News
12th- 15th of March 2024
This year's meeting of the German Developments Society takes place in Osnabrück.
SEYFRIED LAB CHRISTMAS and FAREWELL PARTY 2023
At our christmas party we said our good-byes to our colleague Bärbel, who is going into her well-deserved retirement.
We wish her all the best! She will be missed dearly.
August 03rd to 06th
Great scientific exchange of the Leducq consortiums members in Boston.
15th September 2023
Congratulations to Alessio for his latest publication on the role of Wnt9 in zebrafish heart formation, which has just been published in Development: doi: 10.1242
May , 2023
Congratulations to Max Breuer for his co-authorship on a paper about a novel python-based tool to characterize cardiac phenotypes in zebrafish.
Vedder V L, Reinberger T, Haider S M I, Eichelmann L, Odenthal N, Abdelilah-Seyfried S, Aherrahrou Z, Breuer M, Erdmann J (2023). pyHeart4Fish: Chamber-specific heart phenotype quantification of zebrafish in high-content screens. Frontiers in cell and developmental biology, 11, 1143852. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2023.1143852
April , 2023
Congratulations to Nastasja for her paper published in SCIENTIFIC REPORTS.
Grdseloff N, Boulday G, Rödel CJ, Otten C, Vanneíert DR, Cardoso C, Faurobert E, Dogra D, Tournier-Lasserve E, Abedelilah-Seyfried S. (2023) Impaired retinoic acid signaling in cerebral cavernous malformations. Sci Rep. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-023-31905-0
January 31st- February 03rd 2023
Fantastic conclusion of our Marie Skłodowska-Curie training network.
At the international conference VAC 2023 – International Vascular Anomalies Conferences, which brought together both basic researchers, clinicians and patients.
January 1st, 2023
Our team leader, Salim Seyfried, feels honored having been elected vice chair of the German Society for Developmental Biology (GfE) for the next two years. He is looking forward to working together with the new chair, Kerstin Bartscherer from the University of Osnabrück.
SEYFRIED LAB CHRISTMAS PARTY 2022
Merry christmas y'all and a happy new year !!!
Our scientist out in the wild: Juliane visited the CNIC Conference in Madrid, 10-12 November!!
Find out what scientists of cardiovascular regeneration do in Madrid: twitter.com/JulianeM8/status/1591333118278914048
October 10th, 2022
We are happy to welcome Martina De Bortoli, Marie Skłodowska-Curie PhD Student at de Duve Institute, for her secondment in our lab!
October 2022
Dr. Dorothee Bornhorst, Prof. Seyfried Lab Alumni, won the GfE Dissertation Award 2022
The German Society for Developmental Biology (GfE) announced that Dr. Dorothee Bornhorst has won the 2022 PhD dissertation award.
Dr. Bornhorst received the prize for her thesis entitled “Intra-organ communication within the developing zebrafish heart involves mechanical coupling of myocardium and endocardium”. The research was carried out in Prof. Salim Seyfried’s laboratory at Hannover Medical School and Potsdam University (Germany) and uncovered that biomechanical signaling pathways play an important role in cardiac growth coordination. Dr. Bornhorst’s work suggests that the growth of the endocardium, a specialized endothelial tissue lining the interior of the heart, results from myocardial chamber volume expansion and ends when the tension on the tissue is relaxed (published in Nature Communications, 2019).
This award has been established to recognize and encourage outstanding research achievements during the dissertation phase working in the field of developmental biology. During their society meeting in September at the University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, this award was given in an honor ceremony.
August 20-22, 2022
2nd bi-annual Leducq ReVAMP meeting in Kloster Seeon, Germany
Beautiful venue and good food, exciting guests speakers Tuan Leng Tay (Boston University) and Carsten Grashoff (University of Münster), and awsome discussions were the perfect recipe for a sucessfull 2nd ReVAMP meeting!!!
July 4, 2022
Welcome to Itai, who will join the lab for his Master's degree thesis. Reason enough for a celebration BBQ, and yes, it was cold in July!!
June 16-17, 2022
Symposium "Extending the Health Span: Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiovascular Aging (MoCA)"
The MoCA 2022 is organized by the Faculty of Health Sciences, Brandenburg: Stefanie Oess (MHB/FGW), Salim Seyfried (UP/FGW), and Stefanie Regel (FGW).
We thank the Fritz Thyssen Foundation and the KoUP funding of the University Potsdam for their support and funding of the MoCA 2022.
May 16-18, 2022
Last Marie Curie V.A. Cure-Network Meeting in Uppsala attended by Nastasja, Cuong, and Salim.
Congratulations to Anusha!
for the poster prize at the Weinstein Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration Conference, May 12-14, 2022 in Marseille!!
May 12-14, 2022
Finally a live meeting again!
Dinara, Anusha, Alessio and Salim at the 2022 Weinstein Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration Conference in Marseille.
March 31st, 2022
Farewell to Federica who is leaving the lab to join a company in Cork / Ireland! All the best for your future endeavors.
March 11-13, 2022
First ReVAMP Network Meeting in Barcelona, Spain, attended by Anusha, Cuong and Salim.
January 11, 2022
Kick off: Leducq Transatlantic Network of Excellence „ReVAMP - Recalibrating Vascular Malformations by Pharmacological Interference“
Official launch for our group study of the interface of mechanobiology, endothelial heterogeneity & genetics in the formation of vascular anomalies with a meeting in Barcelona!
Iruela-Arispe, Abdelilah-Seyfried, Vikkula, Penninger, Tournier-Lasserve & Cleaver labs!
Find us here: feinberg.northwestern.edu/sites/revamp/
October 15-17, 2021
Three days of live discussions and get-together in Potsdam of our
Marie Curie ITN Network V.A.Cure.
Great to see everyone in person again!!!
October 1st, 2021
Welcome to Dinara Sharipova to our lab. Dinara is a new Ph.D. student who will work on a collaboration project together with medical teams at Marburg and Bonn Universities.
September 10th, 2021
Celebrating the acceptance of Alessio’s paper in Cell Reports with a tasting event of nice Italian beers.
May 16th, 2021
Congratulations to Juliane on the birth of her baby Enara. We hope mom and daughter are having a nice time getting to know each other and bonding. Welcome Enara!
May 2nd, 2021
We have a new addition to our team! Welcome to Karthik Chandrasekaran, a new postdoctoral researcher joining us after working previously at the University of Münster.
February 01st, 2021
We would like to welcome our new team member Maximilian Breuer. Max is a new postdoctoral researcher, who is returning to Germany after years of research in Montreal, Canada.
November 26th, 2020
Another great news for Federica! Another first author paper from her has been published - this time with the Journal of Cell Science:
Yang Z, Wu S, Fontana F, Li Y, Xiao W, Gao Z, Krudewig A, Affolter M, Belting HG, Abdelilah-Seyfried S, Zhang J. (2021) The tight junction protein Claudin-5 limits endothelial cell motility. J Cell Sci.; 134(1):jcs248237. doi: 10.1242/jcs.248237. PMID: 33323504.
November 13th, 2020
We have a new doctor in our team! Congratulations to Federica Fontana on defending her Ph.D. thesis at the University of Potsdam. During this particularly challenging time of a global pandemic, it is refreshing to see such nice work being presented. Mission accomplished Dr. Fontana.
October 01st, 2020
We have a new lab member! Welcome to Anusha Sathyanarayanan, a new postdoctoral researcher, who is joining us from the Max Planck Institute for Biomedicine in Münster.
July 14th, 2020
Congratulations to Federica on her first authorship paper at Cell Reports:
Fontana F, Haack T, Reichenbach M, Knaus P, Puceat M, Abdelilah-Seyfried S. (2020) Antagonistic Activities of Vegfr3/Flt4 and Notch1b Fine-tune Mechanosensitive Signaling during Zebrafish Cardiac Valvulogenesis. Cell Rep.;32(2):107883. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2020.107883. PMID: 32668254.
December 2019
Scientists live not only of research: our team had a great time visiting the beautiful Potsdam Christmas market together to celebrate the holidays. Merry Christmas everyone!
November 13th – 15th, 2019
Cuong, Nastasja, and Salim are travelling to Brussels for the kickoff and first V.A.Cure training meeting. It is a full three days of training and network meetings with the other members. We cannot wait for them to share with the lab what they have learned so far.
September 2019
Congratulations to Dorothee on her first authorship in a nice paper published with Nature Communications:
Bornhorst D, Xia P, Nakajima H, Dingare C, Herzog W, Lecaudey V, Mochizuki N, Heisenberg CP, Yelon D, Abdelilah-Seyfried S. (2019) Biomechanical signaling within the developing zebrafish heart attunes endocardial growth to myocardial chamber dimensions. Nat Commun. 11;10(1):4113.doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-12068-x. PubMed PMID: 31511517; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6739419.
September 2019
We would like to welcome to the team three new Ph.D. students joining us from all over the world: Cuong Pham from Vietnam (previously trained in Japan), Julia Silveira from Brazil, and Nastasja Grdseloff from Austria. Cuong and Nastasja are studying Cerebral Cavernous Malformations and other vascular anomalies as part of the V.A.Cure network, while Julia is joining SFB958 and will study biomechanical signalling of the endocardium.
September 09th, 2019
Congratulations to Claudia Rödel and all other co-authors of our paper about blood flow and cerebral cavernous malformations, published at Circulation Research.
Rödel CJ, Otten C, Donat S, Lourenço M, Fischer D, Kuropka B, Paolini A, Freund C, Abdelilah-Seyfried S. (2019) Blood Flow Suppresses Vascular Anomalies in a Zebrafish Model of Cerebral Cavernous Malformations. Circ Res.25;125(10):e43-e54.doi: 10.1161/CIRCRESAHA.119.315076. Epub 2019 Sep 9. PubMed PMID: 31495257.
September 2019
Congratulations to Dorothee Bornhorst on her excellent Ph.D. defence at Hannover Medical School. Dorothee will soon move to the United States to continue her exciting scientific journey as a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard University. We wish her a lot of success!
July 30th, 2019
After so many years with us, Cécile Otten is moving to Croatia to fill a tenure-track postdoctoral fellow position at the Ruđer Bošković Institute. Thanks for a great time with you in the lab and all the best of luck in your future projects!
May 22nd, 2019
Excellent news from the DFG: The collaborative research center 958 “Scaffolding of Membranes - Molecular Mechanisms and Cellular Functions" will be supported for another funding Phase.
March 2019
Goodbye Deepika Dogra! After a little over a year of being part of the team, Deepika is now moving to Canada as a postdoctoral associate at the University of Calgary. Thanks for all the hard work and we hope to see you at the next zebrafish meeting.
March 12th, 2019
Congratulations to Deepika Dogra for her co-authorship on a paper accepted with Nature Communications:
Chapman, EM, Lant, B, Ohashi, Y, Yu, B, Schertzberg, M, Go, C, Dogra, D, Koskimäki, J, Girard, R, Li, Y, Fraser, AG, Awad, IA, Abdelilah-Seyfried, S, Gingras, AC, Derry, WB (2019) A conserved CCM complex promotes apoptosis non-autonomously by regulating zinc homeostasis in C. elegans. Nature Communications (in press).
March 1st, 2019
Kickoff for Marie Curie Training Network „V.A.Cure“! This network will train 14 Ph.D. students in Universities, Research Institutes, and private companies throughout Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, and Finland (for more information see: www.vacure.eu).
February 22nd, 2019
A job well done! Stefan Donat successfully defended his Ph.D. at the Humboldt University in Berlin. Now, he continues his interest in imaging applications with a Postdoc position at the Advanced Medical BioImaging Facility of the Charité in Berlin.
February 17th, 2019
Dorothee Bornhorst has been selected for a plenary talk at the joint meeting of the German and Israeli Societies of Developmental Biology in Vienna, Austria. Her talk is entitled: Intra-organ communication within the developing zebrafish heart involves mechanical coupling of myocardium and endocardium
January 28th, 2019
Great news for Melina Heise! Her paper has been accepted for publication with Scientific Reports.
Demal T J, Heise M, Reiz B, Dogra D, Brænne I, Reichenspurner H, Männer J, Aherrahrou Z, Schunkert H, Erdmann J, Abdelilah-Seyfried S.(2019) A familial congenital heart disease with a possible multigenic origin involving a mutation in BMPR1A. Scientific Report (in press)
August 13th, 2018
Congratulations to Cécile Otten and all other co-authors of our paper that has now been accepted with EMBO Molecular Medicine!
Cécile Otten, Jessica Knox, Gwénola Boulday, Mathias Eymery, Marta Haniszewski, Martin Neuenschwander, Silke Radetzki, Ingo Vogt, Kristina Hähn, Coralie De Luca, Cécile Cardoso, Sabri Hamad, Carla Igual Gil, Peter Roy, Corinne Albiges-Rizo, Eva Faurobert, Jens P. von Kries, Mónica Campillos, Elisabeth Tournier-Lasserve, W. Brent Derry, and Salim Abdelilah-Seyfried (2018) Systematic pharmacological screens uncover novel pathways involved in cerebral cavernous malformations. EMBO Mol Med e9155 doi: 10.15252/emmm.201809155
July 06th - 09th, 2018
Claudia Rödel and Salim Seyfried are travelling to an annual CCMCURE and Angioma Alliance Canada meeting at the Hospital of the SickKids in Toronto, Canada.
03rd July, 2018
Congratulations to Claudia for her co-authorship on a paper on the complementary roles of Rock1 versus Rock2 signaling downstream of the CCM complex in endothelial cells. This work has been accepted with Journal of Cell Science.
May 30st, 2018
The European Commission has received a recommendation for funding of the Marie Curie Training Network „V.A.Cure“. This network will train 14 Ph.D. students in Universities, Research Institutes, and private companies throughout Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden, and Finland. Two of the students will mainly be trained in our lab.
May 15th-19th, 2018
Alessio Paolini and Salim Seyfried are travelling to this years’ Weinstein conference on Cardiovascular Development and Regeneration in Nara, Japan.
May 10th, 2018
Alessio Paolini receives news that his review paper has been accepted for publication with Current Opinions in Cell Biology:
Paolini A and Abdelilah-Seyfried S (2018) The mechanobiology of zebrafish cardiac valve leaflet formation. Current Opinion in Cell Biology, in press.
May 2018
Stefan Donat is successful with a co-authorship on a Nature Communications paper which is now in press:
Merks A, Swinarski M, Meyer A, Müller N, Ozcan I, Donat S, Burger A, Gilbert S, Mosimann C, Abdelilah-Seyfried S, and Panakova D (2018) Planar Cell Polarity signalling coordinates heart tube remodelling through tissue-scale polarisation of actomyosin activity. Nature communication, in press.
April 27th, 2018
Farewell dinner for Timm Haack at a lakeside restaurant in Potsdam. After 4 years in biomedical research in our team, Timm is now moving on to the Scientific Commission of the State of Lower Saxony in Hannover.
April 19th, 2018
Great news that Dorothee Bornhorst has earned a co-authorship in paper published with Stem Cell Reports. Dorothee has supported this stem cell project with her expertise in zebrafish embryology:
Olmer R, Engels L, Usman A, Menke S, Malik MNH, Pessler F, Göhring G, Bornhorst D, Bolten S, Abdelilah-Seyfried S, Scheper T, Kempf H, Zweigerdt R, Martin U. (2018) Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells into Functional Endothelial Cells in Scalable Suspension Culture. Stem Cell Reports. pii: S2213-6711(18)30144-9. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2018.03.017.
March 16th, 2018
Congratulations to Marta Lourenço for her excellent Ph.D. defense. After almost five years in Germany, Marta is now returning to Portugal.
February 1st, 2018
Congratulations to Stefan Donat, Marta Lourenço, and Alessio Paolini for their shared first-authorships on an Elife paper that has been published today:
Donat S, Lourenço M, Paolini A, Otten C, Renz M, Abdelilah-Seyfried S. (2018) Heg1 and Ccm1/2 proteins control endocardial mechanosensitivity during zebrafish valvulogenesis. Elife. 7. pii: e28939. doi: 10.7554/eLife.28939
January 12th, 2018
Ph.D. awarded to Melina Heise after giving an excellent presentation in her Ph.D. defense. Next, an exciting job as a program coordinator of the Masters’ program in Biomedicine at Hannover Medical School is lined up for her.
January 2nd, 2018
Welcome to Deepika Dogra who joins our team after finishing her Ph.D. thesis work in the lab of Prof. Didier Stainier at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research in Bad Nauheim. During her Ph.D. thesis in Bad Nauheim, Deepika explored the mechanisms by which zebrafish can regenerate an injured heart.
June - November 2017
Welcome to Prof. W. Brent Derry from the Hospital of Sick Children (Toronto Canada) for a 6 months sabbatical in our lab. Brent is interested in studying the molecular and cellular causes of haemorrhagic stroke using the model organisms C.elegans and zebrafish.
August 15th, 2017
The team receives a grant to study the role of hormonal regulation on zebrafish embryonic heart development. This is a twinning grant between our team and the group of Prof. Michael Bader at the Max Delbruck Center for Molecular Medicine which is funded by the German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK).
July 25th, 2017
Visit by Prof. Ralf Schnabel (Technische Universität Braunschweig). His seminar is entitled:
"Phainothea: Creation of form by cell focussing in the C.elegans Embryo"
July 17th, 2017
Prof. Kerstin Blank (Max Planck Institute for Colloid Research, Potsdam) visits the group and gives a seminar entitled:
"Coiled coils as mechanical building blocks"
July 2017
This years' annual CCMCURE retreat takes place in Paris! Claudia Rödel, Cécile Otten, and Salim Seyfried participate in this years' event which is hosted by the group of Prof. Tournier-Lasserve (Université Paris Diderot, INSERM).
June 27th, 2017
Melina Heise and Salim Seyfried visit Prof. Jörg Männer (Universität Göttingen) to learn about cardiac looping morphogenesis in higher vertebrates and man.
May 15th, 2017
Seminar by Hans-Georg Simon (Northwestern University, Chicago) entitled:
"A dynamic extracellular matrix instructs regenerative cell behaviour"
May 12th, 2017
Congratulations to Juliane Münch for winning a starting grant from the Einstein Center for Regenerative Therapies (ECRT) for a collaborative project together with Prof. Sigmar Stricker (Freie Universität, Berlin) and Prof. Ulf Landmesser (Charité- Universitätsmedizin Berlin).
Great Job!