Life expectancy has been steadily increasing worldwide for decades. In Germany, one in two people is currently over 45 years old and one in five is over 66 - and the trend is rising. At the same time, age also represents a significant risk for chronic illnesses, the most common of which are cardiovascular diseases. In his project "The ageing heart: identification of new biomarkers of ageing and evaluation of new treatment approaches", Dr. Daniel Reichart wants to investigate the ageing process of the heart and the gradual loss of cellular resistance at a molecular level. "Using single-cell sequencing, we can measure the RNA and epigenetic patterns of each individual heart cell; this will enable us to characterise the heterogeneity of cell types in the ageing heart with a high degree of sensitivity," says Reichart. These insights should deepen our understanding of the increased vulnerability to heart disease in old age, help to find new treatment options and answer the question of why people age at different rates.
Daniel Reichart worked as a doctor at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf before conducting research at Harvard University for three years. He has been working as a doctor at LMU Klinikum since 2021.
Scientific contact: Dr. Daniel Reichart (daniel.reichart(at)med.uni-muenchen.de), LMU Munich
Source: Press release LMU