile failure of the hypertrophied myocardium result. The physiological and molecular basis of this development are as yet unclear';' genetic determinants probably play a role. The research aim of the research training grouop is to elucidate the physiological, biochemical and genetic mechanisms that lead to myocardial hypertrophy and its transition into cardiac failure. Better understanding of these mechanisms will create new therapeutic options.
The clinicians will learn principles and methods of basic science and the basic scientists will learn principles of medicine. Systematic parts of the curriculum teach biology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, physiology and veterinary medicine in interdisciplinary approaches.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Freie Universität Berlin; Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
• Participating Institution: Max-Delbrück-Centrum für Molekulare Medizin (MDC); Forschungsschwerpunkt Herz-Kreislauf- und Stoffwechselerkrankungen
• Spokesperson: Professorin Dr. Vera Regitz-Zagrosek
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Duska Dragun (†); Professor Dr. Roland Hetzer; Professor Dr. Otmar Huber; Professor Dr. Ulrich Kintscher; Professor Dr. Joachim Klose; Professor Dr. Christoph Knosalla; Professor Dr. Ingo Morano; Professor Dr. Andreas Patzak, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Pontus Börje Persson; Professorin Dr. Patricia Ruiz Noppinger; Professor Dr. M. Schönfelder; Professor Dr. Thomas Unger