A Multi-Organ Approach to Investigate the Endothelium During Vascular and Neuronal Aging and Inflammation
The overall aim of this project is to establish a core group of clinical and experimental scientists working on the endothelium and its role for vascular and neuronal inflammation, degeneration and cardiovascular disease and to identify and target endothelial pathways involved in age-related disease processes with an interdisciplinary team.
Our consortium aims to use a multi-organ approach to study vascular entities to identify common or different regulators for endothelial function in different age-associated diseases.
Recent technological advancements in the molecular characterization of single cells have revealed organ-specific gene expression signatures of endothelial cells, however their changes during aging and relevance for disease processes are still unknown.
Our central hypothesis is that inflammation and aging impact on the protective role of endothelial cells in an organ-specific manner and that the endothelium represents an ideal therapeutic target to prevent detrimental vascular aging and disease progression. To address this hypothesis, our combined research efforts will examine endothelial-driven mechanisms of vascular inflammation and their role for selected age-associated disease processes in the nervous and cardiovascular system, such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and atherosclerosis. We will also analyze in which way systemic and local immune and inflammatory stimuli, circulating proteins in the blood stream, or bacterial compounds from the gut influence the endothelium in different vascular organ beds. Mechanistically, we will focus on the organ-specific roles of endothelial cells and mechanisms providing selective barriers, influencing endothelial endocytosis, and controlling proteostasis, and how these mechanisms can be specifically targeted to prevent endothelial aging and inflammation.
We will divide our research efforts into the following main project areas:
A. Organ-specific and systemic mechanisms of endothelial barrier function and dysfunction
B. Metabolic, bacterial and inflammatory modulators of the endothelial barrier
C. Therapeutic targeting of the endothelial barrier to prevent aging and inflammation
Principle Investigators
· Prof. Dr. Claus Pietrzik, Institute for Pathobiochemistry, University Medical Center (person of contact: email)
· Prof. Dr. Katrin Schäfer, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center
· Prof. Dr. Kristina Endres, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy
· Prof. Dr. Daniela Krause, Institute of Transfusion Medicine, Transfusion Center
· Prof. Dr. Ari Waisman, Institute for Molecular Medicine, University Medical Center
· Prof. Dr. Philip Wenzel, Department of Cardiology, University Medical Center
