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Collaborations

HHU’s Faculty of Medicine  understands translation, i.e. the transfer of research findings from basic research to clinical application, as a core task of university medicine. With a focus on translational research at the interface of cardiovascular and diabetes/metabolic research, the CARDDIAB project will strengthen university medicine in Düsseldorf. The new CARDDIAB research building is intended to intensify interdisciplinary networking between established research clusters (e.g. CARID, CEPLAS, chs, DDZ) and to create new synergies.

Close collaborations in the field of cardiometabolic research have been gradually expanded in Düsseldorf over many years. For example, the two spokespersons for CARDDIAB (Professors Kelm and Roden) were instrumental in founding the Cardiovascular Research Institute Düsseldorf (CARID) in 2013. Together, CARID scientists were able to establish a network with internationally recognised expertise in experimental research as well as in clinical, medical technology and health care research. The close integration of the Clinic for Endocrinology and Diabetology with the German Diabetes Center (Deutsches Diabetes-Zentrum, DDZ) further strengthened this cluster and achieved national and international visibility.

Institutions

The Cardiovascular Research Institute Düsseldorf (CARID) aims to promote experimental, translational and clinical science in the field of cardiovascular research.

The Center for Health and Society (chs) is an important partner for CARDDIAB. The chs builds a bridge from the research results of the individual research areas into corresponding patient care and prevention models.

The German Diabetes Center (Deutsche Diabetes-Zentrum – DDZ), Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at HHU, is an interdisciplinary research institution that links molecular and cell biological basic research with clinical and epidemiological research approaches.

The German Center for Diabetes Research (Deutsche Zentrum für Diabetesforschung e.V. –DZD) is a national network that brings together experts in the field of diabetes research and combines basic research, translational research, epidemiology and clinical application.

The Institute of Medical Biometry and Bioinformatics (Institut für Medizinische Biometrie und Bioinformatik) supports CARDDIAB as a partner in the analysis of the resulting image and omics data using modern bioinformatics methods.

Research networks

The International Research Training Group IRTG1902 is a joint research network of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf and the Cardiovascular Research Center of the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA, for the promotion of excellent PhDs in an international network. It deals with intra- and interorgan communication of the cardiovascular system.

The Multi-​Omics Data Science (MODS) initiative explores metabolic disorders and resulting diabetological, hepatological, cardiovascular and neurological disease patterns using methods from the fields of data science, bioinformatics and artificial intelligence.

The research programme of the Collaborative Research Centre SFB1116 is based on the identification of novel targets essential for the acute or subacute response to cardiac ischemia, so-called "master switches". Systemic communication between the ischemic heart and systemic responses of the immune system, metabolic comorbidities (obesity, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM)) and anaemia are deliberately included.

The transregional Collaborative Research Centre TRR259 is a joint research network of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-University Bonn and University of Cologne. The goal of the TRR259 is to better understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms in resident and non-resident cells in aortic diseases. A particular focus is on aortic valve stenosis, aortic aneurysm and aortic dissection.

The Research Training Group GRK2576 of the German Research Foundation (DFG) investigates the early development of type 2 diabetes. The aim of the research programme is to better understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the early development of diabetes.

Interdisciplinary initiatives

Since 2020, the research area "Health Services Research in the Field of Cardio-metabolic Diseases" of the Institute for Health Services Research and Health Economics at the Centre for Health and Society (chs) and the area "Clinical Science: Cardiovascular Health Services Research" of the Department of Cardiology, Pneumology and Angiology have been collaborating in a joint working group for Cardio-metabolic Health Services Research. Further partners are the Institute of General Medicine at chs and the Department of Nursing Science at the University of Witten-Herdecke.

Method platforms

The medical faculty's Core Facilities provide access to highly specialised expertise and equipment infrastructure.

State-of-the-art technologies for proteome and genome analyses are available for CARDDIAB via the central method platforms of the BMFZ at HHU.

The CEPLAS Metabolism & Metabolomics Laboratory (CMML), a technology platform of the Cluster of Excellence on Plant Science (CEPLAS), complements CARDDIAB as a close partner with its expertise in the analysis of metabolites.

The CAi of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences at HHU offers access to light microscopy at the highest technical level.

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