Jelena Branovets, Martin Laasmaa, Jekaterina Stolova, Xin Shen, Triinu Rätsepso, Romain Bernasconi, Kärol Soodla, Mihkel Jaan Balodis, Cärolin Grahv, Eliise Hendrikson, William Edward Louch, Rikke Birkedal, and Marko Vendelin American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology, 2025 Aug 1; 329(2): H471–H489 PMID: 40657789 DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00106.2025 Abstract Creatine kinase (CK) is considered a crucial energy transfer system in cardiac muscle. Some studies ...

Hamed Karimi, Martin Laasmaa, Margus Pihlak, Marko Vendelin Science Advances 2025 Apr 18;11(16):eads4609 PMID: 40249821 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.ads4609 Abstract Molecular movement and interactions at the single-molecule level, particularly in live cells, are often studied using fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS). While powerful, FCS has notable drawbacks: It requires high laser intensities and long acquisition times, increasing phototoxicity, and often relies on proble...

Romain Bernasconi, Kärol Soodla, Alex Sirp, Kairit Zovo, Maria Kuhtinskaja, Tiit Lukk, Marko Vendelin, Rikke Birkedal Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2025 Jan 1;328(1):E21-E33 PMID: 39607028 DOI: 10.1152/ajpendo.00261.2024 Noteworthy It is important to understand how AMP-activated kinase, AMPK, is regulated, as it is a potential therapeutic target for several diseases. AMPK is activated by liver kinase B1, LKB1, and calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase kinase 2, CaMKKβ. In cultur...

Lucia Jaska, Rikke Birkedal, Martin Laasmaa, Marko Vendelin Bio-protocol, 2024 Aug 20; 14(16):e5053 PMID: 39210956 DOI: 10.21769/BioProtoc.5053 Abstract Gel image analyses are often difficult to reproduce, as the most commonly used software, the ImageJ Gels plugin, does not automatically record any steps in the analysis process. This protocol provides detailed steps for image analysis using IOCBIO Gel software with western blot as an example; however, the protocol is applic...

Jaak Kütt, Georg Margus, Lauri Kask, Triinu Rätsepso, Kärol Soodla, Romain Bernasconi, Rikke Birkedal, Priit Järv, Martin Laasmaa, Marko Vendelin BMC Biology 2023 Oct 20;21(1):225 PMID: PMC10589977 DOI: 10.1186/s12915-023-01734-8 Abstract Background: Current solutions for the analysis of Western Blot images lack either transparency and reproducibility or can be tedious to use if one has to ensure the reproducibility of the analysis. Results: Here, we present an open-sou...

Martin Laasmaa, Jelena Branovets, Jekaterina Stolova, Xin Shen, Triinu Rätsepso, Mihkel Jaan Balodis, Cärolin Grahv, Eliise Hendrikson, William Edward Louch, Rikke Birkedal, Marko Vendelin The Journal of Physiology, 601(18), 4033–4052 PMID: 37561554 DOI: 10.1113/JP284515 Abstract Sex differences in cardiac physiology are receiving increased attention as it has become clear that men and women have different aetiologies of cardiac disease and require different treatments. The...

Rikke Birkedal, Martin Laasmaa, Jelena Branovets, Marko Vendelin Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2022 Nov 21;377(1864):20210321. PMID: 36189816 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0321 Abstract The ontogeny of the heart describes its development from the fetal to the adult stage. In newborn mammals, blood pressure and thus cardiac performance are relatively low. The cardiomyocytes are thin, and with a central core of mitochondria surrounded by a ring of myofilaments, while the sarco...