Heart failure is a common disease with a poor prognosis. Despite improved therapeutic options, 50% of affected patients have died 5 years after the first symptoms, and more than half of deaths are attributable to malignant arrhythmias. During the recent decade, alterations in excitation-contraction coupling with altered intracellular Ca²⁺, Na⁺ and H⁺ handling has been associated with contractile dysfunction and heart failure progression. Only recently, the role of dysfunctional intracellular ion handling for the induction of triggered arrhythmias has been recognized. The hypothetical concept for triggered arrhythmias in heart failure is an increased diastolic Ca²⁺ leak from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) into the cytosol with subsequent activation of the sarcolemmal Na⁺/Ca²⁺ exchanger. In consequence, a Na⁺-dependent membrane depolarization during diastole may induce afterdepolarizations, and eventually, triggered arrhythmias. While the concept of triggered arrhythmias in heart failure is now well acknowledged, the pathophysiological stimuli and molecular and cellular alterations that underlie afterdepolarizations are poorly understood. Our experiments will lead to a mechanistic understanding of triggered arrhythmias in heart failure and reveal novel molecular therapeutic targets for this life-threatening disease.

 

Curriculum vitae

	1987 - 1989	Research Associate, University of Munich, Germany
	1989 - 1990	Visiting Research Fellow, Tokio, Japan
	1991	Visiting Research Fellow, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
	1995, 1996	Visiting Research Fellow, Loyolla University, Chicago, USA
	1990 - 1997	Clinical Training, Department of Internal Medicine/Cardiology and Angiology, University of Freiburg, Germany
	1997	Specialisation in Interal Medicine
	1998	Specialisation in Cardiology
	1998	Habilitation, University of Freiburg, Germany
	1998 - 2007	Associate Professor of Cardiology, Department of Cardiology and Pneumology, University of Göttingen, Germany
	2007 - 2014	Head, Division of Cardiology, Medical University of Graz; Visiting Professor and Head, Clinical Research Program, Department of Cardiology, University of Göttingen, Germany
	2010 - 2014	Director, Ludwig-Boltzmann-Institute for translational Heart Failure Research
	2014 -	Director, Clinics of Cardiology, Charité Campus Virchow-Clinics, Berlin, Germany Director, Clinics of Cardiology, German Heart Centre Berlin (DHZB), Germany

Publications

Grants