Alumni

The Center for Molecular Cardiology grew out of the founding research laboratory on Vascular Physiology at the Center for Education and Research (Zentrum für Lehre und Forschung) at Basel University (1987-1993), the Research Division of the Department of Cardiology at the Inselspital Bern (1994-1996) and eventually the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Zurich at Irchel Campus (1997-2014). Since the early 1990s, the Center for Molecular Cardiology has contributed more than 1000 scientific publications and obtained over 70000 citations (retrieved 2017). Owing to the outstanding efforts made by the scientists working at the Center during the last decades, knowledge of the mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disorders has increased considerably and the quality of healthcare in the field has improved. Some of our alumni are now leaders in their field, in Switzerland and globally. For a more comprehensive overview, see The Center for Molecular Cardiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.

Lukas Altwegg studied medicine in Basel and then completed a postdoctoral fellow in the cardiovascular research of the Department of Physiology, University of Zurich and worked on human connective growth factor. This was followed by further training in Internal Medicine at the Kantonsspital Baden under Prof. Hans-Jürg Beer and finally in cardiology under Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher at the University Hospital Zurich. After obtaining the FMH specialist in cardiology, he moved to Vancouver to work under Prof. John Webb, the pioneer of trans arterial valve implantation. After his return to Zurich he set up together with Prof. Willibald Maier the TAVI program. In 2012 he habilitated at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich and by 7 January 2013 he was elected to the St. Clara Hospital chief residency in cardiology.

Urs Arnet started his career at the University of Basel where he studied pharmacy. He did his PhD in Prof. Lüscher’s Cardiovascular Research Group at the University Clinic Basel (Switzerland) on nitrate vasodilators. After his PhD he moved to the John Hopkins University (USA), where he investigated a protein that synthesizes endothelial nitric oxide. In 1995, he returned to Switzerland, where he continued his research at Prof. Lüscher’s Cardiovascular Research Group at the “Insel” Hospital Bern. In 1997 he assumed a position at Merck, Sharp & Dohme-Chibret AG.

Tasnem Arsiwala obtained her Bachelor of Pharmacy at the University of Mumbai in 2010 and then moved to the University of Oxford to the Said Business School and then obtained a Mas-ter of Science in Pharmacology in 2011. She later graduated at the University of Zurich as a PhD in Molecular Integrative Medicine based on her work on “Sirt6 deletion in bone marrow-derived cells increases atherosclerosis” at the Center of Molecular Cardiology in 2016. She then accepted a postdoctoral fellowship in nephrology research at the Inselspital Bern, Switzerland. Currently, she works at Novartis, Basel Switzerland.

Professor of cardiology at the University of Oslo in Norway. Dan Atar studied medicine in Basel and was then trained in internal medicine and cardiology. This was followed by stays abroad: at John Hopkins University in Baltimore (1991–1994) and the University of Copenhagen, where he worked as a senior cardiologist. From 1997 to 1998 Dan Atar served as a senior physician, supported by the Cloëtta Foundation of Cardiology at the University Hospital of Zurich. His license to teach at University (Habilitation) was transferred from the University of Basel to the University of Zurich. In addition to clinical work Dr. Atar conducted experiments: he investigated ischaemia and reperfusion of the heart. After serving as senior physician at the University of Copenhagen, in Frederiksberg Hospital, in 2002 he was appointed head of the cardiology department at the University of Oslo in Norway. Here he worked with a large team of cardiologists and clinical researchers, especially in the field of cardiac markers, heart failure, and cardiovascular pharmacology.

Christian Besler has studied medicine in Hannover, Germany and joined the Cardiovascular Research Division at the Institute of Physiology in 2010 to work on HDL dysfunction, a study that eventually became a seminal contribution published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation in 2011. He also worked part time in the outpatient clinic of the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) and then trained in internal medicine at the Regional Hospital Uster, Switzerland (PD Dr. Esther Bächli) and eventually moved back to Germany for further training.

Blyszczuk Przemek studied biology in Krakow inPoland and then moved to the Center for Molecular Cardiology of the University of Zurich to work in the research group Cardioimmuno-logy (head: Prof. Urs Eriksson) on molecular mechanisms of myocarditis. He published seminal work on inflammatory mecha-nisms of immune-mediated myocarditis.  In 2019 he moved as research associate to the research division of the Department of Rheumatology of the University Hospital Zurich.

Nicole Bonetti studied Medicine at the University of Zurich and then trained in Internal Medicine at the Regional Hospital Baden, Switzerland. She then was accepted to the MD/PhD programe of the University of Zurich and worked as a research fellow at the Center for Molecular Cardiology in the research group of Prof. Giovanni G. Camici. She published important papers on the molecular mechanisms of stroke. She then finished her training in internal medicine at Baden Hospital and is now training as a cardiology fellow at the University Heart Center in Zurich, Switzerland.

After studying pharmacy in Nancy (France), Chantal Boulanger continued her formation at the Mayo Clinic (USA) in cardiovascular biology. In 1988, she moved to Switzerland where she worked as a researcher in the Department of Cardiology at the University Clinic Basel. During this time, Chantal Boulanger published several important publications showing that the secretion of a protein causing hypertension was inhibited by nitric oxide but stimulated by oxidized lipids. Her publications are still one of the most cited papers in the prestigious medical journal Clinical Investigations. Later she accepted a senior research position at the Baylor Colleges in Houston, Texas (USA). Since the early 90’s she works at the Hôpital Lariboisière (INSERM) at the University of Paris, first in the role of research director (Directrice de Recherches) and since 2019 as Director of the Paris-Cardiovascular Research Center.

Alexander Breitenstein is a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology and has additionally trained in congenital heart defects, cardiac surgery and cardiovascular research. From January 2011 to June 2012 he served as assistant physician and from July 2013 to December 2013 as a senior physician p.p. in the cardiology ambulatory, in the echocardiography laboratory and in the heart failure clinic at the Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich. In 2014 he moved to the Arrhythmia Unit of St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London to Prof. Richard J. Schilling.

Sofie Brouwers studied medicine at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. After her graduation in 2011, she started a PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and Boston University as a fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO). Her doctoral research focused on ar-terial hypertension, and more specifically on the role of the AT2 receptor in the central regulation of blood pressure and renal hemodynamics. Upon completing her PhD, she conti-nued her studies in Internal Medicine at the University Hospital in Brussels. In 2016, she joined the University Hospital in Zürich to pursue her cardiology training, where she was active as the Chief Medical Resident. During her time in Zürich, she was also involved in the coordination of the Swiss Amyloidosis Registry. Since November 2019, she works at the OLV Aalst Hospital (Belgium) as a staff member in Cardiology. Furthermore, she is a member of the board of the Council on Hypertension of the European Society of Cardiology.

Giovanni Camici studied Biology at Queen Mary University of London, UK. In 2007 he obtained a PhD in cardiovascular physiology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. After this, he moved to Zurich to work as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a group leader at the cardiovascular research laboratory at the University of Zurich. Under the leadership of Prof Lüscher, in 2014 he established and became director of the center for molecular cardiology at the newly built University of Zurich campus in Schlieren. In 2017 he became Assistant professor at the faculty of medicine of the University of Zurich where he still serves his duties. Over his career he won several prizes amongst which the “outstanding achievement award” of the European society of cardiology and published several articles in top journals such as EHJ, JACC and Circulation. He also filed several patents and participated in the organizations of several National and International congresses.

Dr Canestro studied exercise sciences at the University of Miguel Hernandez in Spain and later completed a MSc in Health and Human Performance at the same university. In 2015 she joined the Center for Molecular Cardiology to carry out her PhD focusing on the molecular mechanisms of stroke in aging as well as on age-dependent vascular stiffness. In 2019 after completing her PhD, she moved on to the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Calgary, Canada, for a PostDoctoral fellowship and later to the University of Hong-Kong as a Postdoctoral fellow.

Francesco Cosentino studied medicine in Rome and then specialised in internal medicine. He served as a post-doctoral fellow in anaesthesia and pharmacology research, and was head of the section of nitric oxide synthesis and tetrahydrobiopterin in endothelial function, at Mayo Clinic Foundation. Together with Professor Zvonimir Katusic he published a large number of notable studies. In 1993 he jointed Professor Thomas F. Lüscher’s cardiovascular research group at the department of cardiology, Inselspital in Bern, as a post-doctoral Fellow. He then served as a university assistant at Università la Sapienza in Rome and conducted cardiovascular research at the Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich. In 2004 he completed a clinical sabbatical at the Clinic of Cardiology, University Hospital of Zurich. In 2005 he was appointed Associate Professor of Cardiology at Università la Sapienza in Rome. Professor Francesco Cosentino still works part-time as head of a cardiovascular research group at the Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich. Thanks to the collaboration between Zurich and Rome, a large number of Fellows could be trained in molecular cardiology in Zurich and have several publications to their credit. Due to his work in Zurich, he was appointed Professor of Cardiology by the Karolinska Institutet and Universitetssjukhuset in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 1st, 2013.

Sarah Costantino obtained her degree in Chemistry and Pharmacy in 2008 at University of Nap-les "Federico II". In December 2012 she received her PhD in Experimental Medicine at the 2nd University of Naples. Then she worked as a fellow in cardiovascular research at the Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland, under the supervision of Proffs. Francesco Cosentino and Thomas F. Lüscher. Her main research topics are epigenetic mechanisms un-derlying cardiovascular disease in diabetes and obesity. In 2013 she received the ESC Young Investigator Award in Basic Science at the Congress of the European Society of Cardiology. She then moved to Sweden as a research assistant at the Cardiology Unit in the Department of Medicine of Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2014, she moved to the Center for Moilecular Cardiology to work in the research group Regenerative Medicine (Head: Prof. Francesco Paneni). In 2022 she joined the Department of Cardiolgy of the University Hospital Zurich.

A native of Mexico where she studied Biology, she moved to Switzerland for her PhD under the leadership of Proffs. Roland Wenger and Christian M. Matter at the Institute of Physiology, Cardiovascular Research (Head: Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) on modulation of scavenger receptors by hypoxia. After her successful promotion to a PhD, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow on rheumatoid arthritis in the Center for Molecualr Cardiology (Chairman: Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) which led to a well received publication in Cardiovascular Research  on “Molecular Mechanisms of Endothelial Dysfunction and Atherosclerosis in Rheumatoid Arthritis” in 2021. She now works in Germany with Fresenius GmbH as Scientific Affairs Manager.

Denis Diederich, Professor of Nephrology and Medicine at the University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, USA, spent in 1987-1988 a one year sabbatical in the Laboratory of Vascular Research at the Center for Education and Research, University of Basle, together with Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher and published vastly on endothelial function in human blood vessels, as well as in mice treated with cyclosporin. He returned to his home town in 1988 and continued to work as a professor of medicine at the health center in Kansas City.

Yasuaki Dohi is Professor of Medicine at Nagoya University, Nagoya, Japan. He studied medicine in his hometown of Nagoya and then specialised in internal medicine, specifically hypertension. In 1989 he joined Professor Thomas F. Lüscher’s research group which was in Basel at the time and returned to his own university two years later. In Nagoya he worked as a specialist in internal medicine at the University Hospital and was particularly interested in cardiovascular diseases, especially hypertension. In April 2015 Yasuaki Dohi became Professor of Medicine in Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Nagoya Gakuin University.

Raghvendra K. Dubey has studied at the Lucknow University, India, and completed his PhD in 1985. Thereafter, until 1994 he had several postdoc positions in the US and stayed as a visiting scientist at the Department for Vascular Research of the University Hospital Basel. From 1994 to 2010 he was assistant and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, USA. In 2000 he became research director at the Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University Hospital Zurich and lecturer at the University of Zurich. Since 2007 he is an associate professor and since 2014 professor for molecular reproductive endocrinology at the University of Zurich.

Livius d’Uscio has studied pharmacy in Bern from 1988 to 1994 and then joined the cardiovascular research division of the Department of Cardiology at Inselspital Berne, Switzerland. During his stay, he made seminal contributions to the understanding of the role of circulating peptides including endothelin and angiotensin II in the control of blood vessel tone and pathogenesis of hypertension and submitted his work as a PhD thesis in pharmacy at the University of Berne. For his work, he received first prize for the best PhD thesis of that year of the University of Berne. In 1997, he moved to the cardiovascular research division of the Institute of Physiology at the University of Zurich to continue his work. He published extensively in peer-reviewed journals on endothelial regulation of resistance arteries and their alterations in hypertension and hypercholesterolemia. In 1999, he joined Prof. Zvonimir Katusic’s vascular molecular biology laboratory in the Department of Anesthesiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN as a Research Fellow, and he has progressed to his current appointments as Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Professional Associate in research. He has since continued his work on the role of GTP-cyclohydrolase I and tetrahydrobiopterin in vascular endothelium and he has performed pioneering research regarding alterations of vascular tetrahydrobiopterin metabolism in cardiovascular disease.

Urs Eriksson studied Medicine at the University of Zurich and trained in internal medicine and in-tensive care at the University Hospital in Basel. He then took a fellowship in myocarditis re-search at Toronto University Hospital and ever since performed seminal work on the molecular mechanisms of inflammation in myocarditis. Based on his scientific work, he was awarded a professorship of the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2012 he moved as Senior Consultant to the University Heart Center at the University Hospital in Zurich and brought a research group focussing on myocarditis to the Center for Molecular Cardiology. In 2015, he was elected chief on internal medicine at the Regional Hospital Wetzikon near Zurich, Switzerland.

Masato Eto is Professor of International Research Center for Medical Education, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Medicine, Japan. During the stay in Zurich, he worked in Prof. Thomas F Luscher's Cardiovascular Research Team to identify signalling pathways leading to endothelial dysfunction from 1999 to 2004. Since coming back to Tokyo, he has continued endothelial research to identify the molecular mechanisms of endothelial cellular ageing (ATVB 2008;28:1634, JACC 2009;53:2298, Endocrinology 2010;151:1822, ATVB 2010;30:2205). For teaching activities, Prof Eto is a program director of clinical clerkship for medical students at the University of Tokyo. He is also a national committee member of Japanese Examination for Medical Doctor License and Japanese Model Core Curriculum for Undergraduate Medical Education.

Andreas Flammer studied medicine in Basel and trained in internal medicine at the Regional Hospital in Burgdorf /Dr. Cottier). He then moved to the cardiovascular research division (Prof, Georg Noll) of the Department of Cardiology (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) of the University Hospital Zurich where he worked on nutrients such as chocolate on endothelial function in patients with cardiovascular disease and heart transplantation. He then trained in cardiology at the institution and moved later abroad to the Mayo Clinic (Prof. Amir Lerman)  for a research fellowship on endothelial function. After his return to Zurich, he became consultant in heart failure and started research projects on the eye circulation in cardiac patients. He obtained the venia legendi in cardiology at the University of Zurich in 2014 and was promoted to clinical professor (Titular-Professor) in 2020. He is currently head of the heart failure unit at the Department of Cardiology of the University Hospital Zurich.

Pietro Francia studied medicine at the Sapienza University of Rome where he graduated in 2001. In 2005 he specialized in cardiology at the same University. Between 2002 and 2003 he worked as a research and clinical fellow at the University of Zurich and University Hospital of Zurich under the supervision of Prof TF Lüscher, Prof F Duru and Prof F Cosentino. Currently he works as senior physician in the electrophysiology unit of the Sant’ Andrea hospital of the medical faculty at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.

Catherine Gebhard joined the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Cardiology after her Medical studies in Germany and worked with Prof. Felix C. Tanner on the regulation of tissue factor by different physiological and biochemical stimuli. She later joined Prof. Paolo Camici at the PET Unit at the Hammersmith Hospital in London to work on nuclear cardiology, returned to Switzerland to work with Prof. Philipp A. Kaufmann in cardiac imaging at the University Hospital Zurich and then moved to the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada for interventional training. Upon her return to Zurich, she received an SNF Professorship in gender medicine in cardiology and worked both in the Department of Nuclear Medicine at the Univer-sity Hospital as well as with her research group at the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the Schlieren Campus of the University of Zurich. Since 2022 she is Consultant of interventional cardiology at the Department of Cardiology of the Inselspital Bern.

Ivan O. Haefliger, MD, FEBO is a professor in ophthalmology at the University of Basel. He is trained both as a basic scientist and clinician ophthalmologist. After having completed his residency in ophthalmology in Geneva, he has been trained in basic research, glaucoma, and oculoplastic surgery in Basel (Zentrum für Lehre und Forschung), London (Moorfields Eye Hospital), Miami (Bascom Palmer Eye Institute), and Belohorizonte (UFMG/Bresil). He has published numerous original and review papers in the ophthalmological literature and has served as a reviewer for many prestigious journals in ophthalmology. He has been very much involved in different European associations. For many years he has acted as chairman of the section of ocular pharmacology and physiology of the European Association for Vision and Eye Research (EVER). He has also been chairman of the EBO Education Committee of the European Board of Ophthalmology (EBO). He is presently vice-president of the European Union of Medical Specialist (UEMS) section of ophthalmology. He is also working in his private clinic in Basel, with a special focus and emphasis on lacrimal and eyelid related issues.

Walter Häfeli studied medicine in Basel (Switzerland) followed by further training as a medical specialist in inner medicine and clinical pharmacology at the Department of Inner Medicine at the State Hospital of Basel. Between 1990 and 1992 he conducted research at Stanford University (USA) investigating the regulation of venous tone in hand veins. In 1993 he returned to Switzerland where he assumed an Assistant Medical Director position under Prof. Lüscher. In 1995 he was appointed Professor in Clinical Pharmacology at the University Heidelberg (Germany) and Director of the University Clinic in Heidelberg.

Matthias Hermann studied medicine in Göttingen and subsequently trained in Cardiovascular Research at the Institute of Physiology and the Department of Cardiology in Zurich. He has earned merits, especially in the field of heart failure clinically and scientifically. In March 2009 he was appointed chief physician of the cardiology department at Höhenklinik Wald in Zurich and continues as a guest senior physician to 20% at the Department of Cardiology in Zurich. In 2011 he habilitated at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich for Cardiology.

Keiichi Hishikawa studied at the University School of Medicine in Keio, Japan, and graduated at this institution in 1989. After his studies, he became a resident at the Division of Internal Medicine of the University Hospital in Keio. In 1993 Dr Hishikawa returned to the -University School of Medicine in Keio where he worked as a specialized resident and then moved to Switzerland in 1995 as Postdoctoral Research Fellow, initially at the University of Bern at the Department of Cardiology of the Inselspital and thereafter at the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Zürich. He worked mainly on the effects of pulsatile stretch in endothelial and coronary artery smooth muscle cells. He published seminal papers in Circulation and Circulation Research. In 1997 Dr Hishikawa returned to Japan initially as a fellow and as of 1998 as an Associate Professor in Pharmacology at Teikyo University School of Medicine in Tokyo.
Since 2002 Keiichi Hishikawa is an Associate Professor at the Departement of Internal Medicine as well as at the Department of Clinical Renal Regeneration at the University of Tokyo, Japan. His research interests encompass regenerative medicine, stem cell biology as well as ES- and inducible progenitor cells.

Erik W. Holy graduated in human medicine from the Medical University of Vienna. In September 2006, he joined the research group of the Clinic for Cardiology at the University Hospital Zurich where he worked under the direction of Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher and Prof. Felix C. Tanner until November 2010. As part of his research activities, he successfully completed his MD/PhD program in 2012. Next, he continued his clinical training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Cantonal Hospital Baden and the University Hospital Zurich, where in March 2015 he was promoted to senior physician at the Clinic for Cardiology. Since 2022 he is senior physician and vice clinic director of the Clinic for Angiology at the University Hospital of Zurich.

Philip Jakob studied Medicine at the University of Zurich and became a research fellow at the Research Division of the Institute of Physiology in 2012 to study the effects of heart failure, both due to dilated and ischemic cardiomyopathy, on the biology and dysfunction of progenitor cells. He then trained as a fellow in Cardiology at the University Heart Center in interventional cardiology. In 2014 he moved with Ulf Landmesser from Zurich to the Benjamin Franklin Campus, Charité Berlin to further train in cardiology and to continue his research. In 2018 he returned to the University Heart Center in Zurich as a junior consultant in interventional cardiology and is now senior consultant in cardiology at the Cantonal Hospital Chur, Switzerland with a part time research commitment at the Center for Molecular Cardiology of the University and the Department of Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich.

Roland Klingenberg, MD FESC studied medicine at the universities of Tubingen and Freiburg (thesis) with clinical training at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas and the University of South Florida, Tampa. Subsequently, he did his residency in internal medicine (board certificate) with a focus on cardiovascular medicine at the University Hospital Heidelberg (Prof. Dr H. A. Katus). He continued with a postdoctorate period in experimental vascular inflammation at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm with Prof. Dr G. K. Hansson. Acceptance into the Special Programme University Medicine - Inflammation and Acute Coronary Syndromes (SPUM-ACS) funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation enabled him to pursue a variety of projects with a focus on inflammation and biomarkers in ACS patients in close collaboration with colleagues at four university centres in Switzerland. He obtained his board-certification in cardiology (FMH) following a residency at University Hospital Zurich and was attending physician in Acute Cardiology from 2013 - 2015 (Prof. Dr T. F. Lüscher) with habilitation in 2015. Early 2015 he moved to the Kerckhoff-Klinik in Bad Nauheim (Prof. Dr C. W. Hamm) for special training in Interventional Cardiology and has been working there as attending physician since 07/2018.

Dr. Alexej Kouroedov studied at the University of Nowosibirsk in Russia and worked in the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Physiology from 2002 – 2007 where he worked on Inhibition of protein kinase C beta to prevent foam cell formation via reducing scavenger receptor A expression in human macrophages (Circulation 2008) among other projects. He then trained in clinical medicine at different institutions in Switzerland and now works in private practice in Zurich.

Nicolle Kränkel graduated in biotechnology and completed her scientific doctorate at the Heart Center Leipzig. Supported by the Marie Curie Fellowship, she investigated during her postdoctoral at the University Bristol (2006 - 2009) the role of bradykinin receptors in angiogenesis. In Zurich, she continued her research on this topic with the support of the "Ambizione" Fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation. Since October 2014 Mrs Kränkel is a junior group leader at the Charité in Berlin. Mrs Kränkel deals there with the interactions between inflammation and regeneration in vascular disease.

Dr. Nasmi Krasniqi studied Medicine at the University of Zurich during which he worked under the supervision of Dr. Zhihong Yang, then research group leader at the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Physiology at the Univeristy of Zurich-Irchel, in basic research. After his graduation he trained in surgery and internal medicine at the regional hospitals in Baden, Bülach and Winterthur, then moved to the Department of Cardiology at the University Hospital Zurich under the leadership of Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher to train in Cardiology and in particular in Electrophysiology and arrhythmias. He deepened this with a exchange fellowship under Professor Josep Luis Mont at the Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, Spain. Therefter he moved to the Hospital in Wetzikon as consultant and then senior consultant in cardiology involved mainly in devices and ablation of rhythm disorders. He now works at the Herzklinik Kreulingen.

Adelheid Kratzer has worked during her PhD on nuclear receptors, especially liver X receptor, and its impact on atherosclerosis, especially on macrophages. Thereafter she changed her focus towards one of the risk factors of cardiovascular disease, namely smoking, specifically passive smoking. Theses studies led her interest towards immunology, inflammation and inflammatory signalling and back to cardiovascular research as atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease. Having started her second Postdoc in Prof. Ulf Landmesser's research group at the Center for Molecular Cardiology in Zurich in July 2012 she started focusing on the differences in Caspase-1 recruiting inflammasomes, their activation and regulation in monocyte subgroups from stable and acute coronary artery diseases patients. Here, she also started looking into the impact of microRNA as well as high-density lipoprotein (HDL) on the regulation and activation of these subgroups. In this respect, she also tried to set up a screening for miRNA and mRNA targets within the different monocyte subgroups using next-generation sequencing technology with the support of the functional genomics centre at the University of Zurich (FGCZ). In the future, she plans to investigate gender differences in this novel way of target search. Additionally, she is trying to decipher the impact of protease inhibitors on the pro- /anti-inflammatory effects of HDL and possible implications in the treatment of CAD. Finally, she is also working on a humanized mouse model in order to study the impact of lipoproteins on the formation of monocyte subgroups. She also has also successfully set up collaborations with companies, for whom we measure HDL-mediated NO release. Since October 2014 she is working as a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Landmesser's group at the Charite Campus Benjamin Franklin in Berlin.

Christoph Küng studied Pharmacy at the University of Basel, Switzerland. In 1992, he obtained his doctoral degree (PhD) by the University of Basel with work on endothelial dysfunction in hypertension performed at the Division of Clinical Pharmacology (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) at the Center for Education and Research and the University Hospitals Basel. He published seminal papers on the effects of aging and hypertension on endothelial function (Hypertension 1995, Journal Cardiovascular Pharmacology 1995). In 1993 he moved to pharmaceutical industry and worked with differen companies before joining SwissMedic in Bern as Head of Division.

David Kurz is Head of the Department of Cardiology at Triemli Hospital. From 2004 to the end of 2008, 20 per cent of his working hours consisted of serving as head of a research group at the Institute of Physiology. On 27th October 2008, he held his inaugural lecture on "When cells change: relevant for age-associated cardiovascular disease?" in the assembly hall of the University of Zurich.

Specialist in Internal Medicine and Cardiology trained at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. From 2007 to 2014 he was Director of Coronary Care and Chest Pain Unit as well as Medical Director of Interventional Cardiology focusing acute cardiology. In 2012 he received the Frederick Goetz price of the University of Zurich for his research on HDL cholesterol. In the winter semester, 2014/2015 Ulf Landmesser was appointed Professor of Cardiology and Director of the Medical Clinic Cardiology - Pulmonology - Angiology of the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the University Hospital Benjamin Franklin.

Markus Lang studied Pharmacy at the University of Basel, Switzerland. He obtained his doctoral degree (PhD) of the University of Basel in 1992 for his work on endothelial dysfunction performed at the Division of Clinical Pharmacology of the University Hospitals thereof (Head: Prof. Thomas F. L)üscherir at the Center for Education and Research of the University and the University Hospitals Basel. In 1993 he moved to pharmaceutical industry. He is now Senior Director, Brand Safety Lead at United Therapeutics Coopration in Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Area, USA.

Lucal Liberale studied medicine at the Univerisità di Genova in Italy and trained in internal medicine thereat. He then moved for a postdoctoral research fellowship to the University of Zurich, Center for Molecular Cardiology to work in basic cardiovascular research under the leadership of Prof. Giovanni G. Camici. He published well cited work on the molecular mechanisms of ischemic stroke and on Jcad, a novel endothelial protein interfering with endogenous fibrinolysis (European Heart Journal 2022). In 2021, he returned as ricercatore to the Deivsion of Internal Medicine at the University hospital in Genova under the leadership of Prof. Fabrizio Montecucco.

Christian Matter studied medicine in Zurich and trained in internal medicine and cardiology (Prof. Hans-Peter Krayenbühl and Prof. Otto M. Hess). He then trained abroad in vascular biology at Harvard Medical School. He returned to the Department of Cardiology of the University Hospital Zurich (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) in 1998 and worked as a research fellow in cardiovascular research at the Institute of Physiologywith a parttime commitment in outpatient cardiology at the hospital. He was then promoted consultant with a generous protected research time and clinical activity in the echocardiography laboratory (Prof. Felix C. Tanner). He was promoted to research group leader at the Center for Molecular Cardiology in atherosclerosis research and consistently supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2007, he received the venia legend of the University of Zurich and was promoted clinical professor (Titular-Professor) in 2013. He currently is head of translational research.

Mario Merlini studied Biopharmaceutical Sciences at Leiden University in the Netherlands. After that in 2011 he obtained his PhD at the Neuroscience Division of Psychiatry Research, University of Zurich, Switzerland. Next he moved to the USA (Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease, University of California, San  Francisco) until 2014 sponsored by his own Swiss National Science Foundation grant. After this experience he returned to Switzerland for 2 years where he worked as a senior fellow at the institute of regenerative medicine and at the center for molecular cardiology. Currently he works as a Junior Team Leader on “Neurovascular Dynamics in Neuropsychiatric Disorders” at the University of Caen in France.

Peter Meyer completed his medical studies in Basel in 1987 followed by a year of training in Internal Medicine. Until 1993 he undertook speciality training in ophthalmology and ophthalmic Surgery at the Eye Clinic of the University of Basel (Prof. Josef Flammer). Between 1991 and 1994 he worked in basic research at the Vascular Research Laboratory (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) of the Center for Education and Research of the University and Univeristy Hospitals Basel within a Swiss National Science Foundation project on ophthalmic vascular physiology. He developed a novel perfusion system for the evaluation of ocular microcirculation. The results built the foundation of his postdoctoral thesis in 2001 on „Untersuchungen an isolierten Blut-gefässen und am perfundierten Auge – ein Beitrag zur Physiologie der okulären Perfusion“. In 1995 he undertook further speciality training under Professor Daicker at the Eye Hospital in Basel on oclular pathology and took over leadership of the unit after he retired. In 1998 he un-dertook further speciality under Professor Naumann in Erlangen in ophthalmic pathology and oncology. Besides the direction of the Department of Ophthalmic Pathology, he is also clinically active and undertakes conciliar oncologic consultations. In 2008 Peter Meyer became associate professor of the University of Basel. His current research activities include neurodegenerative diseases of the optic nerve, especially glaucoma, with basic research on meningothelial cells of the optic nerve sheath, as well as clinical pathological studies with eye tumours.

Melroy Miranda studied biology at the University of Mumbai, India and moved to the at the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the Schlieren Campus of the University of Zurich for his PhD working on the effects of Sirt1 on PCSK9, lipids and plaque formation leading to a highly cited paper on the effects of a SIRT1 activator on atherosclerosis in the mouse (Prof. Christian M. Matter). He then was offered a postdoctoral fellowship where he continued his work on SIRT1 under the leadership of Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher. In 2017 he founded a start-up company focussing on the development of novel therapeutics in his area of interest.

Pierre Moreau studied pharmacy at the University of Montreal (Canada). Subsequently, he engaged in basic research. From 1994 to 1996 he was involved in cardiovascular research at the “Insel” Hospital in Bern (Switzerland). He conducted an impressive number of research projects investigating the remodelling of small arteries under experimental hypertension. He published his results in reputable scientific journals such as Circulation, Stroke und Hypertension. In 1997, Pierre Moreau returned to Montreal where he was appointed Professor of Pharmacy. Later, he was promoted to sub-dean at the faculty of pharmacy at the University of Montreal.

Eduardo Nava studied at the Autonoma University of Madrid, Spain, where he completed his degree in Medicine as well as a PhD with the doctoral dissertation In vitro study of the internal carotid system. In 1990, he continued the scientific career as a post-doctoral fellow within the framework of the prostaglandin and nitric oxide research leader, Prof. S. Moncada, by then at the Wellcome Research Labs in London, UK. In 1993, he was recruited by Professor Thomas F. Lüscher at the University Hospital Berne where they studied the role of nitric oxide in high blood pressure and developed several techniques for the determination of nitric oxide synthase in the heart and resistance vessels of hypertensive animals. In 1995 he returned to Spain at the University of Murcia with prof. Salazar to keep on the research in the field of the biology of nitric oxide in hypertension, ageing and septic shock.
In 1999, Dr Nava was appointed as a Lecturer in Physiology at the University of Castilla-La Mancha in Spain and in 2019 he was appointed as a professor in this university.
His current research includes the role of perivascular adipose tissue in microvascular function in metabolic syndrome and hypertension as well as the paracrine roles of perivascular adipose tissue in the control of vasomotion.

Georg Noll studied medicine at the University of Basel and trained in internal medicine and car-diology at the University Hospital of the institution. In 1989 he became a Junior Consultant in the Outpatient Department of Internal Medicine, thereof, and then joined the Vascular Physiology Laboratory of the Center for Education and Research under the guidance of Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher. In 1992, he received a stipend from the Swiss National Science Foundation, as a senior researcher (SCORE Grant) and moved with Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher to Bern, in 1993. In Bern, he built a cardiovascular physiology laboratory focusing on endothelial and sym-pathetic nerve function, using microneurography. He published seminal work on sympathetic nerve traffic in offsprings of hypertensive patients and the effects of cardiovascular drugs on sympathetic nerve traffic. In 1997, he moved to the University of Zurich, Department of Car-diology, to become Senior Consultant. He continued to run his clinical research group the Department of Cardiology and published important work on cardiovascular function, heart failure and transplantation. In 2012, he was nominated associate professor of cardiology and vice-chairman of the University Heart Center. In 2014, he moved to a private clinic as a consultant in cardiology (Heart Clinic, Hirslanden Group, Zurich, Switzerland).

Stefanie Nusser-Stein obtained her Diploma in Biology in 2008 from the University of Tübingen, in Germany. From 2008 to 2012 he conducted her PhD under the supervision of Prof. Alex Hajnal at the Institute of Molecular Life Sciences at the University of Zurich working on C. elegans development. In between maternity breaks she worked as Research Associate at ExcellGene in Monthey, Switzerland, before joining the Center for Molecular Cardiology as postdoctoral fellow from 2017 to 2019, working under the supervision of Sokrates Stein. During her postdoctoral fellowship she studied the role of the hepatic nuclear receptors NCOR1 and PROX1 in atherosclerosis. Between 2019 and 2021 she worked as Clinical Trial Coordinator in the Department of Hematology at the University Hospital Zurich, and then joined Abbvie as Clinical Research Associate in 2021.

Barry Oemar, a native of Indonesia, studied medicine at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover and trained in Pediatrics, but obtained great knowledge in molecular biology. He eventually re-eived the venia legendi (Habilitation) at the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover in pediatrics. In 1992 he joined the Vascular Physiology Laboratory (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) at the Center for Education and Research at the University of Basel to work on the molecular mechanisms of atheroscelrosis. He published seminal papers on differentially expressed genes in human atherosclerosis, such a human connective tissue growth factor, and on nitric oxide expression. In 1994 he moved to pharmaceutical industry and is now senior director at Pfizer, Inc..

Sara Oppi received her Bachelor and Master’s in biology degrees from the Università Statale di Milano in 2013 and 2016, respectively. In 2016 she joined the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the University of Zurich to conduct her PhD under the supervision of Sokrates Stein. During her PhD she demonstrated that macrophage NCOR1 regulates atherosclerosis progression in mice and likely exerts similar functions in human plaques. She received several prices for her work, which was published in the Eur Heart J. After completing her PhD in 2020, Sara first joined Roche Diagnostics International as a Clinical Science Intern, and then MSD as Clinical Data Manager in 2021, where she is currently pursuing her career in clinical trial management.

Elena Osto is a physician-scientist. She trained as MD and board-certified cardiologist at the University of Padova, Italy, where she also obtained a PhD in cardiovascular science (2007-2010). Her research focuses on the pathophysiology of vascular dysfunction and atherosclerosis in dysmetabolic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Her research projects explore the multi-organ crosstalk in cardio-metabolic disease, combining a multidisciplinary approach with a strong translational aspect. Elena Osto was awarded prestigious career grants (“Forschungskredit”, a Fellowship of the University of Zurich; first the "AMBIZIONE" followed by the “PRIMA” Fellowship of the Swiss National Science Foundation, which allowed her to establish her independent research group in 2015. Dr Osto is the Head of the research group on Cardio-metabolic disease at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry (University and University Hospital of Zurich) and is affiliated with the Laboratory of Nutritional Research (ETH Zurich). Her group maintains successful collaborations with the Institute of Veterinary Physiology (University of Zurich, led by Prof. Dr Thomas Lutz), the Department of Cardiology (University Hospital of Zurich, led by Prof. Dr Frank Ruschitzka) amongst others. Dr Osto has earned merits and awards in the field of cardio-metabolic disease, for instance, the Cardiovascular Biology Prize of the Swiss Society of Cardiology in 2009 and 2015; the Swiss Lipid Research Award of the Working group on Lipids and Atherosclerosis (Swiss Atherosclerosis Association) in 2016; the Research Award of the Union of Vascular Societies of Switzerland and the Scholar of the Italian Society of Cardiology in 2018. In May 2018 the University of Zurich awarded Elena Osto the Venia legendi as a senior lecturer in the field of Cardiology. She has received the title of Fellow and is currently also Nucleus Member of the Working Group on Atherosclerosis and Vascular Biology of the European Society of Cardiology.

Sravan Payeli studied biology in his home country India before moving to Switzerland to the Cardiovascular Research Division (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) of the Institute of Physiology  of the University of Zurich. He there worked under the leadership of Prof. Felix C. Tanner, research group leader, on tissue factor. He published highy recognized work, among them on the prothrombotic gene expression profile in vascular smooth muscle cells of human saphenous vein, but not internal mammary artery (Arteriosclerosis Thrombosis Vascular Biolology 2008). After his postdoctoral fellowship in Switzerland, he returned to India to work in a start-up company.

Francesco Paneni obtained his MD degree in 2006 and then started his clinical training in Cardiology at the University of Rome “Sapienza”. In July 2011, he took his specialty in Cardiology while in 2014, he obtained a Ph.D. in Experimental Medicine at the University of Rome “Sapienza”. From 2011 to 2013 he worked as Research Associate in the Cardiovascular Research team of Prof. Luscher at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. From 2014 to 2017, Dr. Paneni has worked as Research Associate at the Unit of Cardiology and Center for Molecular Medicine, Karolinska Institute. On January 2017, he was appointed Assistant Professor and Research Group Leader at the University of Zurich, in the Centre for Molecular Cardiology. In 2022 he became director of Center for Translational and Experimental Cardiology, University Hospital Zurich.

Ton Rabelink received his medical degree in 1986 at the University of Utrecht (cum laude). After obtaining a PhD degree in renal physiology he subsequently received board qualifications in internal medicine (1993) and nephrology and vascular medicine (1995). He was awarded a career stimulation grant by the Royal Academy of Sciences in 1993. Within the framework of this grant, he was given the opportunity to work in the lab of professor Lüscher and become experienced in molecular biology. After his return to Utrecht, he subsequently became chairman of medicine in 2000. In 2004 he moved to Leiden University to become head of Nephrology and Transplantation. Since 2010 he is Chairman of Medicine in Leiden University Medical Center. He has served in several professional organizations such as the Kidney Foundation (Chairman of the scientific board), member of the National Committee on adult stem cell research (ZonMW, TAS) and chairman of the council of the pathogenesis of the scientific board of the Dutch Heart Foundation. He has published over 300 papers in peer-reviewed journals. His current research interest is focused towards vascular biology and in particular the role of the endothelium in vascular biological processes and cell therapy. In the latter, the focus is on the clinical development of MSC and beta-cell therapy.

Romeo Ricci studied medicine at the Uiversity of Bern, Switzerland. After clinical training in surgical pathology at the University of Zurich  Switzerland, he joined the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology in Vienna as a postdoctoral fellow (Prof. Erwin F. Wagner). He subsequently worked at the Cardiovascular Research laboratory at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Zurich (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher). Afterwards, he built up his own research laboratory at the Institute of Cell Biology at ETH Zurich where he received an Assistant Professorship in 2007. In 2010, he accepted a full professorship at the University Hospital of Strasbourg with a research group at the IGBMC. His research has discovered novel molecular mechanisms that contribute to the understanding of inflammatory disorders, atherosclerosis and diabetes. He has been awarded several distinguished research prizes, including being selected as a new EMBO Young Investigator in 2009 and the award of an ERC starting grant to his laboratory in 2012.

Vincent Richard studied pharmacy in Rouen (France) where he continued his formation under Prof. Christian Thuillez. In 1988, he moved to Switzerland where he conducted research at the Department of Cardiology at the University Clinic Basel (Switzerland). From this research, he was able to publish a series of highly influential research papers on the effect of nitric oxide in coronary arteries. In 1995, Vincent Richard returned for a small sabbatical to Basel, where he conducted an experiment using ultrasound and the Doppler effect to investigate the effect of nitric oxide on vasodilation in the lower arm. With more than 800 citations he received with his publication in the medical journal Circulation, this article constitutes one of the most cited scientific publications in this field. Today, Vincent Richard is Professor of Pharmacology at the University of Rouen

Izabella Rosenberg studied biology in his home country in Poland before moving to Switzerland to the Cardiovascular Research Division (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) of the Institute of Physiology of the University of Zurich. He there worked under the leadership of Prof. Felix C. Tanner, research group leader, on L-selectin and its role in atheroslcerosis (PLoS One. 2011) as well as on Lox-1 in endothelial transgenic mice (European Heart Journal 2014). After her fellowship she moved to industry.

Frank Ruschitzka studied medicine at the University of Göttingen, Germany and trained in in-ternal medicine and nephrology at the University Medical Center, thereof. In 1994 he moved as a Research Fellow to the cardiovascular research division (Prof. Thomas f. Lüscher) of the De-partment of Cardiology (Prof. Bernahrd Meier) at the University Hospital (“Inselspital”) in Bern, Switzerland. In 1997, he moved in the same position to the Cardiovascular Research Division of the Institute of Physiology at the University of Zurich. From 1999-2003 he trained as a Fellow in cardiology at the Department of Cardiology of the University Hospital Zurich (Prof. Thomas f. Lüscher) and became Junior Consultant, thereof, with a particular focus on heart failure. In 2008, he became Senior Consultant and in 2014, he was nominated Head of the Heart Failure Unit at this institution. Based on his work in cardiovascular physiology and heart failure, he received the venia legendi (Habilitation) in cardiology at the University of Zurich in 2001 and Clinical Professor in 2007. In 2012, he was nominated as Associate Professor of Cardiology with a particular focus on heart failure and in 2017, he was promoted to Director of the Department of Cardiology, University Heart Center, Zurich, Switzerland.

Yi Shi studied medicine at Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University (CHN) and did her PhD study at the Department of Pharmacology and Pharmacy of the University of Hong Kong. After that, she joined Professor Thomas F. Lüscher at the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory in Zurich as a postdoctoral fellow. In 2012 Yi Shi was appointed Associate Professor at the Fudan University. Currently, she is working at the Biomedical Research Laboratory of the Zhongshan Hospital, Shanghai. Her research interest includes the cardiovascular pharmacology of natural products including Chinese medicine, in particular the modulatory actions on vascular reactivity as well as the effects of endothelial function on allograft rejection and tolerance.

Timo Speer studied medicine at the University of Saarland (D). From 2010 to 2012 he was Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department of Cardiology of the University Hospital Zurich and the Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich under Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher and Prof. Ulf Landmesser. In 2013 finished his experimental thesis entitled "Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) transforms high-density Lipoprotein (HDL) into a Noxious Particle linking endothelial dysfunction, hypertension and Innate Immunity". Since 2012 he is Head of the Working Group on Vascular Biology and lipoprotein Metabolism at the University Hospital Saarland (D).

Remo Spescha studied biology at the University of Zurich and for his master’s thesis he worked in cardiovascular research at the Institute for Physiology. After graduating in human biology he investigated between 2011 and 2014 new molecular mechanisms involved in stroke for his doctoral thesis at the Center for Molecular Cardiology at the Schlieren Campus of the University of Zurich in the research group of Prof. Giovanni G. Camici. Remo Spescha plans to specialize himself in the field of laboratory medicine.

Lukas Spieker studied medicine at the University of Bern and the specialized in internal medicine and cardiology. In 1998 he joined the clinical cardiovascular research division (Prof. Georg Noll) of the Department of Cardiology (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) to work on endothelia function, HDL-Cholesterol and stress in healthy individuals and patients with cardiovascular disease. His paers were oublished in top journals such as Circulation and well cited. He then became a clinical fellow in the training programm of the institution. Due to a sudden family problem, he decided to return to his home town Grenchen and work as a cardiologist in private practice.

Jan Steffel studied Medicine at the Universities of Bonn and Munich from 1996-2003 and recieved his Doctoral Degree in 2004. From 2003-2005 he was postdoctoral fellow in cardiovas-cular research at the Institute of Physiology of the University of Zurich (Prof. Felix C. Tanner) and then trained in cardiology at the University Heart Center (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) thereof, followed by a fellowship in internal medicine in Baden (Prof. Jürg Hans Beer) and Zurich (Prof. Edouard Battegay). In 2012 he became junior and later senior consultant in cardiology with a specific interest in arrythmias and anticoagulation. From 2018 to 2021 he was vice chairman and clinical professor of cardioogy at the University Hospital Zurich.  He is now consulting cardio-logist at the Hirslanden Group in Zurich, Switzerland

Sokrates Stein studied Biology at the University of Tübingen,in Germany from 2002-2007. From 2008-2011 he did his PhD study in Integrative Molecular Medicine at the Cardiovascular Re-search Division of the Institute of Physiology (Prof. Christian M. Matter) at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. From 2011- 2015 he has postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Metabolic Signaling at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland under the leadership of Kristina Schoonjans and Johan Auwerx. With an AMBIZIONE grant he moved then back to the University of Zurich as a research group leader in molecular atherosclerosis at the Center for Molecular Cardiology 8Prof. Giovanni G. Camici and Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) with a parti-cular interest in transcription factors and atherosclerosis. In 2020 he moved to pharmaceutical industry to work with Novartis Switzerland on Incliseran.

Isabella Sudana studied medicine at the University of Pisa and recieved her Doctor in Medicine in 1993. She then obtained her PhD in Cardiovascular Research thereat. She then trained in in-ternal medicine at the University Medical Center Pisa under the guidance of Prof. Stefano Taddei. In 2003, she moved as a Research Fellow to the cardiovascular research division (Prof. Georg Noll) of the Department of Cardiology (Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher) at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland to invistigate endothelial function and cardiovascular disease. She published vastly in this field and received the venia legendi (Habilitation) in internal medicine at the Uni-versity of Zurich in 2012 and was promoted Clinical Professor in Internal Medicine in 2020. Since 2018, she runs the clinical research group of the Department of Cardiology and is responsible for preventive cardiology (i.e. smoking, lipids and hypertension).

Remo Spescha studied biology at the University of Zurich and for his master’s thesis he worked in cardiovascular research at the Institute for Physiology. After graduating in human biology he investigated between 2011 and 2014 new molecular mechanisms involved in stroke for his doctoral thesis at the Center for Molecular Cardiology of the University of Zurich in the research group of Giovanni G. Camici, Ph.D. Remo Spescha plans to specialize himself in the field of laboratory medicine.

Grzegorz completed biology study at the Jagiellonian University in Cracow, Poland. He started his scientific training in 2002, in Prof. Erwin F. Wagner’s laboratory at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP), Vienna, Austria. In 2003 he moved to the University Hospital of Zürich, Switzerland to the laboratory of Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher. At the end of 2004, he started his PhD in Prof. Romeo Ricci group at the ETH Zürich. After completion of his PhD study, he moved to the laboratory of Prof. Gerard Karsenty at the Columbia University, New York, USA. Currently, he is leading his own research group at the Rudolf Virchow Zentrum (RVZ) at the University of Würzburg in Germany sponsored by the Emmy Noether Programme from the German Research Foundation and the ERC starting grant. His research focuses on the identification of signalling cascades promoting metabolic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and atherosclerosis. He is an author of a number of high impact research publications in such journals as Science, Cell, Cell Metabolism, Cell Stem Cell and Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Hiroyuki Takase studied medicine at the Nagoya City University (Japan). From 1993 to 1995 he conducted research at Prof. Lüscher’s Cardiovascular Research Group at the “Insel” Hospital Bern. Since 1995, Hiroyuki Takase is Head of Cardiology at the Enshu Spital in Hamamats (Japan). His research centres on hypertension, ischemia (including catheterization, coronal tomography, nuclear cardiology, and cardiac MRI), heart failure, echocardiography, chronic kidney insufficiency, and arrhythmia.

Marcel Tschudi studied medical biology at the University of Basel (Switzerland). Subsequently, he began a PhD in Prof. Lüscher’s Cardiovascular Research Group at the University Clinic Basel on endothelial regulation of coronary arteries. In 1998 Marcel Tschudi assumed a research assistant position at the Cardiovascular Research Laboratory located at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Zürich. A year later he accepted a position at the Swiss National Science Foundation followed by a position at Merck Sharp & Dohme-Chibret AG. Currently, Marcel Tschudi works as a project leader at the Medical Tribune in Basel.

Ana Vukolic, graduated as a Veterinary Doctor from the University of Belgrade, Serbia in 2004. After that she moved to Switzerland where in 2010 she completed her PhD at the Department of Medicine/Physiology at the University of Fribourg. Following her PhD she worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the INSERM in Nice (France) andlater at the ETH in Zurich. In 2020, she joined the Center for Molecular cardiology where she worked for approximately two years after which she moved to Roche AG as a Team Leader In Vivo Operations in Discovery Pharmacology.

René Wenzel studied medicine in Essen (Germany) where he subsequently specialized in internal medicine and nephrology (the study of the function and diseases of the kidney). Between 1995 and 1996 he worked in the research group of Prof. Noll at the “Insel” Hospital Bern (Switzerland) investigating cardiovascular diseases. In his research, he showed for the first time the mechanisms of endothelin antagonists in the human skin and in the coronary circulation. He also characterized how calcium antagonists and an ACE inhibitor interact with the sympathetic nervous system in patients with high blood pressure. Subsequently, René Wenzel became Assistant Medical Director at the University of Essen, followed by an appointment to Head of Department for Inner Medicine at Zell am See (Austria).

Edward Wight van Dyke studied medicine in Zurich. From 1979 to 1980 he completed the post-doctoral program in Experimental Medicine and Biology at the Medical Faculty of the University of Zurich. From 1980 onwards, he worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Prof. J. Lindenmann and Prof. H. Binz at the Institute of Immunology and Virology at the University of Zurich in the field of Experimental Immunology. From 1981 to 1982 Dr Wight van Dyke worked with Dr P. Frey at the Institute for Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine at the Triemli Hospital in Zurich. He then moved to the Clinic for Gynaecology and Gynaecological Oncology at the University Hospital Zurich, where he worked with Prof. G. Duc, Prof. U. Haller and Prof. E. Hochuli, among others, until 2000. Between 1994 and 1995 Dr Wight van Dyke joined Prof. Thomas F. Lüscher at the Inselspital in Berne with a fellowship in the field of experimental cardiology.
Since 2000, Dr Wight van Dyke has been Director of Gynecology and Gynecological Oncology at the Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University Hospital Basel. In 2003 Dr Wight van Dyke habilitated at the University of Basel.

Zhihong Yang studied medicine in Wuhan in the People’s Republic of China. In 1987 the Swiss Confederation awarded him a federal scholarship for advanced studies. At the University of Basel, he served as a research assistant in the vascular physiology group (under Professor Thomas F. Lüscher) and later as a senior assistant in cardiovascular research at the Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich As a staff member of the cardiovascular research teams in Basel, Bern and Zurich, Zhihong Yang was able to develop his scientific abilities and publish in the best journals of medicine and science. In 1999 he received his license to teach at university (Habilitation) at the University of Zurich in the field of cardiovascular physiology, and in 2001 he was appointed Professor of Physiology at the University of Fribourg.