Objectives
- To identify new signaling mechanisms in cardiac myocytes and ultimately
new targets for the therapy of heart failure
- To form a cardiovascular network in Hamburg
- To create a cardiovascular curriculum for young scientists
The heart failure challenge
- 5 million patients in the US (1.5 millions in Germany)
- 550,000 new cases per year (170,000 in Germany)
- The only cardiovascular disease with increasing prevalence
- Major source of health care expenditures
- Severe impairment of quality of life and poor prognosis
Structural elements
- Cardiac phenotyping core unit (“Z-Project” echo and Millar tip),
- shared use of telemetric monitoring techniques (TP3),
- shared use of isolated mouse and rat cardiac myocytes (TP6),
- shared use of state-of-the-art transgenic techniques (TP2+3)
- shared use of calcium imaging techniques (TP4);
- „UKE Cardiovascular Seminar“, 2-weekly + 10-12 external speakers,
- weekend symposia, once a year,
- specialized courses on cardiac biology, twice a year,
- practical training courses for participants (e.g. laser microscopy, mouse
- echo, isolated myocytes)
- international exchange of young scientists/students for specific projects,
- European University status.
