We proudly congratulate Prof. Stefanie Dimmeler on receiving the Hector Science Prize for her outstanding scientific achievements.
The award was presented during the 30th anniversary celebrations of the Hector Foundations, where the laureates were welcomed into the distinguished circle of Hector Fellows. The ceremony underscored the vital role of interdisciplinary research and scientific responsibility in tackling today’s global challenges.
We extend our warm congratulations to the awardees and look forward to the continued impact of their exceptional work.
Read more: https://hector-fellow-academy.de/spitzenforschung/hector-fellows/stefanie-dimmeler/
The Institute for Lung Health (ILH), a research institute of Justus Liebig University Giessen (JLU), Germany, has taken a leading role in establishing the ILH–IITH Bioengineering Centre of Excellence for Lung Health in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH), India. The centre was inaugurated on 7 January 2026 on the IITH campus by Prof. B. S. Murty, Director of IIT Hyderabad; Prof. Werner Seeger, Director of ILH at Justus Liebig University Giessen; and Dr. D. Nageshwar Reddy, Chairman of AIG Hospitals, Hyderabad. It represents India’s first specialized bioengineering centre with a focus on lung health.
Designed and driven as an Indo-German flagship initiative, the new centre integrates bioengineering, clinical medicine, and translational research to address key challenges in the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of lung and cardiovascular diseases. The collaboration builds on ILH’s internationally recognized leadership in lung and vascular biology and translational lung research, combined with the globally acknowledged engineering excellence of the Indian Institutes of Technology, reflected for example in IIT Hyderabad’s strengths in biomedical engineering and advanced infrastructure.
The centre is jointly led by Prof. Soni Savai Pullamsetti and Prof. Rajkumar Savai (Institute for Lung Health, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany), together with Prof. Renu John and Prof. Falguni Pati (IITH, India). With strong scientific leadership from Germany and India, the centre is intended to serve as a long-term platform for structured Indo-German collaboration in lung research, innovation, and training. Core research areas include non-invasive diagnostics, bioengineered disease models, mechanobiology, and personalized therapeutic strategies, with a clear focus on clinical relevance, scalability, and societal impact.
Prof. Werner Seeger, Director of ILH and Chairman of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), emphasized the scientific and translational orientation of the initiative, stating:
“This centre marks a new era in lung health research, in which engineering sciences and medicine come together to deepen biological understanding and advance the treatment of lung and vascular diseases. By combining ILH’s clinical and translational expertise with the bioengineering strengths of IIT Hyderabad, we aim to accelerate the generation of scientific insights, enable translation, and train the next generation of engineers in the field of lung health.”
Highlighting the importance of the centre for structured international research and capacity building, Prof. Soni Savai Pullamsetti, Director of the ILH–IITH Bioengineering Centre of Excellence, added:
“The centre provides a sustainable framework for translating fundamental discoveries in lung and vascular biology into engineering solutions with direct clinical relevance. By embedding German translational research expertise within a strong bioengineering ecosystem at IIT Hyderabad, we are creating long-term value through joint research programs, structured training of early-career scientists, and the development of scalable technologies for global lung health.”
Prof. Rajkumar Savai, Co-Director of the ILH–IITH Bioengineering Centre of Excellence, underscored the growing importance of the centre for global research collaboration and innovation in lung cancer:
“The centre positions lung cancer research at the interface of bioengineering and biomedicine to fundamentally transform oncological care. Through international collaboration, it integrates translational science with advanced technological approaches such as AI-driven analytics, systems biology, next-generation imaging, biomaterials, and computational tools. This convergence aims to advance early detection and enable precision therapies.”
The initiative has attracted significant national and regional attention in India and has been widely covered by leading print, digital, and broadcast media (see links below).
With this initiative, ILH and Justus Liebig University Giessen further strengthen their global leadership in lung research and reaffirm their commitment to international partnerships aimed at addressing the growing global burden of respiratory diseases through cooperative, interdisciplinary, and internationally networked research.
January, 2026
Congratulations to Stefanie Dimmeler on receiving the Dr. Robert E. Beamish Award at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2025. This prestigious award honors the legacy of Dr. Robert E. Beamish, Founding Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Cardiology, and recognizes research with the greatest impact on cardiovascular medicine.
Find more information here: https://ccs.ca/dr-robert-e-beamish-award/
December, 2025
Under the motto “Let’s talk science!”, the Faculty of Medicine at Justus Liebig University Giessen once again hosted its annual Science Day this year. Around 160 early-career researchers, including numerous CPI Academy members, had the opportunity to present their research findings to a broad audience of professors, staff, and students.
Presentations ranged from clinical and patient-oriented research to entirely new fundamental research approaches, highlighting the diversity and excellence of the Faculty of Medicine’s scientific work.
As recognition for outstanding achievements, a total of four prizes were awarded from among 16 short talks and 73 poster contributions presented during Science Day. Dr. Schraml from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery received an award for the best presentation in the category Clinical/Patient-Oriented Research. Lukas Fieberg was honored for the best presentation in the category Basic Research, and Fatemeh Rastegar Adib as well as Kieran Smith received awards for the best posters. We congratulate all the award recipients.
The Science Day is expected to take place again next year. Registrations will likely be open from summer 2026 until the end of August.
Find more information here: https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb11/dekanat/veranst/scday
November, 2025
For is project BLOOM – Biotechnologically produced Lung Organoids with Optimized Microvascular compartment – receives Prof. Dr. Paolo Panza LOEWE-Exploration funding of 287.000€. With the support of the ProLOEWE program, he develops mini-lungs – advanced lung organoids derived from patient cells, enhanced with vascular structures that mimic the alveolar environment.
These innovations redefine disease modeling and could provide new possibilities in the development of more personalized and precise therapy options.
October, 2025
Over half a million euros in funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) goes to Prof. Dr. Dr. Miguel Alejandre Alcazar (Institute for Lung Health, Justus Liebig University Giessen; Translational Experimental Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Cologne) and Dr. Julian Wagner (Institute of Cardiovascular Regeneration, Goethe University Frankfurt) to investigate the inter- and transgenerational metabolic priming of the neuro-cardiopulmonary interface in health and aging.
Cardiovascular diseases are among the leading causes of death worldwide, with risk increasing significantly with age. This is in part due to a decline in the heart’s natural regenerative capacity as we grow older.
Understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that make the aging heart more vulnerable to disease is therefore critical. Our previous research has shown that the neurvous system plays a key role in the aging heart. In older individuals, the density of nerve fibers controlling the heart decreases, which can lead to arrythmias and reduced cardiac function.
Besides aging, overweight and odesity are major risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Of particular concern is, that an adverse metabolic environment early in life can have lasting negative effects on heart health.
Therefore, Wagner and Alcazar joint forces and now aim to investigate whether and how obesity across multiple generations affects the development and function of the nervous system and heart – and how this may accelerate cardiac aging.
This interdisciplinary project combines expertise in metabolism and aging research and will provide new insights into the complex interactions between metabolism, the nervous system, and the heart during aging. Ultimately, the findings may lead to novel strategies for the prevention and treatment of cardiopulmonary diseases.
October, 2025
Dr. Marija Gredić, a DZL scientist at Justus Liebig University Giessen (DZL site UGMLC), has been awarded a research grant of € 324 032 for three years (2026–2028) from German Research Foundation (DFG) to study novel mechanisms driving pulmonary hypertension in COPD.
Dr. Gredić’s group recently showed that interactions between interstitial macrophages and pulmonary vascular cells promote vascular remodeling in COPD, driven by smoke-specific rather than hypoxia-dependent signaling. An important player in this process appears to be Cathepsin D (Cts-D), a lysosomal enzyme highly expressed in macrophages. The team found strong upregulation of Cts-D in the remodeled pulmonary vasculature of smoke-exposed mice and COPD patients, and demonstrated in vitro the ability of this protein to enhance proliferation of pulmonary vascular cells.
With this new funding, Dr. Gredić aims to uncover the cellular mechanisms by which Cts-D promotes cellular proliferation and to determine its functional relevance for pulmonary vascular remodeling in vivo using cell type-specific knockout models and neutralizing antibodies. Furthermore, findings from the mouse studies will be validated in human tissue samples, and circulating Cts-D will be evaluated as a potential biomarker for COPD-associated pulmonary hypertension.
Ultimately, this research seeks to identify novel therapeutic targets to halt or even reverse pulmonary vascular remodeling and disease progression in COPD patients.
October, 2025
We look forward to share our research at the annual Science Day of the Deparment of Medicine at the Justus-Liebig-University in Gießen. The Science Day will be held Friday 14th November 2025 at the Med. Lehrzentrum Seltersberg (MLZ), Klinikstraße 29 from 9:30 to 15:00.
Doctoral candidates, students, research assistants and professors, as well as early career scientists of the JLU present their research in talks and poster presentations.
Find more information here: https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb11/dekanat/veranst/scday
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