SFB 1425:
Heterocellular Nature of Cardiac Lesions: Identities, Interactions, Implications
Subject Area
Medicine
Biology
Term
since 2020
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 422681845
Traditionally, heart research has focussed on cardiac myocytes: they are pivotal for heart function. Cardiac myocytes occupy about two thirds of myocardial volume. But: non-myocytes (NM) – including interstitial and immune cells such as fibroblasts and macrophages, endothelial cells, adipocytes, or neurons – contribute about two thirds to cardiac cell numbers, even in healthy myocardium. This majority-fraction is further enriched in tissue lesions. We will explore the roles of NM, key determinants of cardiac structural and functional integration in homeostasis and disease, with the view of identifying potential NM-targets for therapeutic intervention. To do so, we will characterise NM identities, their interactions, and implications for diagnosis and treatment of cardiac lesions. Our proposal is distinct from, yet compatible with, efforts to regenerate cardiac muscle: we will work with nature’s own repair processes ‘to make better scars’ – i.e. scars that serve their mechano-structural repair function while causing fewer side effects, such as fibrosis or arrhyth¬mias. We regard this as an achievable aim, and we are convinced that the thematic focus of our CRC initiative has the potential of substantiating, and – within a 12-year time horizon – exploiting, the notion of the heterocellular heart as a clinically relevant concept, validating heterocellular cross-talk as a biologically important principle of tissue homeostasis and lesion remodelling, and taking us towards steering cardiac heterocellular repair for patient benefit.
DFG Programme
Collaborative Research Centres
Current projects
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A01 - Tracking Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Scar Formation at Single-Cell Resolution
(Project Head
Grün, Dominic
)
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A02 - Functional Epigenetic Modulation of Cardiac Fibroblasts
(Project Head
Gilsbach, Ralf
)
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A04 - Cardiomyocyte-Specific MOF Depletion: Heterocellular Effects Driving Cardiac Fibrosis
(Project Head
Akhtar, Ph.D., Asifa
)
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A05 - Mineralocorticoid Receptors as Key Regulators of Cardiac Lesions
(Project Head
Lother, Achim
)
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A06 - Phenotypes, Interactions, and Functions of Cells of the Adaptive Immune System in the Healing Heart
(Project Head
Wolf, Dennis
)
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A07 - Reticulated Platelets Enhance Myocardial Scarring After Ischaemia/ Reperfusion Injury
(Project Heads
Dürschmied, Daniel
;
Nührenberg, Thomas
)
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B08 - The Impact of Heterogeneous Macrophage Origins on Ischaemic and Non-Ischaemic Cardiac Lesions
(Project Head
Hilgendorf, Ingo
)
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B10 - Cell Type-Specific Role of the Inflammasome in Myocardial Infarction
(Project Head
Groß, Olaf
)
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B11 - Nano-Structural Basis for Mechanical Fibroblast-Cardiomyocyte Cross-Talk
(Project Heads
Rog-Zielinska, Eva
;
Rohrbach, Alexander
)
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C13 - Optogenetic Control of Heterocellular Contributions to Cardiac Excitation and Arrhythmogenesis
(Project Heads
Schneider-Warme, Franziska
;
Di Ventura, Ph.D., Barbara
)
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C14 - Modulation of Cx43 Expression and Targeting of the Myocardial Scar: Impact on Cell Fate, Scar Formation, and Electrical Vulnerability Post-Myocardial Infarction
(Project Heads
Fleischmann, Bernd
;
Röll, Wilhelm
)
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C15 - Interventional Treatment and Molecular Imaging of Coronary and Myocardial Inflammation by Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(Project Heads
Bock, Michael
;
Heidt, Timo Sebastian
;
von zur Mühlen, Constantin
)
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C17 - Steering Atrial Lesion Electrophysiology by Targeting Non-Myocytes
(Project Head
Kohl, Peter
)
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INF - Information Infrastructure Project for Research Data Management
(Project Head
Binder, Harald
)
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P03 - Transcriptional Mechanisms of Atrial Remodelling and Arrhythmia
(Project Head
Hein, Lutz
)
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P09 - Cross-Talk Between the Heart and the Haematopoietic Niche in Post-Myocardial Infarction Lesion Remodelling
(Project Heads
Cabezas-Wallscheid, Nina
;
Heidt, Timo Sebastian
)
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P16 - Atrial Fibrillation and Atrial Tissue Lesions: Dynamics of Functional and Structural Remodelling, and Their Reversibility
(Project Head
Schmidt, Constanze
)
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S01 - Advanced Fluorescence Imaging
(Project Heads
Rog-Zielinska, Eva
;
Zgierski-Johnston, Callum Michael
)
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S02 - CardioVascular BioBank
(Project Heads
Kari, Fabian Alexander
;
Kohl, Peter
)
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S03 - Sequencing and Bioinformatics
(Project Heads
Backofen, Rolf
;
Gilsbach, Ralf
;
Hein, Lutz
)
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Z - Central Tasks
(Project Head
Kohl, Peter
)