“The CRC opens up new opportunities for us to systematically research the spectrum of cardiometabolic diseases. Our goal is to develop new screening methods for early detection and establish them in everyday clinical practice—not only to improve care for people with diabetes and cardiovascular disease, but also to prevent these conditions from developing in the first place,” emphasizes Professor Michael Roden, Scientific Director and Spokesperson of the Board of the DDZ as well as Director of the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) and DZD board member.
Around 9.5 million people in Germany have diabetes, and the prevalence is on the rise. The condition is often accompanied by other comorbidities. For example, the risk of cardiovascular disease is significantly higher in people with type 2 diabetes. The new CRC “CARDIO-DIABETES-CROSSTALK” will investigate exactly how this link arises, focusing on the causes and biological processes underlying both diseases. The goal is to identify the key molecular factors and cellular interactions that can explain how metabolic disorders develop and inflammation arises. To this end, the CRC will focus on investigating both the molecular processes in the affected organs and the effects that a disruption in energy metabolism has on the cardiovascular system.
The CRC will benefit from the excellent infrastructure on the UKD campus at Heinrich Heine University (HHU)—particularly due to its proximity to the CARDDIAB (“translational science building for CARDiovascular research in DIABetes”) research building, which is currently under construction. Here, preclinical and clinical research on diabetes and cardiovascular disease, the development of new strategies for maintaining public health, and the creation of personalized therapies will be brought together.
New Approaches to Early Detection and Targeted Prevention
Prof. Robert Wagner, Head of the Research Group Clinical Research Center at the DDZ and senior physician at the Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the UKD, will serve as co-spokesperson: “With funding from the DFG, we can study diabetes and cardiovascular disease in greater detail as a common disease continuum. We aim to closely integrate the precise characterization of people with diabetes and molecular analyses. Our goal is to better understand why certain people with diabetes or prediabetes develop cardiovascular complications at an early stage—and to use this understanding to develop new approaches for early detection and targeted prevention.” Prof. Maria Grandoch, Head of the Institute for Translational Pharmacology at HHU, will assume the role of spokesperson for the CRC.
Other participants at the Düsseldorf site include PD Dr. Oana-Patricia Zaharia (DDZ, Department of Endocrinology and Diabetology at the UKD) and Prof. Eckhart Lammert (DDZ, Institute of Metabolic Physiology at HHU). Researchers from the Institute of Diabetes and Obesity at DZD partner Helmholtz Munich are also involved in the project.
The project proposal submitted to the DFG involved funding totaling more than 11 million euros over a term of almost four years.
