Berlin heart researcher honoured

Brain City Berlin

Dr. Gabriele Schiattarella has been presented with the “Outstanding Investigator Award” by the International Society for Heart Research (ISHR). The cardiologist is investigating the mechanisms of cardiac insufficiency at the German Heart Center Berlin of the Charité (DHZC) and at the Max Delbrück Center (MDC). His pioneering work represents cutting-edge research in Brain City Berlin.

With the annual Outstanding Investigator Award, the ISHR honours mid-career researchers who have already made significant contributions to cardiovascular research and whose work is likely to play an important role in the future.

One of them is Gabriele Schiattarella: The cardiologist has been working at what is now the German Heart Center Berlin of the Charité (DHZC) for three and a half years and is a guest researcher at the Max Delbrück Center. His laboratory is located on the Berlin-Buch campus, where he heads the working group “Translational Approaches to Heart Failure and Cardiometabolic Diseases”. Gabriele Schiattarella’s research focuses on the mechanisms of heart failure, particularly heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). This is widespread. Worldwide, one in ten adults aged 40 and over already suffers from HFpEF, and the trend is rising. Women in particular are affected. Those affected have little physical resilience, retain water in their body and become short of breath. The reason: Their heart is too “stiff” to fill properly when pumping. As a result, the body is not supplied with sufficient oxygen and nutrients.

HFpEF develops from the metabolic syndrome, also known as the “deadly quartet”. This is because the risk factors are symptoms of affluence: too much abdominal fat, high blood sugar and blood fat levels as well as high blood pressure. Lack of exercise, stress, smoking and alcohol favour this complex metabolic disease. “Metabolic syndrome threatens to develop into a real pandemic,” says Gabriele Schiattarella. “It is estimated that half of the world’s population will be overweight, if not obese, by 2030.”

The cardiologist and his team want to find out how the metabolism changes in HFpEF. “We are not limiting ourselves to the heart and heart muscle cells, but are also focussing on other organs and systems,” says Schiattarella. The Berlin scientists are focussing in particular on how the liver and fatty tissue interact with the heart. Schiattarella wants to decode the molecular signals that they exchange with each other. This is because it is not yet known why some people with metabolic syndrome develop fatty liver, while others develop HFpEF. The objective of the team: To understand HFpEF better and to find new, specific approaches to therapy. There is currently no standardised therapy for HFpEF. Patients are primarily advised to lose weight, increase physical activity and stop smoking.

The “Outstanding Investigator Award” presented by ISHR is special because other scientists nominate people for the award. However, Gabriele Schiattarella is no stranger to the oldest professional society for cardiovascular research: In 2019, the ISHR honoured the then young scientist with the Richard J. Bing Award for Young Investigators. In 2022, Gabriele Schiattarella also received one of the coveted Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) to fund his pioneering research.

The Max Delbrück Center, where Gabriele Schiattarella works with his guest group, is one of the world’s leading biomedical research centres. The locations in Berlin-Buch and Mitte focus on “the human system”. The main driving force behind basic research at the MDC is its translational approach: Findings should benefit patients as quickly as possible. The MDC works closely with Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Partnerships exist via the joint Experimental and Clinical Research Centre (ECRC), the Berlin Institute of Health (BIH) at Charité and with the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK). (vdo)

AG Schiattarella at MDC
AG Schiattarella at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin