Prof. Dr Axel Heep
Director of the University Clinic for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine

• Professor of Paediatrics, University of Oldenburg (since 01/10/2018)
• Honorary Senior Clinical Lecturer at Bristol Medical School, TranslationalHealth Sciences University of Bristol, UK, (since 31/10/2011)
• Fellow of the Royal College for Paediatrics and Child Health (01/04/2013)

Research:
His research focuses on basic experimental and clinical research on neuropathological mechanisms contributing to the perinatal brain injury scenario. Since 2015 he has been a member of the Stem Cells and the Neurodegeneration Research Group (Prof J. Uney) at the University of Bristol, UK. Research projects focus on the characterisation of neural progenitor cells and molecular singalling (microRNA, cytokine/IGF pathways) in neonatal cerebrospinal fluid.

Since 2008, he has been involved in research projects on functional MR imaging in premature infants.
This research on functional neuroimaging in neonates is considered pioneering work in this field and has made a valuable contribution to the development of the project "Brain activity and development of connectivity in the neonatal brain at rest using ultrafast multiband MRI" led by Prof K. Luyt and Prof R. Kauppinen at CRIC Bristol. Current neonatal MRI studies focus on the structural and functional development of brain connectivity and audiovisual integration in the developing brain.

PubMed:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Heep%2C+A.%5BAuthor%5D&sort=date

ORCID number: Prof. Dr Axel Heep (orcid.org/0000-0002-2380-5157)

Prof Torsten Plösch, Ph.D. studied biology at the University of Oldenburg and received his doctorate from the University Medical Center Groningen in 2004. He then established the research focus Epigenetic Programming at the University Medical Center Groningen. In 2019, he was appointed Associate Professor of Experimental Perinatology .

In 2020, Torsten Plösch joined the Perinatal Neurobiology research group at the University of Oldenburg, where he currently heads the laboratory facility. He has published more than 80 peer-reviewed papers.
See publications

Torsten Plösch is a board member of the International Society for Developmental Origins of Health and Disease. He is also co-editor of the "Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease" and "Epigenetics Communications".

PubMed:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=plosch+t

Orcid:

orcid.org/0000-0002-9305-4045

After completing her medical studies, Anne Hilgendorff began her specialist training in paediatrics with Professor Ludwig Gortner in Giessen. Her clinical career in general paediatrics and intensive care medicine soon developed a focus on neonatology and was accompanied by scientific work in the field of acute and chronic lung diseases in newborns, shaped by her work in the National Genome Research Network (NGFN).

After her fellowship in neonatology with Professor Andreas Schulze at the Perinatal Centre of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) in Großhadern, Munich, Anne Hilgendorff successfully pursued a PostDoctoral Fellowship at Stanford University with Professor Bland and Rabinovitch. The close collaboration was continued in an international DFG research group and through a visiting professorship.

In 2012, Anne Hilgendorff successfully recruited the leadership of an independent Helmholtz junior research group at the Comprehensive Pneumology Centre (CPC), Helmholtz Zentrum München, which she successfully led as an independent group until 2023. Her group focussed on early postnatal pathomechanisms of neonatal chronic lung disease and expanded into understanding the development of cardiac and central nervous system comorbidities in these patients. The group utilised several unique preclinical and advanced in vitro systems. The strong translational focus of the research group was reflected in extensive clinical studies in a unique cohort of preterm infants (Attention to Infants @Respiratory Risks (AIRR)) in collaboration with the LMU Perinatal Centre to identify (patented) protein- and image-based biomarkers.
Anne Hilgendorff was a member of the CPC leadership team and successfully established the CPC-M bioArchive as the largest lung-specific biorepository in Bavaria for 10 years, comprising tissue and body fluid samples from a variety of adult and paediatric lung diseases.

Anne Hilgendorff works successfully in international and national consortia and networks such as the transregional Collaborative Research Centre "Perinatal Development of Immune Cell Topology (PILOT, TRR 359) and the German Centre for Lung Research (DZL; Lead Disease Area Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Diseases (DPLD)).

After founding and managing the Comprehensive Developmental Care Centre (CDeCLMU) at the integrated Social Paediatric Centre (Dr. von Hauner Children's Hospital, LMU) for the follow-up care of premature and high-risk babies, Anne Hilgendorff has now taken over the management of Translational Neonatology at the Klinikum Oldenburg and the University of Oldenburg.

Teaching and mentoring are a central element of Anne Hilgendorf's work. She has been involved in numerous MD-PhD and mentoring programmes and as an active member of the MeCuM Intensive Seminar Teaching (InSel), Faculty Training Medical School (LMU, Munich) and has trained over 30 MD and PhD students to date.

PubMed:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Hilgendorff+Anne

Orcid:

orcid.org/0000-0002-3725-996X

Dr Matthias Lange studied medicine at the Hannover Medical School (MHH). He completed his training as a paediatrician in 2015 and then specialised in neonatology. He has been working in the Department of Paediatric Intensive Care Medicine at the University of Oldenburg since 2018. After a year of deepening his knowledge, he became a senior physician in the Department of Neonatology in Oldenburg. He supervises medical students at the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS) in the context of clinically oriented publications or doctoral theses in neonatology or paediatric intensive care medicine. He has been a member of the Perinatal Neurobiology working group since 2019.

Co-operations:

Twincore Laboratory - Hanover

CAPNet Foundation

• Procalcitonin and valuable clinical symptoms in the early detection of neonatal late-onset bacterial infection. Bohnhorst B, Lange M, Bartels DB, Bejo L, Hoy L, Peter C. Acta Paediatr. 2012 Jan;101(1):19-25. Epub 2011 Aug 29.
• Closed versus open endotracheal suctioning in extremely low-birth-weight neonates: a randomised, crossover trial. Pirr SM, Lange M, Hartmann C, Bohnhorst B, Peter C.Neonatology, 2013;103(2):124-30.Epub 2012 Dec 1.
• Differential Diagnosis of headache and vertigo:Topical Minoxidil, self medication should be considered. Repkes L, Lange M, Stange M, Das AM. Journal of Headache & Pain Management, 2016; Vol. 1 No.3:22
• Severe methemoglobinemia caused by continous lidocaine infusion in a term neonate Bohnhorst B, Hartmann H, Lange M. Eur. J Paediatr Neurol. 2017 May;21(3):576-579
• A Short Neonatologic Case Report: Salt Cod and Blue Lips Bohnhorst B, Happel CM, Lange M. Klin Padiatr. 2018 Oct;230(6):336-338
• Ultrasound assessment of gastric emptying time in preterm infants: A prospective observationalstudy Beck CE, Witt L, Albrecht L, Winstroth AM, Lange M, Dennhardt N, Boethig D, Sümpelmann R. Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2019 Jun;36(6):406-410.
• The pneumological case: Acute respiratory insufficiency of initially unclear origin Lange, M, Uphoff F, Seidenberg J Paediatric Allergology and Pulmonology 2019
• Primary Haemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (Chediak-Higashi Syndrome) triggered by an acute SARS-Cov-2 infection in a 6-week-old-infant. Lange, M, Linden T, Müller HL, Flasskuehler AM, Koester H, Lehmberg K, Ledig S, Ehl S, Heep A, Beske F, Br J Haematol. 2021 Jun 16. doi: 10.1111/bjh.17669. ahead of print. PMID: 34132389.
• Lack of capacity concerning the transport system of neonates and paediatric intensive care patients. A regional survey in the north-west of Germany. Lange M, Schumacher S, Figura Y, Günther U, Mitzlaff B, DER NOTARZT, 2021 Jun 12. ahead of print
• Congress contribution GPR-PO 06: Matthias Lange, Katharina Schütz, Yannick Figura, Tim Alexander Alten, MAtthias Volkmar Kopp, Jürgen Seidenberg, Christian Vogelberg, Tobias Ankermann, Holger Köster, Thomas Illig, Christiane Lex, Antje Schuster, Marcus Panning, Gernot Rhode, Tobias Welte Martin Wetzke, Gesine Hansen, Diane Miriam Renz
• Pathogen-typical characteristics in chest X-ray examinations of community-acquired pneumonia in children and adolescents (paedCAP)
• German Society for Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine 2022: https: //doi.org/10.1007/s00112-022-01593-7

Dr Cornelia Hinz studied biology and received her doctorate from the University of Oldenburg in 2012. Her previous work focused on the genetic basis and molecular mechanisms of odour recognition and imprinting in the model organism Danio rerio. She investigated the relationship between the genotype and phenotype of individuals and how early life experiences can influence imprinting, signal recognition and behavioural response. Since 2020, Cornelia Hinz has organised paediatric training at the European Medical School Oldenburg-Groningen (EMS) of the School V - School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Oldenburg, works as a lecturer and is a member of the Perinatal Neurobiology working group.

Pubmed:

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=cornelia+hinz

Ms Gorizzizzo completed her training as a biological-technical assistant at the Ludwig Fresenius School in Oldenburg in August 2022. She then worked at the University of Oldenburg as a technical assistant in Prof Dr Hans Gerd Nothwang's Neurogenetics working group. Since February 2023, she has also been working in the Systematics and Evolutionary Biology group of Prof Dr Olaf Bininda-Emonds. After ending her employment contract in Neurogenetics, she moved to the Perinatal Neurobiology Unit in January 2024.

Christina Schäfer studied biology and graduated with a Master of Science degree from the University of Oldenburg in 2022. In her master's thesis, she investigated the interaction between the recoverin isoforms and G-protein-coupled receptor kinases, which are part of the visual signal transduction cascade, in the model organism Danio rerio.

In July 2022, Christina Schäfer joined the Perinatal Neurobiology research group at the University of Oldenburg as a doctoral student.

Finja Meyer is studying human medicine at the Carl von Ossietzky University in Oldenburg. She carried out her research work as part of the Longitudinal Research Curriculum Year 5 in the Perinatal Neurobiology working group on the topic "Identification of DNA methylation patterns in stress-related genes from leucocytes, gastrointestinal and mucosal cells in premature infants". For her doctoral project, she is investigating the gene expression of olfactory genes in premature and mature newborns as part of the research project "Influences of odours on early human development".

Franziska Köper studied Biology at Bremen University of Applied Sciences (2020) and completed an internship at the Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Porto, Portugal. She then completed her studies with a Master of Science in Bremen (2021). For her PhD project, she worked at Jacobs University in Bremen, mainly on Major Histocompatibility Complexes (MHC) Class I molecules (2020-2021).

In October 2021, she joined the Department of Perinatal Neurobiology and the Department of Anatomy as a PhD student

• Gross, I, Brandt N, Vonk D, Köper F, Wöhlbrand L, Rabus R, Witt M, Heep A, Plösch T, Hipp MS, Bräuer, AU (2022): Plasticity-Related Gene 5, Is Expressed in a Late Phase of Neurodifferentiation After Neuronal Cell-Fate Determination. Front Cell Neurosci. 2022 Apr 15;16:797588 doi:10.3389/fncel.2022.797588
• Köper F, Vonk D, Dirksen MW, Gross I, Heep A, Plösch T, Hipp MS, Bräuer AU.Visualizing multimerisation of plasticity-related gene 5 at the plasma membrane using FLIM-FRET.Front Mol Biosci. 2024 Sep 30;11:1478291. doi: 10.3389/fmolb.2024.1478291. PMID: 39403184; PMCID: PMC11471602.
• Brandt N,Köper F,Hausmann J, Bräuer AU. Spotlight on plasticity-related genes: Current insights in health and disease.Pharmacol Ther. 2024 Aug;260:108687. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2024.108687 . Epub 2024 Jul 3. PMID: 38969308 .

Coco Edelbi is studying human medicine at the University of Oldenburg. As a student assistant, she supports the paediatrics teaching team at the University Medical Centre Oldenburg (UMO) in the development and implementation of paediatric teaching content.