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
News & Events
Annual meeting 2019
07-08.02.2019
Annual meetings
06-08.02.2020 / 04-06.02.2021
SFB-TRR219 goes “Down Under”. Scientific meeting with TRR-219 collaboration partners in Adelaide.
December 06.12 2018
Within a collaboration of the SFB-TRR219 Dr. Mathias Hohl and Lisa Lang from the University of the Saarland, Homburg/Saar met with Associate-Professor Dominik Linz and Professor Prash Sanders as well as other basic scientist and clinicians from the University of Adelaide, the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) as well as from the University of Copenhagen to discuss novel mechanisms in cardio-renal end-organ damage with focus on extracellular matrix remodeling.
3nd workshop in Homburg
Oktober 18-19 2018
The 3nd TRR219 Workshop took place from 18-19 October in Homburg. In seminars and ‘hands-on’ sessions, TRR219 students extended their knowledge on the topics of inflammation and oxidative stress. Dr. Dr. T. Speer gave exciting insights into the basic principles of inflammation and the innate immune system. The practical training included isolation techniques of human peripheral blood monocytes. Jun. Prof. Dr. L. Prates-Roma provided insights into the basics and methods for studying the cellular redox state. The application of genetically-encoded redox sensors to identify redox changes in different cellular compartments in living cells was taught in the practical class. A team building social activity included a hike to the Schlossberghöhlen and a dinner in good spirits.
TRR219 represented at the Annual Meeting of the German Society for Nephrology (DGfN)
Berlin, 28th September 2018
The 2018 Annual Meeting of the German Society for Nephrology took place from 27-30 September in Berlin. Within this meeting, the TRR219 consortium organized a basic science session on “Mechanisms of cardiovascular complications in patients with chronic kidney disease”, chaired by Prof. J. Jankowski and Prof. D. Fliser. Recent findings of TRR219 consortium partners from Aachen and Homburg were presented in this session (Goettsch C-02; Schütt C-07; Speer C-08; Zewinger C-09; Noels M-05 and Werner M-06).
Furthermore, Prof. Fliser (C-08), Prof. Floege (C-01/M-01), Dr. Boor (M-01/S-02), Dr. Schütt (C-07), Dr. Speer (C-08) and Dr. Zewinger (C-09) presented recent research findings in other sessions of this meeting, thereby increasing the visibility of our TRR219 consortium.
An additional TRR219-PI meeting preceded the TRR219 basic science session to discuss and continuously fortify ongoing collaborations within the consortium.
For more information, see the Meeting Program.
2nd student workshop ‘hands-on training modules’ in Aachen
September 03-07 2018
The second network-wide training of the TRR219 graduate school was held in September 2018 in Aachen. The ‘hands-on training modules’ and seminars were given by principal investigators and young investigators of the TRR219 community. Especially MD students and PhD students within their first year had the opportunity to learn about the clinical challenges and multifactorial aspects of chronic kidney disease-related cardiovascular risk. The practical training provided the basis of TRR219 specific methods in order to synchronize the knowledge on the core topics of the TRR219.
1st jointed cardio-renal SummerSchool
August 23-25 2018
The first network-wide Summer School of the SFB/TRR219 graduate school together with the international graduate schools EURLIPIDS and Marie Curie ITNs INTRICARE and CaReSyAn was held in August 2018 in the conference hotel in Jugenheim-Seeheim.
The scientific workshops within the summer school updated the MD/PhD students and young postdocs in novel discoveries related to the pathology, diagnosis and treatment of the cardiovascular complications in chronic kidney disease. Furthermore, we focused on qualification in basic scientific competences and personal development. Besides the interesting scientific presentations and the insights into industrial research, we held a poster session and pitch-and-peer session. The best poster presentation was awarded to Burcu Yesilyurt (PhD candidate) supervised by Dr. Peter Boor. The awards for the best scientific pitch went to the PhD candidates Marina Heuschkel, supervised by Dr. Claudia Goettsch and Andrea Buescher, supervised by Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Jahnen-Dechent. Congratulation to the award winners!
Summer School – PhD students perspective
August 23-25 2018
The organization of a Summer School requires intensive preparation. When we start planning, we find ourselves in front of a huge to-do-list and we don’t know where to begin. But the more preliminary work is done, the better we feel when everything is going well.
The cardio-renal Summer School at Seeheim-Jugenheim was such an event. MD students, PhD-students and postdocs from different universities and international graduate schools (TRR219, CaReSyAn, INTRICARE and EURLIPIDS) had the great opportunity to inform themselves further about cardio-renal diseases and network with each other.
For us, participating in the organization of the Summer School was a real effective step in personal development since we have learned a lot about management of scientific events in self-administration. As attendees we experienced three days of interesting talks of speakers from diverse scientific background, with lively discussions. Furthermore, it was very enriching to get to know different point of views on science and to get the possibility to learn from the experience of PhDs, switching from university to industry.
The scientific pitches and poster presentations gave us the chance to get to learn about other related projects. During these three days we observed how people from different labs and universities were networking and discussing new ideas for their own projects. We are looking forward to the next joint Summer School.
Julia Wirth and Bilal Mir, PhD students
Anika Springer participates in 1st Summer School of the ESM/EVBO in Dresden
Anika Springer has participated at the 1st Summer School of the European Society for Microcirculation (ESM) and the European Vascular Biology Organization (EVBO) in Dresden from July 1st to 5th, 2018. She has been one of the 30 MD/PhD students selected from applicants from European universities. Anika Springer is a PhD candidate within the graduate school of the SFB/TRR219, supervised by Dr. Claudia Goettsch.
Successful bimonthly science meetings fortify Aachen-Homburg cooperations
within the TRR219
June 20th 2018
Intensive cooperation between all partners in a network is essential to drive science forward. Therefore, within the SFB/TRR219, basic scientists and clinicians from the RWTH Aachen University and Saarland University-Campus Homburg engage in bimonthly science meetings to discuss scientific progress within the consortium. Novel scientific questions that arise are being tackled in a joint approach through intensive cooperations and knowledge exchange, and samples are being exchanged for joint analyses. Because only together, we will bring this forward!