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Passionate Research, Shaping the Future

Dortmund, 30th April 2026

Looking at the heart from the thyroid – until recently, Dr Susanne Camilla Grund and fellow  researchers were investigating how thyroid hormones affect heart attacks. At the HI-FIVE project, the postdoctoral researcher is now learning more about the heart from a new perspective.

Dr Susanne Grund is using an electron microscope to examine cardiomyocytes generated from stem cells.

© ISAS

For Dr Susanne Grund, a typical day in the lab involves experiments that she carries out in vitro (in test tubes) and in vivo (in living organisms). The 36-year-old works with human stem cells, to name one example. “We generate heart muscle cells from stem cells, for instance. Then, we expose these to various GRK5 inhibitors and observe the reaction within the cells”, the biologist explains. The findings provide insights into how the various substances influence the signalling pathways of G protein-coupled receptor kinases (GRK).

“Every little piece of the puzzle that leads to improved heart health will help humanity – and ultimately the healthcare system. For me, it’s exciting to contribute to this

Dr. Susanne Grund

HI-FIVE includes experiments with mice suffering from systolic or diastolic heart failure. Depending on the age, sex and severity of the heart failure, Grund and her colleagues are investigating how GRK5 inhibitors affect the animals’ heart function and physical performance. They use echocardiography (heart ultrasound) to assess the heart’s pumping function, for example.

(Isabell Klitzsch)

HI-FIVE
A new therapeutic approach to heart failure – this is what researchers and physicians at HI-FIVE are working on. The aim of this collaborative project is to enable more precise treatment of heart failure in the future. The project ‘HI-FIVE – GRK5 inhibitors for the treatment of various heart failure entities’ started in July 2025. The North Rhine-Westphalia state government and the European Union are funding the three-year research project with approximately 2.1 million euros.

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Further articles

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What are you doing at ISAS, Theresa?

Why do mice undergo ultrasound examinations of their hearts? What does a typical working day in the lab involve for a technical assistant in the HI-FIVE research project ? And what challenges does the job present? Theresa Pietz provides fascinating insights into her duties, motivations and experiences working with animals.

Study with Heart: A Doctor Bridging Clinic & Laboratory

What is actually happening behind the scenes of a patient trial? Anna Ruzhyna is a clinical research associate who looks after participants with heart failure as part of the HI-FIVE project. She explains how her work helps to develop new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of heart failure.

Laboratory Meets Clinic: Understanding Heart Function with Stem Cells

How can new therapeutic approaches for heart failure be developed more effectively? Stem cell research plays a central role in the HI-FIVE project. In this interview, PD Dr Anna Klinke (Herz- und Diabeteszentrum NRW) talks about her work between the lab and the clinic. She explains how the versatility of stem cells enables heart and vascular cells to be obtained from individual patients' blood and why this is an important step in investigating the specific effects of new active substances.

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What changes take place in heart muscle cells when a left ventricular assist device is used? ISAS doctoral student Kevin Hau (28) is tackling this question by researching the consequences of heart attacks using various omics analyses.

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New Perspectives for Heart Failure Therapy

How are new therapeutic approaches being developed to close the gap in the treatment of patients with heart failure? And what knowledge from clinical practice is crucial for this? Prof. Dr Tanja Rudolph provides insights into her daily work as a cardiologist and talks about her role in the translational research project HI-FIVE, and the future of cardiovascular disease therapy.

PODCAST »NACHGEFORSCHT – DIE LIVESCHALTE INS LABOR« Episode 12: Less Is More, at Least When It Comes to the Number of Cells

PhD student Susmita Ghosh talks about her research on neutrophil granulocytes – tiny immune cells that play a role in both defending the body against infections and inflammatory processes. Instead of working with countless cells, the biologist optimises analytical methods to enable meaningful proteome analyses with an extremely small number of cells. Ghosh explains why ‘less is more’ and what this has to do with modern mass spectrometry in episode 12 of the podcast.

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Nora Pauly is writing her doctoral thesis on the consequences of heart attacks at the joint graduate college of Essen University Hospital and ISAS. With the bed-to-bench-to-bed principle, her work in basic research is closely linked to the everyday clinical practice of caring for heart attack patients.
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