Cardiomyocytes from female compared to male mice have larger ryanodine receptor clusters and higher calcium spark frequency

Posted on September 20, 2023September 20, 2023 by admin

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...

Looking for PhD student: mathematical modeling

Posted on December 20, 2022 by admin

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...

Ontogeny of cardiomyocytes: ultrastructure optimization to meet the demand for tight communication in excitation-contraction coupling and energy transfer

Posted on December 20, 2022December 20, 2022 by admin

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...

Physiology in Focus 2023

Posted on November 20, 2022November 20, 2022 by admin

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/

Thesis defense: Jelena Branovets

Posted on September 20, 2022September 20, 2022 by admin

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.

Student team project: Software for protein determination

Posted on September 17, 2021September 17, 2021 by admin

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...

Looking for PhD student

Posted on September 7, 2021November 17, 2021 by admin

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...

Summer job for students

Posted on May 6, 2021September 9, 2021 by admin

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 ...

Looking for PhD students

Posted on April 28, 2021September 9, 2021 by admin

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 ...

Altered calcium handling in cardiomyocytes from arginine-glycine amidinotransferase-knockout mice is rescued by creatine

Posted on March 4, 2021March 4, 2021 by admin

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...