Profiting from a tight collaboration with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg (CHL), the Institut National de Chirurgie Cardiaque et de Cardiologie Interventionnelle (INCCI), the laboratory of Cardiovascular Research is pursuing its research activities aiming at understanding the mechanisms responsible for the development of heart failure. Keeping in mind the importance of the discovery of new therapeutic and prognostic targets, the activities of the group tackle the fields of translational medicine and systems biology of the disease.
Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research
The Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research , in close collaboration with the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg(CHL) and the National Institute of Cardiac Surgery and Interventional Cardiology (INCCI), is focused on understanding the mechanisms responsible for the development of heart failure following myocardial infarction.
Several research projects that are currently underway are divided among two major areas:
1) the identification of persons at risk for development of heart failure through the discovery of new biomarkers (prognostic indicators) and,
2) the effects of adenosine on left ventricular remodeling and the development of heart failure. In 2007 CRP-Santé was awarded a patent for the development of an assay to identify elevated levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 in patients who suffered a myocardial infarction, suggestive of risk of heart failure.
The laboratory of Cardiovascular Research was created at the end of 2003. At the beginning of 2010, the group accounts 23 members: a director, an associate director, 4 research scientists, 2 post-docs, 3 engineers, 5 PhD students, 4 technicians, 2 research nurses and an administrative assistant. Originally entirely located in the basement of the “Maternité Grande-Duchesse Charlotte” - the former offices of the administrative staff of the CRP-Santé, the laboratory has now working and office spaces on three floors of the maternity.
The laboratory focuses on therapeutic and prognostic aspects of the development of heart failure following myocardial infarction.
It has demonstrated in 2006 that adenosine inhibits the production of matrix metalloproteinase-9 by neutrophils, the first wave of inflammatory cells recruited to the heart after myocardial infarction.
In 2007, the laboratory has shown that, in opposition to their results obtained in neutrophils, adenosine reliably enhances matrix metalloproteinase-9 production by macrophages.
In 2009, the group has characterized some pro-angiogenic effects of adenosine, notably through up-regulation of vascular endothelial growth factor in human macrophages and murine cardiac cells.
In the past few years, the laboratory performed pilot studies aiming at associating genetic variations of the matrix metalloproteinase-9 gene with the occurrence of heart failure post myocardial infarction.
Through the “running mice project”, the laboratory also tests the hypothesis that the interplay between adenosine and MMP-9 is involved in the protection from heart failure provided by physical activity.
Since 2003, the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research is headed by Daniel Wagner, MD, Ph.D.
Dr. Wagner has been the recipient of numerous restricted and unrestricted research grants from local and foreign governments and industry and his research within the Laboratory of Cardiovascular Research has been published extensively in prominent international medical journals. Dr. Wagner also holds positions as the Director of the Catheterization Laboratory at the Luxembourg National Heart Center and attending cardiologist at the Centre Hospitalier de Luxembourg, and is an instructor at the University of Luxembourg and the University of Brussels
Head of Laboratory :
Associate Head of Laboratory :
Current Team Members :
Function : Researcher
Phone : +352 26970-301
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : isabelle.ernens@crp-sante.lu
Function : PhD Student
Phone : +352 26970-314
Fax : +352 26970-390
Email : emeline.goretti@crp-sante.lu
Function : Technician
Phone : +352 26970-302
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : celine.jeanty@crp-sante.lu
Function : Technician
Phone : +352 26970-310
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : bernadette.leners@crp-sante.lu
Function : PhD Student
Phone : +352 26970-299
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : benedicte.lenoir@crp-sante.lu
Function : Technician
Phone : +352 26970-313
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : christelle.nicolas@crp-sante.lu
Function : Researcher
Phone : +352 26970-312
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : sophie.rodius@crp-sante.lu
Function : Technician
Phone : +352 26970-356
Fax : +352 26970-390
Email : maud.theresine@crp-sante.lu
Function : Research Engineer
Phone : +352 26970-307
Fax : +352 26970-396
Email : melanie.vausort@crp-sante.lu
Function : PhD Student
Phone : +352 26970-401
Fax : +352 26970-390
Email : jennifer.zangrando@crp-sante.lu
Function : Research Engineer
Phone : +352 26970-874
Fax : +352 26970-390
Email : lu.zhang@crp-sante.lu
