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Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation supports medical research at the University Heart Center - University of Freiburg Medical Center

New approaches for the treatment of immune-mediated cardiovascular diseases are the focus of PD Dr. Dennis Wolf's research. The cardiologist at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology I at the University of Freiburg Medical Center can now continue his work as part of an Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Research Professorship "Cardiovascular System Immunology", which is based at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. The Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation is funding the research part of the professorship with one million euros for a maximum of ten years.

Since 2019, the Foundation has been offering Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Professorships for physicians who want to combine research and patient care in their career in the long term. The equal combination of patient care and medical research is intended to enable scientific results that can be directly incorporated into the improvement of diagnostics and therapy. In the 2020 call for proposals, the Freiburg application was successful alongside two others. "One of the central tasks of a university hospital is to offer top physicians support and freedom for their research. We are delighted that this concern is now being taken into account with a generously funded research professorship for PD Dr. Wolf," says Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Christoph Bode, Medical Director of the Department of Cardiology and Angiology I at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg.

Understanding inflamed arteries better

Immune cells of the adaptive immune system - T and B cells - protect the body from invaders such as viruses and bacteria. In autoimmune diseases, however, autoreactive immune cells target the body's own proteins and attack the body. Such autoreactive immune cells can also be detected in atherosclerosis, a chronic inflammatory disease of the arteries that leads to heart attacks and strokes. As part of the professorship, Wolf is investigating the cellular immune response in atherosclerotic diseases in order to develop new diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for immune-mediated cardiovascular diseases.

Wolf studied medicine at the University of Freiburg and received his doctorate in 2012. In addition to his specialist training in internal medicine, which he completed in 2014, he focused on inflammatory and immunological mechanisms of cardiovascular diseases. Since 2019, Wolf has been a senior physician at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology I at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg, where he heads the clinical study center and the "Vascular Immunology" working group. He completed his habilitation in internal medicine and cardiology in 2019. His research is funded by the European Union, among others. He is also project leader in the cardiovascular Freiburg Collaborative Research Center 1425 "The heterocellular nature of cardiac lesions: Identities, Interactions, Implications" of the German Research Foundation.

The Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation

The non-profit Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation is dedicated to promoting medical research and supporting medical-humanitarian projects. To date, it has supported more than 2,000 projects. With an annual funding volume of currently more than 60 million euros, it is the largest foundation in Germany that promotes medicine.

Caption: PD Dr. Dennis Wolf
Image source: Medical Center - University of Freiburg

Contact:
PD Dr. Dennis Wolf
Senior Physician
Department of Cardiology and Angiology I
University Heart Center
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-34010
dennis.wolf@universitaets-herzzentrum.de