This year, the German University Medicine Award goes to a research team for a globally unique approach: the ‘heart patch’ – a therapy using stem cells to repair the heart muscle and strengthen the heart permanently.
The study is a prime example of translational research, from the laboratory to clinical application, and takes a completely new approach to the treatment of one of the most common heart diseases: Patients with heart failure were implanted with heart tissue grown in the laboratory as part of a study conducted by the University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG) and the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH).
MBExC member Prof. Dr. Wolfram-Hubertus Zimmermann, Director of the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, UMG, is the scientific director of the BioVAT-HF-DZHK20 (Biological Ventricular Assist Tissue in Terminal Heart Failure) clinical trial, in which patients have been treated since March 2021.
