GRK 2407:  Inflammatory and cellular stress signaling: Switches to vascular dysfunction

• Subject Area: Medicine
• Term: from 2018 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 360043781

Dysfunction of arterial conductance and resistance vessels remains the leading underlying cause of morbidity and mortality in an aging population. Despite strenuous and concerted research efforts, there are currently still no pharmacological strategies to causally treat vascular dysfunction. Pathophysiologically, arterial vascular disease has long been considered as a state of adverse structural remodeling within arteries upon accumulation of circulating and vessel wall-derived cells, matrix, and cholesterol – histological hallmarks of atherosclerosis. However, more subtle alterations of vascular homogeneity have emerged as critical prerequisistes and drivers for a large spectrum of diseases. For example, atherosclerosis, heart failure, pulmonary hypertension, kidney disease, and several metabolic disorders all share aberrant molecular and cellular vascular signaling as an underlying cause. In this regard, inflammatory stressors play a critical role in initiating and orchestrating changes of the vascular cell phenotype. The major aim of the proposed collaborative research training group (RTG) is to identify common vascular stressors and overlapping or redundant cellular signaling responses across a broad range of vascular disease entities. Ultimately, this RTG program intends to identify disease-directed pharmacological targets, thus opening new channels of drug discovery. To achieve this translational goal, our RTG initiative will join ranks between scientists and clinicians in an interdisciplinary approach that transcends traditional boards of medicine and the natural sciences, and will recruit the brightest and best PhD and MD students to actively pursue cutting-edge research on individual, yet coordinated researchprojects, that are directly related to answering pertaining key questions for specific diseases in this research field. This initiative will build on an already existing RTG within the recently founded Cologne Cardiovascular Research Center (CCRC) and will be embedded in highly established and successful research groups as well as long-standing structured educational programs at the University of Cologne. Ultimately, the CCRC RTG aims to educate the next generation of cardiovascular researchers and to foster better understanding of the translational needs in this important medical area.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Participating Institution: Max-Planck-Institut für Biologie des Alterns; Max-Planck-Institut für Stoffwechselforschung
• Participating Researchers: Professor Dr. Thomas Benzing; Professor Dr. Jens Claus Brüning; Anna Klinke, Ph.D., until 10/2018; Professor Dr. Argyris Papantonis, until 10/2018; Professor Dr. Manolis Pasparakis; Professor Dr. Stephan Rosenkranz; Professor Dr. Volker Rudolph, until 10/2018; Professor Dr. Björn Schumacher; Professorin Dr. Aleksandra Trifunovic; Professor Dr. Holger Winkels, since 1/2021
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stephan Baldus