Ms Franziska  Schoettmer

Franziska Schoettmer is a PhD student from Hanover and received her master degree in Life Sciences from the Leibniz University of Hanover, Germany, in 2013. In May 2014 she joined the Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS) of Prof. Thomas Thum as aPhD-student. During her PhD she is currently working on secreted long non-coding RNAs via extracellular vesicles in the cardiovascular system.

Such long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) provide novel promising treatment options for heart diseases. Among thousands of lncRNAs, IMTTS researcher Janika Viereck and coworkers identified recently one that provokes pathological enlargement of the heart muscle. This lncRNA named Chast, was specifically up-regulated in heart muscle cells of mice with heart failure and its human equivalent showed a comparable increase in diseased hearts of aortic stenosis patients.

Moreover, the IMTTS is not only focused on lncRNAs, but also on the role of microRNAs and a paracrine crosstalk within the heart via extracellular vesicles. In 2013, Bang and colleagues found out that the passenger strand of miR21 is enriched in cardiac fibroblast-derived exosomes, leading to cardiomyocyte hypertrophy. These results identified miR21* as a paracrine signaling mediator and a potential therapeutic target.