EMBL Conference — The new cardiobiology

The cardiovascular system is a multicellular and disseminated organ consisting of the heart, a network of vessels and circulating blood, thereby forming an intricately interdependent system, whose dysfunction is the leading cause of human mortality. Despite translational progress with impactful new interventional and pharmacological therapies, cardiovascular dysfunction continues to plague mankind. The current therapeutic approaches are either organ-centric or tackle the consequences of end-stage cardiovascular disease (CVD). New basic research approaches are focused on a deeper understanding of the causes and early development of CVD to identify mechanisms close to the root of the disease, providing the promise to prevent, halt, and reverse the disease process. In parallel, new tissue engineering and mechanobiology approaches are revolutionizing cardiovascular discovery research and disease modeling by more closely mimicking the human situation. However, these are largely separated research communities, with yet little crosstalk or exchange between the two. This conference aims at transforming the established organ-centric view on single cardiovascular organs to a systems biomedicine approach by tearing down the walls between disciplines and instead discussing the cardiovascular system in an inter-, trans-, and cross-disciplinary approach.