About EH&D

SPEAKER

Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Deußen

VICE SPEAKER

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Henning Morawietz

PROGRAM COORDINATOR

Dr. Iryna Parshyna

History / Future

The international PhD program consists of up to a 3-year formal curriculum combined with an experimental project. The program provides interdisciplinary training and research opportunities for university graduates who wish to work toward a PhD. Projects are based in clinical medicine and natural sciences and include molecular biology, bioinformatics, physics, physiology, and biochemistry. Seminars and courses are conducted in English; additionally, specific lectures are offered to our international students in German.
This program was initiated in 2006 with more than 20 PhD students enrolled to date. Several students have successfully defended their theses, receiving highest honours. Scientific input is provided by the Departments of Physiology, Pathology, Vascular Endothelium and Microcirculation, Clinical Sensoring and Monitoring. The program is open for integration of members of other interested groups.
Students must be nominated for participation in the program by their project leaders.
Regular information seminars are held every Thursday at 5 P.M. in seminar room B.20.032 of Building 91 (Medical Theoretical Center) and are open to all interested students (please ask for a current detailed schedule).

Scientific Background

Although the endothelium has long been regarded as simply an anatomical lining of the vascular inner wall, this cell compartment has received prominent attention over the last 2 decades due to its roles as a secretory organ and an important site of signal transduction. Although the individual endothelial cell has a diameter of only approximately 20 µm and a thickness between 0.1 und 1 µm, the entire vascular endothelium of the human body comprises a mass of 1-1.5 kg. Thus, the importance of the endothelium as a whole may be compared with that of other internal organs (e.g. liver). A specific feature of the endothelium is its distribution along the entire vascular system. As a consequence, the endothelium is in an optimal strategic position to serve as an important regulator of vascular homeostasis. Endothelial cells interact directly with the cellular components of the circulating blood as well as with other cells of the vascular wall - most importantly with smooth muscle cells. At the interface between blood and vascular wall, changes in blood composition (e.g. concentrations of glucose, fatty acids, oxidized LDL, activators of haemostasis and anticoagulation) interact. Their changes evoke complex responses of endothelial cells, which may play a central role in the development of several cardiovascular diseases.