We have opened competition for a PhD student position:
Mathematical modeling of energy transfer and mechanics in theheart
In heart muscle cells, energy used by most of the processes in the muscle cells is supplied in the form ofATP by mitochondria. Within this project, you would be designing state-of-the-art mathematical models to unravel mechanisms regulating ATP production in mitochondria, selection of energy transfer pathways between mitochondria and ATP consumers, as well as working o...
Read More
Ontogeny of cardiomyocytes: ultrastructure optimization to meet the demand for tight communication in excitation-contraction coupling and energy transfer

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...
Read More
Physiology in Focus 2023

We are participating in organizing Physiology in Focus 2023, which will be held in Tallinn, Estonia, September 14-16, 2023. Physiology in Focus 2023 is the first joint physiology meeting of the Scandinavian Physiological Society (SPS), the Federation of European Physiological Societies (FEPS), and the Baltic Physiological Societies.
See more at the official website of the conference https://sps-feps-2023.eu/
Read More
Thesis defense: Jelena Branovets
Jelena Branovets is defending her thesis on Energetics and Calcium Handling in Hearts from Creatine-Deficient Mice. Defense is on 29 September 2022 at 10:00 at the Department of chemistry and biotechnology, room SCI109.
Read More
Student team project: Software for protein determination

We are looking for a student team working on proteomics gel analysis software. The software is expected to take as an input gel description and photo images containing gel measurements. As an output, software should calculate image intensities in regions that the user can interactively select. The algorithms for that will be provided but need to be implemented by the student team.
Example gel image with the marked regions of interest for analysis
Software will be released as a cross-platf...
Read More
Looking for PhD student
We have opened competition for a PhD student position:
Tracking molecular movement to unravel diffusion barriers in cardiac cells
This is an interdisciplinary project combining physics and biology to study the intracellular environment in the heart muscle. Through the development of cutting-edge experimental and data analysis approaches, it is expected to reveal intracellular environment properties that govern molecular movements and shape its physiology.
So that the heart could produc...
Read More
Summer job for students
We are looking for a B.Sc. or M.Sc. student to work full or part-time during the summer and, if there is an interest, for longer.
The job is to do Western blots to assess whether the phosphorylation status of some proteins is different in hearts from creatine-deficient mice. Image analysis and insertion into the database is also part of the job. The results can stand alone and form the basis for a thesis.
It is an advantage to have experience with laboratory work, but we will be happy to ...
Read More
Looking for PhD students
We have opened competition for two PhD student positions:
Linking energetics to muscle phenotype: the importance of intracellular microdomains on the regulation of AMP-activated kinase . The aim of this project is to study in detail how energetics affects the signaling pathways in skeletal and heart muscle tissue. You will learn how to combine experimental and theoretical approaches to extract as much information as possible from your data.Deep dive into the cardiac cell: tracking molecular ...
Read More
Altered calcium handling in cardiomyocytes from arginine-glycine amidinotransferase-knockout mice is rescued by creatine
Martin Laasmaa, Jelena Branovets, Karina Barsunova, Niina Karro, Craig A Lygate, Rikke Birkedal, Marko Vendelin
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2021 Feb 1;320(2):H805-H825
PMID: 33275525DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00300.2020
Abstract
The creatine kinase system facilitates energy transfer between mitochondria and the major ATPases in the heart. Creatine-deficient mice, which lack arginine-glycine amidinotransferase (AGAT) to synthesize creatine and homoarginine, exhibit reduced cardiac co...
Read More
Cardiac expression and location of hexokinase changes in a mouse model of pure creatine deficiency
Jelena Branovets, Niina Karro, Karina Barsunova, Martin Laasmaa, Craig A Lygate, Marko Vendelin, Rikke Birkedal
Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2021 Feb 1;320(2):H613-H629
PMID: 33337958DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00188.2020
Abstract
Creatine kinase (CK) is considered the main phosphotransfer system in the heart, important for overcoming diffusion restrictions and regulating mitochondrial respiration. It is substrate limited in creatine-deficient mice lacking l-arginine:glycine amidinotr...
Read More