P4: Crosstalk of cGMP and extracellular matrix signaling in atherosclerosis

Malte Roeßing did his undergraduate studies in Biology at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Duesseldorf, where he was especially interested in protein biochemistry. Therefore, he did his bachelor’s thesis in the department of plant biochemistry, which dealt with the characterization of protein with an unknown function. In his master’s studies at Heinrich-Heine-University in Duesseldorf, he focused on molecular biomedicine. Due to his rising interest in the biochemical and pharmaceutical research field, he decided to do his master’s thesis at the Bayer AG in Wuppertal in the Biochemistry Department of the Institute Lead Discovery. The combination of the research on atherosclerosis with investigation of the important cGMP signaling system is a unique challenge for him as a young scientist. Thus, he decided to take up this challenge as a doctoral student of the GRK 2381 “cGMP: From Bedside to Bench” in the group of Dr. Susanne Feil. Here he is investigating the role of the cGMP signaling pathway in disease models of atherosclerosis.

Timo Kopp got his bachelor’s degree in Biology at the Johannes-Gutenberg-University in Mainz, where he was especially interested in molecular genetics. Accordingly, he did his bachelor’s thesis at the Department of Organismic and Molecular Evolutionary Biology, where he characterized a protein of unknown function. He then continued to earn his master’s degree in Biomedicine, where he focused on immunology. Due to his growing interest for this field of research, he decided to do his master’s thesis at the Department of Dermatology of the University Medical Centre, in which he investigated the influence of coagulation factors on the differentiation of macrophages from monocytes. After his M.Sc., Timo joined the group of Dr. Susanne Feil, to do his PhD. Here, his research focuses on pressure induced cGMP signalling in vascular smooth muscle cells.

Moritz Lehners earned his Diploma in Biochemistry at the University of Tübingen with a focus on cellular signalling mechanisms and live cell imaging. His interest in the analysis of complex signalling networks prompted him to do his PhD in the Feil laboratory. Here he investigates the role of the cGMP signalling pathway in the plasticity of vascular smooth muscle cells and disease models of the cardiovascular system. Moritz graduated in summer 2022 and is currently continuing his research in the IFIB as a postdoc.