Flagship VascHealth

To jointly investigate a burning medical issue in order to discover entirely new approaches for its treatment – that's the goal of the physicians and basic researchers in the very first "Flagship" project at the Medical University of Graz. This new research initiative at the Medical University of Graz places a uniquely Austrian emphasis on interdisciplinary research between clinicians and basic researchers.

When our vascular system becomes compromised, the consequences include heart attacks, strokes, heart or kidney failure – the most common causes of death in Austria and worldwide. In addition to the individual suffering and the loss of healthy years of life, vascular diseases cause enormous societal and economic damage.

The circulatory system is, in the truest sense of the word, our "lifeline" - it supplies organs and body cells with vital oxygen and nutrients. A healthy vascular system is a prerequisite for healthy aging.

Kathrin Eller, Spokesperson of the interdisciplinary consortium

Spokesperson of the consortium

Kathrin Eller

T: +43 316 385 12170

E: kathrin.eller(at)medunigraz.at

Research profile

Co-spokesperson of the consortium

Dagmar Kratky

T: +43 316 385 71965

E: dagmar.kratky(at)medunigraz.at

Research profile

Goals & Strategies

Goals

VascHealth brings together a unique, multidisciplinary team of scientists from Med Uni Graz, united in their overarching goal of developing preventive and therapeutic interventions for healthy aging via maintaining vascular health. To this end, the VascHealth consortium will examine novel mechanisms that might disrupt vascular homeostasis and reduce lifespan, including aberrant cellular quality control and recycling, misguided communication between cells and/or organelles, as well as emerging inflammatory cascades and processes.

Strategies

Unraveling vascular alterations during the course of life and in association with hyperlipidemia, hypertension, atherosclerosis, clonal hematopoiesis, and/or renal dysfunction.
Establishment of a novel preclinical mouse model with a humanized immune system for investigating atherosclerosis and other age-related vascular diseases.
Conducting mechanistic studies to define cell-cell communication in diseased and aged tissue from cell-specific genetic mouse models.
Validating the clinical relevance of these observations in human cell cultures, biomaterials and cohorts.

Herzkreislauf

Video aus der Reihe "Wissenswert"

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