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Dr. Mara Pitulescu will become a new research group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine on January 1st 2025. With her Independent Research Group, Mara Pitulescu will investigate the molecular code of organ-specific vascular patterning in health and disease.
Originally being trained as a physician, Mara Pitulescu wants to bring the fundamental basic science closer to the patient's bedside. New insights from her research group will help advance the understanding of organ and tissue vascularization in physiological and pathological states.
"It is fascinating that it takes millions of cells and many different cell types to build an adult organ. However, to ensure its functionality and, most importantly, to support life, a vasculature is needed. Over the past few years of my research in vascular biology, I have contributed to the understanding of mechanisms controlling sprouting angiogenesis, a process in which new blood vessels form from pre-existing vessels,” says Mara Pitulescu. “In addition, I have uncovered a novel molecular mechanism of arterial growth in the retina of newborn mice. Here, a population of sprouting cells that are located at a distance from the artery, at the leading position of a growing vascular plexus, incorporate into the developing artery, to extend its length. In my new research group, I will continue to investigate the mechanisms of arterial growth in other organs in health, disease and regeneration conditions.”
Organoids, a technology which evolved rapidly in the last decade, have become valuable, still reductionist models for studying organ development and disease mechanisms. Before functional organs-in-a-dish can be grown, it is essential to understand how mammalian organs are vascularized. Surprisingly, not much is known about how vascular patterns are formed, what the underlying molecular mechanisms in living tissues are, and how blood vessels influence the patterning, morphogenesis and functionality of developing tissues and organs.
“I am excited to extend this knowledge. We will investigate these questions using advanced mouse genetics and high-resolution imaging techniques, to which we will develop explant and organoid cultures,” says Mara Pitulescu. “In parallel, we will use other in vitro culture and biochemical assays to study the principles of endothelial cell fate specification, determination and identity maintenance.”
Mara Pitulescu has been leading a project group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in the Department of Ralf Adams, where she also supervised master and PhD students. “I am grateful for my time in Ralf Adams’ Department and I am looking forward to continuing my research at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine, an amazing place with cutting edge interdisciplinary science and great service facilities,” says Mara Pitulescu. “From my time as a postdoc and project group leader, I know how active and collaborative the scientific community in Münster is. For me, Münster is one of the best centres in Germany for doing science,” she says.
Mara Pitulescu is a Principal Investigator in the Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) 1348 "Dynamic Cellular Interfaces" and has recently joined the Interfaculty Centre for Biology and Cells in Motion (CiM) in Münster, to which the Max Planck Institute is affiliated. She also has strong links and collaborations with researchers at the Multiscale Imaging Centre (MIC) and the Centre for Molecular Biology of Inflammation (ZMBE), both of which are located close to the MPI.
Mara Pitulescu's independent research group at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine will be funded for five years.
Dr. Mara E. Pitulescu
http://www.mpi-muenster.mpg.de/press-release/pitulescu-new-research-group-leader
Dr. Mara E. Pitulescu
MPI for Molecular Biomedicine
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