SFB 1366:  Vascular Control of Organ Function

• Subject Area: Biology ; Medicine
• Term: since 2019
• Website: Homepage
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 394046768

The study of blood pressure regulation, coagulation, inflammation, atherosclerosis as well as angiogenesis marks the five major pillars of vascular research. The recent advances in the understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving organotypic vascular differentiation and function reflect the emergence of a sixth branch of vascular biology, for which we coined the term ’Angioscience’. Angioscience is aimed at (i) unraveling in much greater mechanistic detail the molecular repertoire of organotypically differentiated cells of the vessel wall (not just restricted to endothelial cells) all the way to the single cell level, (ii) elucidating the multidirectional molecular crosstalk of vessel wall cells with the cells of their microenvironment as well as systemic effects controlled by organotypic vasculatures, (iii) dissecting niche functions of organotypic vasculatures, and (iv) unraveling the fate maps of different organotypic vasculatures in health and disease. Based on these conceptual considerations, the CRC 1366 ’Vascular Control of Organ Function’ was inaugurated in 2019 to focus on the active roles of endothelial cells and surrounding mural cells in the control of physiological and pathological processes in organ-specific tissue microenvironments, the so-called vascular niches. Organotypic vascular cells, particularly organ-specific endothelial cells, control vascular niche functions during organ development as well as under diverse physiological and pathophysiological conditions by secreting vascular signaling molecules, the so-called angiokines, as well as by generating and expressing additional angiocrine substances, such as molecules of the extracellular matrix, adhesion molecules and other surface receptors. Therefore, blood vessels exert important regulatory and control functions for the development of disease processes, and they are key targets for novel and advanced therapies for metabolic and inflammatory diseases and cancer (angiotargeted therapies).

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres

Current projects

• A01 - Organ-specific specialization of angiocrine signaling (Project Head Adams, Ralf H. )
• A02 - Brain endothelial cell-derived angiocrine factors and their role in neurodevelopment (Project Head Ruiz de Almodovar Egea, Ph.D., Carmen )
• A03 - Transcriptional and epigenetic control of endothelial cell fate, plasticity and instructive signaling in the heart (Project Head Dobreva, Gergana )
• A04 - Angiocrine control of heart regeneration (Project Heads Marín-Juez, Rubén ;  Stainier, Ph.D., Didier Y. ;  Wu, Ph.D., Chi Chung )
• A05 - Deciphering epigenetic regulation of angiogenic endothelial cells in health and disease (Project Heads Plass, Christoph ;  Schlereth, Katharina )
• A06 - Impact of endothelial-derived IncRNAs for cardiomyocyte signal transduction and the cardiac stress response (Project Head Heineke, Jörg )
• B01 - The impact of oxidative post-translational modifications on vascular function and angiocrine signaling (Project Heads Bibli, Sofia Iris ;  Fleming, Ph.D., Ingrid )
• B02 - Hepatic angiodiversity: Vascular control of liver function and disease (Project Heads Goerdt, Sergij ;  Reiners-Koch, Philipp-Sebastian )
• B03 - Hepatovascular control of disease susceptibility and resistance via circulating blood factors (Project Head Géraud, Cyrill )
• B04 - Reparative functions of endothelial cells in the aging heart (Project Heads Dimmeler, Stefanie ;  Wagner, Julian )
• B07 - BMP9/10-blood flow signaling crosstalk in safeguarding vessel integrity and organ functionality (Project Head Ola, Roxana )
• B08 - Vascular control of myocardial regeneration by platelet-derived innate immune signals (Project Heads Dürschmied, Daniel ;  Langer, Harald )
• C01 - Vascular control of tumor immunity in the central nervous system (Project Heads Platten, Michael ;  Sahm, Katharina )
• C02 - The LSEC-immune interface in liver development and cancer metastasis (Project Head Cerwenka, Adelheid )
• C04 - Vascular control of adipose tissue and muscle in the context of obesity and cancer (Project Head Fischer, Andreas )
• C05 - Vascular reprogramming during tumor progression and homeostatic challenge (Project Head Augustin, Hellmut G. )
• C06 - Mechanism-guided targeting of angiocrine signals to limit metastatic progression (Project Head Singhal, Mahak )
• C07 - Vascular control of organ-specific inflammation in cardiometabolic diseases (Project Head Stellos, Konstantinos )
• Z01 - Central coordination of the CRC 1366 (Project Head Augustin, Hellmut G. )
• Z02 - Integrated in vivo and ex vivo imaging and pathology platform (Project Heads Mogler, Carolin ;  Schönberg, Stefan )
• Z04 - Integrated Research Training Group ‘School of Angioscience’ (Project Head Heineke, Jörg )

Completed projects

• B05 - Impact of vascular NFAT5 on lung function and responses to hypoxia (Project Head Korff, Thomas )
• B06 - Origin and functional implication of coronary endothelium heterogeneity in development and post-injury adaption (Project Head Gerhardt, Holger )
• C03 - Regulation of the tumor microenvironment by chronic ß adrenergic activation in the tumor vasculature (Project Heads Jansen, Sepp ;  Wieland, Ph.D., Thomas )
• Z03 - Biostatistical data analysis and methods development core project (Project Head Anders, Simon )

• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Participating University: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main; Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn; Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Participating Institution: Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum (DKFZ); Max-Planck-Institut für Herz- und Lungenforschung; W.G. Kerkhoff-Institut; Max-Planck-Institut für molekulare Biomedizin
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Hellmut G. Augustin