Prof. Dr. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann
Contact
Department of PharmacologyHeart Center / Center of Pharmacology and Toxicology
University Medical Center Goettingen
Georg-August University Göttingen
Robert-Koch-Str. 40
37075 Goettingen
Germany
Phone: +49 551 39-5787
Email: w.zimmermann@med.uni-goettingen.de
Personal Assistant
Jutta Creydt
Phone: +49 551 39-5781Fax: +49 551 39-5699
Email: sekretariat.pharma@med.uni-goettingen.de
Curriculum vitae
Academic Qualification
| 1998 - 2001 (Molecular Biology) |
Center for Molecular Neurobiology, University Hamburg |
| 1991 - 1998 (Medical School) |
University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University Hamburg Duke University Medical School in Durham, North Carolina, USA Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, USA Groote Schuur Hospital, University of Cape Town, South Africa |
Theses
| 1998 - 2001 (Molecular Biology) |
Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University Hamburg and at the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg: Cardiac Tissue Engineering for in vitro studies and tissue replacement therapy (summa cum laude). Mentor: Prof. Dr. T. Eschenhagen |
| 1995 - 1998 (Medical School) |
Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University Hamburg: Development and characterization of a new method to reconstitute Engineered Heart Tissue from neonatal rat hearts (magna cum laude) Mentors: Prof. Dr. Dr. H. Scholz and Prof. Dr. T. Eschenhagen |
Professional Career Development
| 04/2009 | Member; Executive board, German Society of Cardiology |
| 04/2009 | Speaker; Commission of Experimental Cardiology, German Society of Cardiology |
| 10/2008 | Professor and Director of the Department of Pharmacology at the Georg-August-University of Goettingen |
| 07/2008 | Appointed as Chair of Cardiac Pathobiology within the DFG-Cluster of Excellence at the Justus-Liebig-University of Giessen |
| 02/2008 | Appointed as Chair of Pharmacology at the Georg-August-University of Goettingen |
| 07/2007 | Venia Legendi in Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| 04/2007 | Tertio loco; Chair of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the University of Essen-Duisburg |
| 04/2007 | Member; Commission of Experimental Cardiology, German Society of Cardiology |
| 04/2007 | Speaker; Molecular Cardiology/Genetics Working Group, German Society of Cardiology |
| 04/2007 | Habilitation - “Cardiac Regeneration with Engineered Myocardium” |
| 07/2006 | Board certification: Pharmacology and Toxicology |
| 12/2004 | Appointment as Juniorprofessor (Assistant Professor) for Cardiac Tissue Engineering, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University Hamburg |
| 12/2002 - 11/2004 | Senior scientist and lecturer, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, University Hamburg |
| 10/1999 - 11/2002 | Resident, research assistant, and lecturer, Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Clinical Pharmacology |
Professional Experiences Abroad
| 09/2005 | RIKEN Institute of Developmental Biology in Kobe (Prof. T. Wakayama), Japan, Genomic Reprogramming Lab – Reprogramming by Somatic Nuclear Transfer to Generate Autologous Cardiomyocytes for Myocardial Repair (BMBF-grant) |
| 12/2003 & 11/2006 | Krannert Institute of Cardiology, Indiana University/Purdue University in Indianapolis (Prof. L. Field), Indianapolis, USA – (1) Improving Cardiac Tissue Engineering by Inhibition of Apoptosis and/or Cell Cycle Induction in Cardiomyocytes and (2) Two-Photon Imaging to Analyze Graft-Host Coupling in Rats after Tissue Engineering Based Myocardial Repair (DFG-grant) |
| 10/2002 & 07/2003 | Cardiovascular Research Group (Prof. L. Gepstein), Israel Institute of Technology, Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Haifa, Israel – Generation of Engineered Heart Tissue from Human Embryonic Stem Cell Derived Myocytes (Minerva Foundation-grant) |
| 09/1996 - 10/1996 | Howard Hughes Medical Institute (Prof. R. Lefkovitz), DUKE University, Durham, NC, USA – Generation of Adenoviral Vectors for Gene Transfer in Cardiomyocytes |
Research Interests
Cell based cardiac regeneration, Cardiac tissue engineering, Stem cells, Genetic engineering of stem cells and somatic cells, Mechanisms of cardiac hypertrophy, Paracrine factors in cardiac homoeostasis, Physiological and pathological calcium handling in the heart, Genetically engineered mouse models, Skeletal muscle tissue engineering, Substance screening and target validation
Activities
Reviewer
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)Singapore BioMedical Research Council (BMRC)
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF)
Dutch Technology Foundation (STW/NWO)
Wiener Wissenschafts-, Forschungs- und Technologiefonds (WWTF)
Israel Science Foundation (ISF)
BioMedicalMaterials (BMM, Holland)
Deutsche Stiftung für Herzforschung (DSHF)
Cardiovascular Research, FASEB J, Circulation, J Physiol, Am J Physiol, European Journal of Heart Failure, European Heart Journal, Acta Biomaterialia, J Appl Physiol, Journal of Nanotechnology, Future Cardiology, Future Medicine, Differentiation, Basic Res Cardiol, Biotechnol Appl Biochem, BioTechniques, Expert Review of Medical Devices, Regenerative Medicine, Tissue Engineering, Proteomics, Nature Materials, Nature Protocols, Annals of Biomedical Engineering, Current Stem Cell Research & Therapy, Journal of Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine, Nature Medicine, Stem Cells, Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, Antioxidants and Redox Signaling, Circ Res, Nature Biotechnology
Professional Memberships
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Pharmakologie und Toxikologie (DGPT)Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kardiologie (DGK)
European Society of Cardiology (ESC)
American Heart Association (AHA)
Cardiac Electrophysiology Society (CES)
International Society of Heart Research (ISHR)
Tissue Engineering International & Regenerative Medicine Society (TERMIS)
International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR)
Research Grants & Awards
| 04/2009 | BMBF DLR FKZ 01 GN 0957: Autologous bioartificial myocardium for heart repair |
| 03/2009 | BMBF DLR FKZ 01 GN 0827: Pluripotent parthenogenetic stem cells: isolation, characterization, and allocation to cardiac tissue engineering |
| 09/2008 | DFG FOR 604 ZI 708/8-1: Identification of biophysical and paracrine factors governing electrical integration of cardiomyocytes into a functional syncytium |
| 06/2008 | DFG ZI 708/7-1: Defining the role of non-myocytes for cardiomyocyte differentiation and function in a genetically engineered heart muscle model |
| 04/2007 | Hengstberger-Stipend, German Society of Cardiology |
| 02/07 | Dr. Martini-Award |
| 09/2006 | Werner-Otto-Stiftung (Benndorf/Zimmermann): Role of the AT2-receptor in myocardial vascularization |
| 10/2005 | BMBF JPN 05/A14: Generation of engineered heart tissue from nuclear transfer derived cardiomyocytes |
| 09/2005 | BMBF DLR 01 GN 0520: Development of a clinically applicable human stem cell based cardiac tissue engineering technology |
| 04/2005 | Albert-Fraenkel Award, German Society of Cardiology |
| 10/2004 | Associate member of a “Foundation LeDucq“ transatlantic network of excellence: Isl-1 positive cardioblasts for cardiac regeneration |
| 10/2004 | German Heart Foundation: Long term study to evaluate the consequence of engineered heart tissue implantation in a rat model of myocardial infarction: a proof-of-principle study |
| 06/2004 | Young Investigator Award, International Society for Heart Research (European Section) |
| 01/2004 | Novartis-Foundation grant: Generation of artificial heart muscle from human adult stem/progenitor cells |
| 09/2002 | DFG RO 1306/2-2 (Rosenkranz/Zimmermann): Characterization of the relevance of PDGF-mediated signal transduction in cardiac myocyte growth and function |
| 07/2002 | Minerva Short-Term Research Grant: Construction of engineered heart tissue from human embryonic stem cells |
| 02/2002 | Keystone Symposia Scholarship |
| 11/2001 | German Government Award for the development of a method to reduce animal experiments |
| 10/2001 | DFG GRK 750 Project A1: Relevance of endothelial cells in cardiac tissue engineering |
| 05/2001 | BMBF DLR 01 GN 0124 (Eschenhagen/Zimmermann): Cardiac tissue engineering for tissue replacement therapy |
| 04/2001 | Oskar-Lapp-Award, German Society of Cardiology |
| 03/2001 | Poster presentation award, German Society of Pharmacology and Toxicology |
Publications
Deuse T, Peter C, Fedak PWM, Doyle T, Reichenspurner H, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Stein W, Wu JC, Robbins RC, Schrepfer S (2009) Hepatocyte Growth Factor or Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Gene Transfer Maximizes Mesenchymal Stem Cell–Based Myocardial Salvage After Acute Myocardial Infarction. Circulation. 120:S247-54. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH (2009) Remuscularizing Failing Hearts with Tissue Engineered Myocardium. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2009 Feb 9. [Epub ahead of print] [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Cesnjevar R (2009) Cardiac tissue engineering: implications for pediatric heart surgery. Pediatr Cardiol. 30:716-23. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH (2008) Tissue engineering: polymers flex their muscles. Nat Mater 7:932-933. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH (2008) Herzgewebe aus embryonalen Stammzellen. Bundesgesundheitsblatt - Gesundheitsforschung - Gesundheitsschutz 51:1021-5.[PubMed]
Tiburcy M, Zimmermann WH (2008) Therapie des Diabetes mellitus Typ 2 und kardiovaskuläre Komplikationen: Was ist Evidenz-basiert? Der Kardiologe 2:417-429. [Link]
El-Armouche A, Wittköpper K, Degenhardt F, Weinberger F, Didié M, Melnychenko I, Grimm M, Peeck M, Zimmermann WH, Unsöld B, Hasenfuss G, Dobrev D, Eschenhagen T (2008) Phosphatase inhibitor-1-deficient mice are protected from catecholamine-induced arrhythmias and myocardial hypertrophy. Cardiovasc Res 80:396-406. [PubMed]
Wasmeier GH, Zimmermann WH, Schineis N, Melnychenko I, Voigt JU, Eschenhagen T, Flachskampf FA, Daniel WG, Nixdorff U (2008) Real-time myocardial contrast echocardiography for assessing perfusion and function in healthy and infarcted Wistar rats. Ultrasound Med Biol 34:47-55. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2008) Wie wichtig sind Medikamente? Herz heute 4:8-13.
Zimmermann WH, Tiburcy M, Eschenhagen T (2007) Cardiac Tissue Engineering: A Clinical Perspective. Future Cardiology 3:435-445.
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2007) Embryonic Stem Cells for Cardiac Muscle Engineering. Trends Cardiovasc Med. 17:134-140. [PubMed]
Krüger M, Sachse C, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Klede S, Linke WA (2007) Thyroid hormone regulates developmental titin isoform transitions via the PI3K/AKT pathway. Circ Res 102:439-47. [PubMed]
El-Armouche A, Singh J, Naito H, Wittköpper K, Didié M, Laatsch A, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2007) Adenovirus-delivered short hairpin RNA targeting PKCα improves contractile function in reconstituted heart tissue. J Mol Cell Cardiol 43:371-376. [PubMed]
Yildirim Y, Naito H, Didié M, Chandapillai Karrikineth B, Biermann D, Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH (2007) Development of a Biological Ventricular Assist Device (BioVAD): Preliminary Data from a Small Animal Model. Circulation 116:I16-23. [PubMed]
Wasmeier GH, Melnychenko I, Voigt JU, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Schineis N, Reulbach U, Flachskampf FA, Daniel WG, Nixdorff U (2007) Reproducibility of Transthoracic Two-Dimensional and Doppler Echocardiography in Male Wistar Rats - Implications for Cardiovascular Research. Coron Artery Dis 18:283-291. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Didié, Döker S, Melnychenko I, Naito H, Rogge C, Tiburcy M, Eschenhagen T (2006) Heart Muscle Engineering: An Update on Cardiac Muscle Replacement Therapy. Cardiovasc Res. 71:419-429. [PubMed]
Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH, Kleber A (2006) Electrical coupling of cardiac myocyte cell sheets to the heart. Circ Res. 98:573-575. [PubMed]
Naito H, Melnychenko I, Didié M, Schneiderbanger K, Schubert P, Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH (2006) Optimizing Engineered Heart Tissue for Therapeutic Applications as Surrogate Heart Muscle. Circulation 114:I72-78. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Melnychenko I, Wasmeier G, Didie M, Naito H, Nixdorff U, Hess A, Budinsky L, Brune K, Michaelis B, Dhein S, Schwoerer A, Ehmke H, Eschenhagen T (2006) Engineered heart tissue grafts improve systolic and diastolic function in infarcted rat hearts. Nat Med 12:452-458. [PubMed]
Weil J, Zolk O, Griepentrog J, Wenzel U, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2006) Alterations of the preproenkephalin system in cardiac hypertrophy and its role in atrioventricular conduction. Cardiovasc Res 69:412-422. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Didié M, Eschenhagen T (2005) Kardiales Tissue Engineering. Lebendige Wissenschaft. Medizin Insider 2005: 110-115.
Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH (2005) Engineering myocardial tissue. Circ Res. 97:1220-1231. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2005) Questioning the relevance of circulating cardiac progenitor cells in cardiac regeneration. Cardiovasc Res. 68:344-346. [PubMed]
Munzel F, Muhlhauser U, Zimmermann WH, Didie M, Schneiderbanger K, Schubert P, Engmann S, Eschenhagen T, Zolk O (2005) Endothelin-1 and isoprenaline co-stimulation causes contractile failure which is partially reversed by MEK inhibition. Cardiovasc Res. 68:464-74. [PubMed]
Vantler M, Caglayan E, Zimmermann WH, Baumer AT, Rosenkranz S (2005) Systematic evaluation of anti-apoptotic growth factor signaling in vascular smooth muscle cells: Only phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase is important. J Biol Chem. 280:14168-14176. [PubMed]
Grimm M, Haas P, Willipinski-Stapelfeldt B, Zimmermann WH, Rau T, Pantel K, Weyand M, Eschenhagen T (2005) Key role of myosin light chain (MLC) kinase-mediated MLC2a phosphorylation in the alpha(1)-adrenergic positive inotropic effect in human atrium. Cardiovasc Res. 65:211-220. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Melnychenko I, Eschenhagen T (2004) Engineered Heart Tissue for Regeneration of Diseased Hearts. Biomaterials 25:1639-1647. [PubMed]
Remppis A, Pleger ST, Most P, Lindenkamp J, Ehlermann P, Schweda C, Loffler E, Weichenhan D, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Koch WJ, Katus HA (2004) S100A1 gene transfer: a strategy to strengthen engineered cardiac grafts. J Gene Med. 6:387-394. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, T. Eschenhagen (2003) Tissue engineering of aortic heart valves. Cardiovasc Res 60:460-462. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2003) Cardiac Tissue Engineering for Replacement Therapy. Heart Failure Reviews 8:259-269. [PubMed]
Sass G, Soares MP, Yamashita K, Seyfried S, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Ritter T, Volk HD, Tiegs G (2003) Heme oxygenase-1 induction prevents apoptotic liver injury in mice. Hepatology 38:909-918. [PubMed]
Wiechert S, El-Armouche A, Rau T, Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2003) 24-h Langendorff-Perfused Neonatal Rat Heart to Study the Impact of Adenoviral Gene Transfer. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 285:H907-914. [PubMed]
El-Armouche A, Rau T, Zolk T, Ditz D, Pamminger T, Zimmermann WH, Jäckel E, Harding SE, Boknik P, Neumann J, Eschenhagen T (2003) Evidence for protein phosphatase inhibitor-1 playing a positive feedback role in β-adrenergic signaling in cardiac myocytes. FASEB J 17:437-439. [PubMed]
Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH (2002) Stammzelltherapie in der Kardiologie - Neue Begeisterung für ein „altes“ Thema. Cardiovasc (Sonderheft 1): 29-34.
Eschenhagen T, Didié M, Heubach J, Ravens U, Zimmermann WH (2002) Cardiac Tissue Engineering. Transpl Immunol 9:315-321. [PubMed]
Eschenhagen T, Didié M, Münzel F, Schubert P, Schneiderbanger K, Zimmermann WH (2002) 3D engineered heart tissue for tissue replacement therapy. Basic Res Cardiol 97:I146-152. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Didié M; Wasmeier GH, Nixdorff U, Hess A, Melnychenko I, Boy O, Neuhuber WL; Weyand M; Eschenhagen T (2002) Cardiac grafting of engineered heart tissue in syngenic rats. Circulation 106:I151-I157. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Schneiderbanger K, Schubert P, Didie M, Munzel F, Heubach JF, Kostin S, Neuhuber WL, Eschenhagen T (2002) Tissue engineering of a differentiated cardiac muscle construct. Circ Res 90:223-230. [PubMed]
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2001) Cardiac Tissue Engineering for in vivo and in vitro applications. Bioworld 5:24-25.
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2000) Wie wichtig sind Medikamente? Herz heute Oktober/2000.
Zimmermann WH, Fink C, Kralisch D, Remmers U, Weil J, Eschenhagen T (2000) Three-dimensional engineered heart tissue from neonatal rat cardiac myocytes. Biotechnol Bioeng 68:106-114. [PubMed]
Eschenhagen T, Fink C, Remmers U, Scholz H, Wattchow J, Weil J, Zimmermann WH, Dohmen HH, Schäfer HJ, Bischopric N, Wakatsuki T, Elson EL (1997) Three dimensional reconstitution of embryonic cardiomyocytes in a collagen matrix: a new heart muscle model system. FASEB J 11, 683-694. [PubMed]
Book Chapters
Eschenhagen T, Reichenspurner H, Zimmermann WH (2007) Tissue Engineered Cardiovascular Products. S. 1233-1247 in Principles of Tissue Engineering 3ed, Chapter 82. Hrsg: R.P. Lanza, R. Langer and J. Vacanti, Elsevier, Inc.
Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH (2006) Engineered Heart Tissue. S. 259-291 in Culture of Cells for Tissue Engineering: G. Hrsg: G. Vunjak-Novakovic & R.I. Freshney; Wiley-VCH.
Zimmermann WH, Melnychenko I, Didié M, El-Armouche A, Eschenhagen T (2005) Engineering Heart Tissue for In Vitro and In Vivo Studies. S. 640-658 in Practical Methods in Cardiovascular Research. Hrsg: S. Dhein, F.W. Mohr, M. Delmar; Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T (2004) Tissue Engineering of Cardiac Muscle. S. 1526-1533 in Encyclopedia of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (EBBE). Hrsg: G.L. Bowlin, G. Wnek ISBN: 0-8247-5562-6 (paper) 0-8247-5497-2 (electronic), Dekkar Encyclopedias/Taylor and Francis.
Zimmermann WH, Weyand M, Eschenhagen T (2003) Kardiales Tissue Engineering. S. 233-237 in Synopsis der biologischen und mechanischen Kreislaufunterstützung. Hrsg: Feindt P, Vetter HO, Weyand M; Steinkopff Verlag, Darmstadt.
Eschenhagen T, Fink C, Rau T, Remmers U, Weil J, Zimmermann WH, Aigner S, Eppenberger HM, Wakatsuki T, Elson EL (2000) Transfection studies using a new cardiac 3D gel system. S. 144-165 in Molecular Approaches to Heart Failure Therapy; Hrsg: Hasenfuss G, Marbán E; Springer Verlag; Darmstadt.
Patents
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T, Yildirim Y: POUCH-LIKE CONSTRUCT FOR PREVENTING HEART DISTENSION, WO/2008/058917
Zimmermann WH, Eschenhagen T: MULTILOOP ENGINEERED HEART MUSCLE TISSUE. WO/2007/054286
Eschenhagen T, Zimmermann WH: THREE-DIMENSIONAL MATRIX BODY, AND DEVICE AND METHOD FOR MEASURING CONTRACTIONS OF A CELL TISSUE WO/2001/0155297
