Head of group
maximilian.emmert@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Professor Emmert is a cardiac surgeon and translational scientist with extensive clinical and academic experience. He has more than 20 years of research experience in the fields of regenerative medicine, stem cell therapy and tissue engineering. Since 2019, he holds the professorship for cardiosurgical research at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité.

Senior consultant cardiovascular surgery
simon.suendermann@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Sündermann is a specialist in cardiac surgery and head of the surgical TAVI programme at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He graduated from the University of Leipzig in 2007 and started his career in cardiac surgery at the Heart Centre Leipzig under Prof. Mohr. After further training at the University Hospital Zurich and the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité under Prof. Falk, he has been a certified cardiac surgeon since 2015 and a lecturer at the Charité since 2016. In addition to his clinical expertise, he is the research officer of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery and is involved in various research activities. The two main areas of interest are virtual decision support systems and computer-assisted therapy simulations as well as preoperative risk assessment, especially frailty assessment and patient preparation with prehabilitation. Several doctoral students have completed their dissertations in these areas under his supervision.

Senior scientist
hector.rodriguez@stadtspital.ch
↪PubMed
Dr. Rodríguez is a cardiac surgeon with a strong background in basic science. As a clinician and scientist, he focuses on the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses and their role in cardiovascular medicine and solid organ transplantation. In particular, the studies in which Dr. Rodríguez participated in collaboration with international institutions such as the Harvard Medical School and the City of Hope have highlighted the therapeutic potential of NAD⁺, a natural co-enzyme, in the context of infections, primary immunodeficiencies, autoimmune diseases, transplantation, and cardiovascular medicine. In addition, Dr. Rodriguez focuses on infectious endocarditis and its outcomes, as well as its inflammatory responses.

Senior scientist
nikola.cesarovic@hest.ethz.ch
↪PubMed
Dr. Cesarovic is a veterinary surgeon specialized in laboratory animal medicine and animal models for cardiovascular research. He leads a successful research and research-service team at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich and at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité. In addition, he is responsible for overseeing more than 20 ongoing academic and industrial R&D projects. His own research interests are two-fold: intraventricular blood flow dynamics and myocardial infarction. After being intrigued by the incidence of myocardial infarction in patients without coronary disease or visible obstruction, Dr. Cesarovic and his team developed in vitro and in vivo models to  study myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries caused by microthrombosis. Furthermore, his group is studying intraventricular blood flow dynamics and energetic effects of minor, subclinical valve disease.     

Junior group leader
timo.nazari-shafti@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Nazari-Shafti graduated from the Otto-von-Guericke University in Magdeburg in 2012 and received his doctorate in 2013. Afterwards, he completed a one-year fellowship at Ingeneron Inc. in Houston, Texas and a two-year fellowship at Houston Methodist Hospital in Houston, Texas. In 2015, he moved to the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité and started his clinical training as a cardiothoracic surgeon. In 2016, he qualified for the Berlin Institute of Health Junior Clinician Scientist Program and continued as a fellow in the Clinician Scientist Program in 2019. Dr. Nazari-Shafti is currently the chief resident at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, junior faculty member at the Berlin Center for Advanced Therapies (BeCAT) and junior group leader at the Berlin Institute of Health Center for Regenerative Therapies (BCRT). His research focus is on extracellular vesicles as therapeutic and diagnostic products and the development of next-generation coronary artery bypass grafting techniques.

Specialist in cardiac surgery
ibrahim-etem.caliskan@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed

Postdoc
sebastian.neuber@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Neuber earned a Master’s degree in Biochemistry at the University of Halle-Wittenberg in 2013, followed by completing a PhD in Virology at the Hannover Medical School in 2017 with summa cum laude honors. After working for two years in research companies in Berlin and Innsbruck, he joined the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité in September 2019. His research focuses on mechanisms of repair and remodeling processes in the heart after ischemic myocardial injury.

Postdoc
christien.beez@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Beez graduated in Biochemistry at the Freie Universität Berlin and completed her PhD in Biology, with a specialization in Immunology, at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. She is a member of the research team since July 2022. Her research focuses on identifying novel therapeutic targets and diagnostic tools to discriminate between myocardial infarction with non-obstructive and obstructive coronary arteries.

Cardiovascular surgery resident
hristian.hinkov@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Hinkov studied medicine at the University of Tuebingen and obtained his doctorate at the Institute of Medical Microbiology and Hygiene Tuebingen. During his doctoral thesis, he investigated the role of the intestinal microbiota in promoting and restoring the intestinal colonization resistance of the microbiome, especially in the setting of nosocomial Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization in healthy or immuno-compromised hosts. Dr. Hinkovs keen interest in operative cardiovascular medicine led to his stay in cardiovascular surgery at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Synergizing his previous research background with growing clinical experience, his current scientific efforts focus on gaining insights into cardiopulmonary bypass-driven microbiome injuries and their immunological consequences, thus further understanding the systemic inflammatory response syndrome post-cardiac surgery. Dr. Hinkov is an associated member of the AG Emmert and working under the close scientific guidance of Dr. Rodríguez.

Cardiovascular surgery resident
jasper.iske@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Dr. Iske started his clinical residency in cardiothoracic surgery at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité, following his medical studies at the Hannover Medical School. Scientifically, he specialized in the field of translational inflammatory immunology while working at the Institutes for Transplant Immunology at the Hannover Medical School and the Harvard Medical School. He has contributed to the basic knowledge of inflammatory allo-immune responses and, with his work on the use of senolytics in heart transplantation, developed a targeted therapeutic approach against age-specific rejection. Since then, his work has focused on age-specific ischemia-reperfusion injury, and increasingly on immunological processes underlying myocardial ischemia

Consulting physician in internal medicine and doctoral candidate
vasileios.exarchos@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Mr. Exarchos earned a Master’s degree in Medicine at the Medical University of Ioannina in Greece. In 2014, he started working as a medical doctor in Germany and completed his residency in internal medicine in February 2021. Since June 2017, he has been working at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité as part of the Advanced Heart Failure and Ventricular Assist Device Unit. Parallel to his training in cardiology, he began his PhD in the field of foreign body endothelialization and endothelial cell senescence due to in vitro and in vivo expansion.

Cardiovascular surgery resident
alexandru-claudiu.paun@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Mr. Paun is a resident at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. He is currently finishing his doctoral degree. His main research interests are metabolic regulation and cardiovascular medicine, where he has been active for a year.

Cardiovascular surgery resident
mohamed.ghoneim@dhzc-charite.de 
Mr. Ghoneim was born in Abudhabi, United Arab Emirates in 1988. He received his medical training at the Ainshams University in Cairo. In 2016, he moved to Germany where he started his residency program at the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité. He is currently a 5th year resident at the Department for Cardiovascular Surgery at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, where he is finishing his doctoral thesis on the results of cardiovascular surgery in patients with previous transcather valve interventions. In addition, he is involved in a project investigating the role of cardiofibroblasts in non-ischemic regions of the heart.

Doctoral candidate
magdalena.pokusa@charite.de
Ms. Pokusa  is a graduate of the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and is currently a surgery resident in Basel. After attending various medical congresses, the field of regenerative medicine fascinated her the most. She joined the research group of Prof. Emmert at the end of 2020 to finish her doctoral thesis under the supervision of Dr. Nazari-Shafti.

Master student
henriette.thau@charite.de
Ms. Thau is a master student in Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin. She has been part of the Emmert group since March 2022 and is investigating the effect of the endothelial damage inhibitor on patient-derived venous endothelial cells.

Master student
miriam.ermer@dhzc-charite.de
Ms. Ermer completed her Bachelor's degree in Life Science Engineering at the Berlin University of Applied Sciences from 2018-2021 and is currently studying Biochemisty for her Master's degree. She has been part of the Emmert group as an intern since October 2022, works on Mr. Exarchos' project and will write her Master's thesis in summer of 2023.

Research assistant and laboratory manager
heike.meyborg@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Ms. Meyborg holds a degree in biochemical laboratory technology from the Engineering College of Berlin. After working in a research group in Berlin for four years, she joined the Deutsches Herzzentrum der Charité in September 1990. In recent years, her research focus has been on basic research in cardiology. Since December 2018, she has been working in the group of Prof. Emmert as a research assistant in her function as laboratory manager and is involved in a large number of research projects within the group.

Medical-technical laboratory assistant
k.krueger@dhzc-charite.de
↪PubMed
Ms. Krüger has been working at the Institute for Clinical and Pathological Biochemistry of the Charité since 1987. In 2002, she moved to the Department of Experimental Cardiac Surgery with a focus on cell culture, histology, and immunohistology. As a study assistant, she oversees clinical studies in cardiovascular surgery at the Charité and is involved in a large number of research projects works and laboratory organization.

Yağmur Erdoğan, Medical student (2022)

Omayma Hammani, Master student (2022)

Ema Zacharova, Bachelor student (2021-2022)

Bhavana Vegesna, Master student (2020-2022)

Aygen Nazlıcan Uysal, Bacherlor student (2021)