idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft

Nachrichten, Termine, Experten

Grafik: idw-Logo
Science Video Project
idw-Abo

idw-News App:

AppStore

Google Play Store



Instance:
Share on: 
09/18/2018 10:15

Off to Germany: Two excellent junior research group leaders are starting at the DZHK

Christine Vollgraf Presse- und Öffentlichkeitsarbeit
Deutsches Zentrum für Herz-Kreislauf-Forschung e.V.

    There are two new junior research groups at the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). The DZHK was able to successfully recruit their leaders from the US: Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa previously carried out research at the University of California and is now coming to the Goethe University Frankfurt, and Dr. Alexander Bartelt is moving from Harvard University in Boston to the University Hospital of LMU Munich.

    During his five-year research fellowship in the US, biochemist Dr. Alexander Bartelt discovered a mechanism that plays a central role in brown adipose tissue during adaptation to metabolic changes, for instance fluctations in temperature. “Interestingly, we found that this sensor Nfe2l1, which activates this mechanism and ensures that no cellular waste accumulates, is highly expressed in the heart too”, says Bartelt. Nfe2l1 is a transcription factor. Transcription factors regulate if and when a gene is active. The aim of the research activities of the young scientist at the DZHK partner site Munich is to find out what role Nfe2l1 plays in healthy and diseased hearts, and whether it could yield new therapeutic options. Myocardial infarction, heart failure and atherosclerosis impose extreme stress on the heart, and under these conditions cardiac myocytes must adapt their metabolism to these challenges to maintain their normal function. If adjustment fails, this results in inflammation and heart disease. For a start, studies in cell culture and preclinical animal models are planned. “The structure of the DZHK with many national centres facilitates finding cooperation partners and in particular establishing contact with clinical researchers in the future”, says Bartelt.

    A transcription factor is also at the centre of Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa’s research. From his previous research projects at the University of California, the native Portuguese knows that a specific transcription factor, TBX18, is typically present in three cell types: smooth muscle cells that are found in vessel walls, pacemaker cells in the sino-atrial node (the structure responsible for setting the rhythm of cardiac contraction), and activated connective tissue cells in the injured heart. All three cell types are involved in dangerous cardiovascular diseases: dilations of the aorta (aortic aneurysms), cardiac arrhythmias and morbid proliferation of connective tissue in the heart (cardiac fibrosis). “We believe that TBX18 affects these cells’ functions”, says Guimarães Camboa. “This factor could therefore play a role in certain cardiovascular diseases.” With his DZHK junior research group at the Goethe University Frankfurt, he wants to investigate which genes are regulated by the transcription factor. The biologist is also planning the targeted inactivation of TBX18 in the relevant cell types. The consequences of this inactivation on the function of the cells will subsequently be closely analysed. “We thus want to better understand the signalling networks active in specific types of cardiovascular disease and hope to thereby improve their early detection and treatment”, explains Guimarães Camboa.

    Guimarães Camboa is coming to the DZHK partner site Rhine/Main after ten years in the US. He both completed his doctorate and carried out a four-year PostDoc at the University of California. He previously concentrated on the heart’s formation during embryonic development. Like Alexander Bartelt, he will receive 1.25 million euros in the next five years for his DZHK junior research group. With the junior research groups, the DZHK wants to attract talented and qualified young scientists from Germany and abroad, and provide them with scientific independence early on. In addition to leading a research group, the young scientists also have teaching duties, so that they can qualify for a professorship.


    Contact for scientific information:

    Dr. Alexander Bartelt, University Hospital of LMU Munich, Institute for Prophylaxis and Epidemiology of Cardiovascular Diseases, alexander.bartelt(at)med.uni-muenchen.de

    Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa, Goethe University Frankfurt, Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration, ncamboa(at)med.uni-frankfurt.de


    Images

    Dr. Alexander Bartelt
    Dr. Alexander Bartelt
    © Steffen Hartmann
    None

    Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa
    Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa
    © privat
    None


    Criteria of this press release:
    Journalists, Scientists and scholars, all interested persons
    Biology, Medicine
    transregional, national
    Cooperation agreements, Personnel announcements
    English


     

    Dr. Alexander Bartelt


    For download

    x

    Dr. Nuno Guimarães Camboa


    For download

    x

    Help

    Search / advanced search of the idw archives
    Combination of search terms

    You can combine search terms with and, or and/or not, e.g. Philo not logy.

    Brackets

    You can use brackets to separate combinations from each other, e.g. (Philo not logy) or (Psycho and logy).

    Phrases

    Coherent groups of words will be located as complete phrases if you put them into quotation marks, e.g. “Federal Republic of Germany”.

    Selection criteria

    You can also use the advanced search without entering search terms. It will then follow the criteria you have selected (e.g. country or subject area).

    If you have not selected any criteria in a given category, the entire category will be searched (e.g. all subject areas or all countries).