Prof. Dr. Dr. Oliver Friedrich has been re-appointed as Honorary Faculty Professor at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute (VCCRI) in Sydney for another three years. He thus continues his long-standing scientific collaboration with the VCCRI, particularly with Prof. Boris Martinac, a member of the National Academy of Sciences.
Together, Friedrich and Martinac investigate how cells sense and process mechanical forces and translate them into biochemical and electrical signals. Friedrich develops and advances opto-biomechatronic technologies that combine mechanical manipulation with optical imaging to investigate how cells respond to mechanical stimuli. Martinac focuses on mechanosensitive ion channels whose existence he demonstrated as early as the 1980s – work that paved the way for the later discovery of Piezo receptors by Ardem Patapoutian and David Julius, recognized with the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
The VCCRI is a world-leading research institute in the field of heart research, working to better understand, diagnose, treat, and prevent heart disease. Cells of the cardiovascular system are continuously exposed to mechanical forces. Both changes in mechanical loading and in how cells sense and process these forces can play a role in the development and progression of cardiovascular diseases. A better understanding of these mechanisms can help inform the development of new therapeutic approaches.