CRC1366

During development, cells respond rapidly to the changing milieu of morphogens and other intercellular signals. Endothelial-cardiomyocyte communications enable cells to coordinate their activity and are essential for cardiac morphogenesis, postnatal cardiac growth, contractile performance and rhythmicity. Endothelial cells supply cardiomyocytes not only with oxygenated blood but also secrete factors that control cardiomyocyte organization, proliferation, survival and contraction. While endothelial cells direct cardiomyocyte behaviour, cardiomyocytes reciprocally secrete factors that impact endothelial cell function. Our objective within the framework of the CRC1366 is to investigate how signals from the endothelium converge to induce transcriptional and epigenetic programming that directs cardiomyocyte behaviour and regulates cardiac function. Using in vivo and cell culture based model systems, epigenomics, transcriptomics and proteomic analysis we aim to identify endothelium-derived regulatory signals as well as cis-regulatory elements and regulatory factors driving the transcriptional response of cardiomyocytes to signals from endothelial cells.