Local Collaborations (Medical University of Vienna)
Prof. Christoph Aufricht – Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Division of Pediatric Nephrology and Gastroenterology
Prof. Aufricht and his team lead one of the largest paediatric dialysis centers in Europe. Prof. Aufricht was involved in founding Zytoprotec as spin-off of the Medical University. The link to the pediatric nephrology is specifically interesting due to the especially high medical need of children to be able to perform PD with less chronic damage. The close interaction with the pediatric team will foster cooperation with experts in the field.
Ap. Prof. Klaus Kratochwill – Head of the Core Facility Proteomics
Klaus Kratochwill is an experienced translational researcher specialising in proteome-based biomarker discovery. He will provide expertise and access to state-of-the-art mass spectrometry infrastructure for proteomic and metabolomic research, ranging from liquid biopsies (plasma, PD effluent), via single cells, to spatial multi-omics applications.
Ap. Prof. Cécile Philippe – Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, Division of Nuclear Medicine
Cécile Philippe is the Group Leader of the Experimental Nuclear Medicine, specialising in the development and application of preclinical nuclear medicine techniques for innovative diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Prof. Philippe will provide extensive experience in pre-clinical imaging including glucose tracer experiments and metabolic temporal profiling in mice undergoing experimental PD with and without immunometabolic interventions.
Dr. Boryana Petrova – Head of the Core Facility Metabolomics
Boryana Petrova is a metabolomics researcher with over 10 years of experience, who has worked at MIT in Boston and joined the Medical University of Vienna in 2024. Dr. Petrova will provide targeted metabolomic techniques for investigating metabolic pathways.
Prof. Michael Trauner – Department of Medicine III, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology
Prof. Trauner is a world-renowned hepatologist with a research focus on bile acid signalling as a new approach for treating cholestatic, immunological, and metabolic liver diseases. He is involved in several international projects investigating the role of inflammation and immunity on liver diseases and will provide his extensive expertise for interpretation of in vivo and clinical data regarding pathomechanisms of the liver.
Prof. Martin Krššák – Department of Medicine III, Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Prof. Krššák is an expert in medical physics with expertise in method development for in vivo MR spectroscopy and imaging. His recent research focuses on assessment of ectopic lipid accumulation, glucose fluxes and ATP-handling in skeletal muscle, liver and myocardium. Prof. Krššák will be the main collaborator for the human and rodent 7T analyses.
International Collaborations
Dr. Maria Bartosova and Prof. Claus Peter Schmitt – University of Heidelberg, Paediatric Nephrology
They established the International Paediatric PD Biobank (IPPB) (about 30 active centres, >1000 samples) and the International Paediatric Hemodialysis Registry (80 active centres, 768 patients), and are members of the International Paediatric PD Network. Prof. Schmitt heads a research group on reactive metabolites in CKD and diabetes, and established close cooperation with the Heidelberg vessel biobank (800 samples) and the adult PD biobank (200 samples).
Dr. Luke Davies – Swansea University, UK
Dr. Davies is an expert in the field of immunometabolism. He first identified the specific dependency of mouse peritoneal macrophages on glutamine and GATA6 to be essential for tissue macrophage phenotypes.31,264 Dr. Herzog is a collaborator for metabolomics analyses on a research grant about peritoneal host responses, metabolism in healthy, PD and infections conditions of Dr. Davies.
Funding Partners
In Christian Doppler Laboratories, application oriented basic research is pursued at a high level, and expert scientists cooperate with innovative companies. The Christian Doppler Research Association is an international best practice example for promoting this collaboration.
Christian Doppler Laboratories are financed jointly by the public purse and the participating companies. The most important public sponsor is the Federal Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism (BMWET).
Zytoprotec is a Vienna-based biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapies for peritoneal dialysis. The company focuses on harnessing cellular stress responses and immunometabolic mechanisms to significantly improve the survival of patients with kidney failure.