Dr. Heidi Noels and Dr. Yvonne Döring receive the W.H. Hauss Award from the DGAF
19-21 April 2018
Dr. Heidi Noels from the Institute for Molecular Cardiovascular Research at RWTH Aachen University together with Dr. Yvonne Döring from the Institute for Prophylaxis and Epidemiology of Circulatory Diseases at LMU Munich together received the DGAF W.H. Hauss Award 2018 from the German Society for Atherosclerosis Research (DGAF) during the 32nd Annual Meeting of the DGAF in Rauischholzhausen, Germany. They were awarded for their publication "Vascular CXCR4 Limits Atherosclerosis by Maintaining Arterial Integrity: Evidence From Mouse and Human Studies." (Circulation. 2017; 136: 388-403). In this work it could be shown that vascular CXCR4 has an atheroprotective function by maintaining the arterial integrity and preserving the endothelial barrier function. In addition, CXCR4 stabilizes a contractile smooth muscle cell phenotype. Targeted enhancement of these CXCR4-mediated protective functions could open up novel therapeutic options in the treatment of atherosclerosis.
The award was sponsored by a long-standing active member of the DGAF, Prof. Dr. Winfried März.
Project area Z
Administrative project
Robert Werner Mertens
MD student
University Hospital RWTH Aachen
Department of Internal Medicine
Project: The role of incretin hormone GLP-2 in septic cardiomyopathy
PI: Michael Lehrke
Robert Werner Mertens
MD student
University Hospital RWTH Aachen
Department of Internal Medicine
Project: The role of incretin hormone GLP-2 in septic cardiomyopathy
PI: Michael Lehrke
Consortium
Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Complications
in Chronic Kidney Disease
The SFB/TRR219 is supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project-ID 322900939
SFB/TRR219 Kick-Off Meeting
4-5 Mai 2018, Seeheim-Jugenheim
On Friday-Saturday, May 4-5 2018, the kick-off meeting of the Transregional Collaborative Research Center TRR219 took place in Seeheim-Jugenheim/Hesse.
Besides lectures relating to the topic “Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Complications in Chronic Kidney Disease” by expert speakers from research, industry, politics, patient organisations and society, the participants from the Saarland University and University Hospital RWTH Aachen were offered the opportunity to exchange experiences and ideas about the ongoing projects and increase consortium cooperations.
The meeting marked the start of an initially 4-year DFG-funded cooperation of the two universities to investigate the multi-factorial aspects of chronic kidney disease-related cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
For more information on the German patient organisation for patients with kidney disease: www.facebook.com/bundesverband.niere/
SFB/TRR219 meets Minister of State Annette Widmann-Mauz in a workshop on "Shared decision-making and networking with patients
Mai 4th 2018
On Friday 4th of Mai 2018, Minister of State Annette Widmann-Mauz chaired a workshop on „Shared decision-making and networking with patients“ in the framework of the kick-off meeting of the SFB/TRR219 consortium funded by the German Research Foundation.
Mrs. Widmann-Mauz is also patroness of the “Self-help network” of the German patient organisation for patients with kidney disease (“Selbsthilfenetzwerk Bundesverband Niere e.V.”), an organization counting up to 18.000 members in Germany.
The workshop was organized under umbrella of the “Bundesverband Niere e.V.”, chaired by Peter Gilmer, and by Prof. Joachim Jankowski from the RWTH Aachen as speaker of the SFB/TRR219.
Discussed were topics of shared decision making, new synergies between research and the German patient organisation for patients with kidney disease as well as strategies to increase the involvement of patients from basic research to realization.
A publication in the patient journal “der Nierenpatient” accompanied this workshop to enhance awareness among patients with chronic kidney disease.
Prof. Raymond Vanholder represents the European
Kidney Health Alliance at the SFB/TRR219
Mai 4th 2018
The European Kidney Health Alliance (EKHA) is a non-governmental organisation to influence European kidney policy. It integrates forces of European nephrologists, nurses, patients and foundations for the improvement of kidney health in Europe. EKHA works on the principle that the issue of kidney health and disease must be considered at European level and that both the European Commission and European Parliament have vital roles to play in assisting national governments with these challenges.
To raise awareness on these crucial activities, Prof. Raymond Vanholder, President of the EKHA, presented the vision and activities of the EKHA at the kick-off meeting of the German SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018. A summary of EKHA accomplishments can be found here.
For more information:
Prof. Pieter Evenepoel (University Leuven, Belgium & EUTox secretary)
guest speaker at the SFB/TRR219
Mai 4th 2018
Nephrologist Pieter Evenepoel (University Leuven, Belgium) chairs the European Renal Osteodystrophy (EU-ROD) initiative of the chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorders (CKD-MBD) working group within ERA-EDTA.
As guest speaker at the kick-off meeting of the German SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018, Prof. Dr. Evenepoel provided an update on non-traditional cardiovascular risk factors in chronic kidney disease. Given the highly increased risk of cardiovascular disease in chronic kidney disease, this overview was highly interesting and very much appreciated by both junior and established scientists.
For more information:
Prof. Dr. Martin Thanbichler (Spokesman SFB/TRR174)
guest speaker at the SFB/TRR219
Mai 4th 2018
Prof. Dr. Martin Thanbichler (Philipps-Universität Marburg) is spokesman of the SFB/Transregio TRR174 focussing on the spatio-temporal dynamics of bacterial cells. At the kick-off meeting of the SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018, Prof. Thanbichler shared his expertise and insights in how to efficiently and successfully manage a Transregio consortium, also warning for potential pitfalls to avoid.
With his talk titles “Things to keep in mind for a good start: well begun is half done”, all TRR219 consortium members are now fully prepared to successfully kick-off their own Transregio consortium! We sincerely thank Prof. Thanbichler for his participation to our kick-off meeting and hope that we can continue sharing expertises in managing SFB/TRR consortia in the future.
Prof. Dr. Joost Sluijter (University Medical Center Utrecht, the Netherlands)
guest speaker at the SFB/TRR219
Mai 4th 2018
Prof. Dr. Joost Sluijter is Professor Cellular and Translational Cardiology in the University Medical Center Utrecht (the Netherlands) and chairs the Working Group on Cellular Biology of the Heart within the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
At the kick-off meeting of the German SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018, Prof. Sluijter updated the TRR219 consortium on therapeutics for myocardial injury and presented his vision on how to move forward. With almost half of patients with chronic kidney disease dying from cardiovascular disease, this topic was of high interest for both scientists from the nephrology as well as the cardiology field.
Prof. Peter Stenvinkel (Karolinska Institute, Sweden) guest speaker at the SFB/TRR219
Mai 4th 2018
Prof. Peter Stenvinkel is a renowned scientist leading the Nephrology Department at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. As guest speaker at the kick-off meeting of the German SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018, Prof. Stenvinkel presented highly interesting insights in Kidney Biomimicry as an emerging approach to find novel treatment strategies for patients with chronic kidney disease.
With Prof. Stenvinkel also highly active on European level in different European projects (e.g. Marie Skłodowska-Curie ITN INTRICARE & CaReSyAn), his participation at this kick-off meeting further strengthened scientific cooperations of the SFB/TRR219 on European level.
German Heart Foundation informs researchers of the SFB/TRR219 on crucial activities in patient information, education and funding
Mai 4th 2018
The German Heart Foundation was founded in 1979 and today has more than 100,000 members, which reflects the great acceptance and strong anchoring of the German Heart Foundation in the population.
One of the main tasks of the German Heart Foundation is to independently inform patients about heart disease. Also, the German Heart Foundation is known for its large nationwide education campaigns and important research funding in the field of cardiovascular diseases.
To make both junior and established researchers aware of this important role of the German Heart Foundation, Martin Vestweber presented the vision and goals of the Foundation at the Kick-Off Meeting of the SFB/TRR219 in Seeheim on Mai 4th 2018.