Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the Western world. On a molecular level, inadequate tissue perfusion and defects in the functional activity of cardiac myocytes are leading to severe impairment of quality of life and death in the affected patients. Therefore, the planned symposium will integrate the expertise of researchers from different disciplines to understand the basic mechanism of cardiac disease and develop new strategies for treatment. This meeting will provide a comprehensive overview of novel developments in cardiovascular sciences and attempts to enforce interaction between cardiac and vascular areas. The first part of the meeting will focus on the regulation of cardiac development and vessel formation both in embryonic development as well as in the adult organism. Signaling cascades regulating cardiac remodeling and cardiomyopathy will be discussed in the second part. Finally, novel strategies for vessel repair and cardiac regeneration including potential insights from stem-cell-derived cardiomyocytes, and cell-based therapies, will be presented. As aging is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease a special session will focus on the molecular determinants of aging and its role in cardiac diseases.
