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Introduction

CardioScience is a cardiovascular research laboratory at the Medical University of Graz and was established in 2014.

Research Focus

We focus on myocardial remodeling due to insults to the heart such as hypertension or ischemia. The contribution of different cell types and the underlying molecular signaling is particularly interesting to us. Roughly half of the cells in the heart are myocytes, and other cell types such as fibroblasts, vascular cells, and leucocytes importantly contribute to the cardiac stress response. We employ in vivo models of ischemic and loading stress (aortic constriction, ischemia-reperfusion) that may be genetically modified. State-of-the art phenotyping of these models including imaging, telemetric surveillance, hemodynamic characterization using pressure-volume relationships are performed, and are complemented by immunohistochemistry/immunofluorescence and standard molecular biology techniques to dissect underlying signaling pathways. We also use human multicellular heart tissue to study cardiac function and assess calcium homeostasis in isolated single cardiomyocytes using confocal microscopy.

Our working group is well connected with other interdisciplinary working groups at the Medical University of Graz, European research groups, and several laboratories in the US.