Kavli Research and Enterprise Lecture by Prof Stefanie Dimmeler: 'Rejuvenating the ageing heart: targeting the vascular niche'

Join us for a Kavli Research and Enterprise Lecture

hosted by Professor Dame Molly Stevens and Professor Paul Riley

Professor Stefanie Dimmeler

'Rejuvenating the ageing heart: targeting the vascular niche'

Ageing profoundly increases susceptibility to cardiovascular disease, yet therapeutic strategies typically address its consequences rather than the mechanisms that progressively compromise tissue resilience. The cardiac vasculature is not simply a conduit for blood supply: endothelial cells form an instructive niche that coordinates cardiomyocytes, fibroblasts, immune cells and nerves through molecular and spatially organized signals. 

Using single-cell and epigenomic approaches, we identify age-associated changes in endothelial cell states and intercellular communication that contribute to fibrosis, impaired vascularization and cardiac dysfunction. For example, our recent work reveals ZBTB16 as an endothelial regulator of cardiac ageing. Loss of ZBTB16 promotes endothelial senescence and disrupts communication with neighbouring cardiac cells, whereas restoring its expression in aged mice improves vascular integrity, limits adverse remodelling and enhances cardiac function. 

These findings position the vascular niche as both a driver of cardiac ageing and a therapeutically accessible target. I will discuss how senolytic therapies or combining molecular rejuvenation strategies with engineered tissue models and cell-selective delivery technologies could enable precise manipulation of the ageing microenvironment – shifting regenerative medicine from replacing damaged cells towards restoring the signals that allow tissues to maintain and repair themselves. 

About the speaker:

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Stefanie Dimmeler was born in Ravensburg, Germany and she received her undergraduate, graduate, and PhD degrees from the University of Konstanz (Germany). She subsequently completed fellowships in Experimental Surgery at the University of Cologne and in Molecular Cardiology at the University of Frankfurt (Germany). She has been Professor of Experimental Medicine since 2001 and has served as Director of the Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration at the Center for Molecular Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt, since 2008. She is also the spokesperson of the Cardiopulmonary Institute (CPI), funded by the Excellence Strategy Program of the German Research Foundation (DFG), and spokesperson of the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). In 2023, she received the honorary doctorate from the University of Bern. She has been invited to speak at more than 300 national and international meetings and seminars, including numerous keynote lectures. She has received more than 30 awards, including the prestigious Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (DFG) and the Jung Prize for Medicine. She is listed among the Highly Cited Researchers and has been ranked among the top three female scientists in Germany. Her research is supported by DFG collaborative research grants, and she has been awarded three Advanced Investigator Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). In 2026 she received the award of the Federal Cross of Merit in Germany. Her research group investigates the fundamental mechanisms underlying cardiovascular disease and vascular growth, with the aim of developing new cellular and pharmacological therapies. Current work focuses on the mechanisms regulating cardiovascular repair and ageing.

 

 

Kavli Research & Enterprise Lectures exemplify our commitment to fostering interdisciplinary knowledge exchange and promoting cutting-edge research.