MUG UG TUG

Burkert Pieske

Univ.-Prof. Dr.med. Burkert Pieske

Department of Cardiology
Center of Internal Medicine
University Medicine Rostock
Ernst-Heydemann-Straße 6
18057 Rostock, Germany

tel.: +49 381 494 7701/7703
e-mail: Burkert.Pieske@med.uni-rostock.de
web

 

Projects within the DK-MCD


Pathophysiological modifiers of intracellular Ca2+ handling and triggered
arrhythmias

Ge Jin

Hemodynamic and molecular mechanisms of acute and chronic heart failure
with preserved ejection fraction

Michael Schwarzl
graduated
   

Research interest

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 - 2023 Director, Clinics of Cardiology, Charité Campus Virchow-Clinics, Berlin, Germany Director, Clinics of Cardiology, German Heart Centre Berlin (DHZB), Germany
  2024 - Head of the Area Heart Insufficiency, Department of Cardiology, Center of Internal Medicine, University Medicine Rostock, Germany

Publications

Grants