News
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Lifelong creatine deficiency leads to augmented sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release but not heart failure
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 Abstract Creatine kinase (CK) is considered a crucial energy transfer system in cardiac muscle.…
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Looking for PhD student to study intracellular heterogeneity
Our lab is a part of recently financed The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) COFUND program INNOCHEMBIO. Within this program, we look for a PhD student that would be interested in studying intracellular heterogeneity. For details, see Edit: position is filled
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Statistical analysis of fluorescence intensity transients with Bayesian methods
Hamed Karimi, Martin Laasmaa, Margus Pihlak, Marko Vendelin Science Advances 2025 Apr 18;11(16):eads4609 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…
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Higher AMPK activation in mouse oxidative compared with glycolytic muscle does not correlate with LKB1 or CaMKKβ expression
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 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…
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Compartmentalization in cardiomyocytes modulates creatine kinase and adenylate kinase activities
Rikke Birkedal, Jelena Branovets, Marko Vendelin FEBS Letters 2024 Nov;598(21):2623-2640. Abstract Intracellular molecules are transported by motor proteins or move by diffusion resulting from random molecular motion. Cardiomyocytes are packed with structures that are crucial for function, but also confine the diffusional spaces, providing cells with a means to control diffusion. They form compartments in…
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Published Protocol: Simple Analysis of Gel Images With IOCBIO Gel Software
Lucia Jaska, Rikke Birkedal, Martin Laasmaa, Marko Vendelin Bio-protocol, 2024 Aug 20; 14(16):e5053 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…
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Simple analysis of gel images with IOCBIO Gel
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 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…
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Cardiomyocytes from female compared to male mice have larger ryanodine receptor clusters and higher calcium spark frequency
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 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…
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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. 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…
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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 archived official website of…