Division of Pharmacology and Toxicology

Cerebrovascular Pharmacology

Malena Brenek

Mission statement

Cerebrovascular diseases, such as stroke, brain hemorrhage, and dementia, are the leading causes of death and disability and present an enormous socioeconomic burden worldwide. Current estimates predict that their prevalence will further increase as 25 % of the population will be over 65 years of age by 2030.

Current explicative models of these diseases account for signs and symptoms that are already present in affected patients. However, we now know that these diseases are life-spanning processes that start silently at least 20 to 30 years before symptoms are perceived. It is therefore difficult to identify real cause from mere consequences.

Our research group aims to identify the underlying etiology of cerebrovascular disease and brain aging in addition to studying its pathophysiology in order to identify novel targets and to develop innovative therapies for prevention, cytoprotection, regeneration, and recovery of motor and cognitive function that are limited in patients suffering from these devastating diseases.

Our current projects are:

  1. Unraveling the gut-brain axis in cerebrovascular diseases: Exploring soluble fiber-rich diet to mitigate the detrimental effects of hypertension and hemorrhagic stroke
     
  2. Identifying the mechanisms underlying the protective effect of short-chain fatty acids
     
  3. Understanding the mechanisms of cell death after subretinal hemorrhage
     
  4. Characterizing aging of the blood-brain barrier
     
  5. Identifying bioactive compounds for healthy brain aging

Funding

  1. 2026-2030: University of Vienna Research Platform: Non-Enzymatic Protein Modifications in Neurodegeneration, in collaboration with Prof. Dr. Christian Becker (Faculty of Chemistry), Prof. Dr. Christoph Rademacher (Faculty of Life Sciences), Prof. Dr. Sascha Martens (Max Perutz Labs)
  1. 2025-2027: Interdisciplinary Research Networks grant of the Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Vienna, in collaboration with Dr. Felix Sternberg (Dept. of Nutritional Sciences): Targeting Senescence - Investigating the Protective Effects of Short- and Medium-Chain Fatty Acids on Cardiac and Blood-Brain Barrier Aging. 
  1. 2025-2026: IBRO Collaborative Research Grant: NeuroGuard - Targeted intervention at the blood-brain barrier interface for age-related neurovascular resilience. In collaboration with Assoc.-Prof. Dr. Kotaro Yoshioka, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan 
  1. 2025-2026: Hochschuljubiläumsfonds der Stadt Wien (Project number: H-506512/2024): Unraveling the gut-brain axis: Exploring soluble fiber-rich diet to mitigate the detrimental effects of high blood pressure on the brain 
  1. 2024-2027: Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW Project number: 27097): Identification of the metabolites associated with a dietary intervention that protect against hypertension-induced cerebrovascular injury 
  1. 2023: Hochschuljubiläumsfonds der Stadt Wien (Project number: H-902282/2022): Unraveling mechanisms of axonal degeneration in intracerebral hemorrhage 
  1. 2018-2020: Fraunhofer Society MEF EnTireAxon – Test system to systematically investigate axons
  1. 2018-2019: Interstellar Initiative of the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development and the New York Academy of Sciences 
  1. 2018-2019: BMBF MERCEDES – Multimodal Enhancement of Nerve Tissue Regeneration using Cellular Approaches for Degenerative Nervous System diseases 
  1. 2018-2019: BMBF NEPTUN – German-Mexican Roundtable Exploring New Etiological Paths Towards Neurodegeneration

Publications

2012

Zille, M, Farr, TD, Przesdzing, I, Müller, J, Sommer, C, Dirnagl, U & Wunder, A 2012, 'Visualizing Cell Death in Experimental Focal Cerebral Ischemia: Promises, Problems, and Perspectives', Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 213-231. https://doi.org/10.1038/JCBFM.2011.150

2011

Bahmani, P, Schellenberger, E, Klohs, J, Steinbrink, J, Cordell, R, Zille, M, Müller, J, Harhausen, D, Hofstra, L, Reutelingsperger, C, Farr, TD, Dirnagl, U & Wunder, A 2011, 'Visualization of Cell Death in MICE with Focal Cerebral Ischemia using Fluorescent Annexin A5, Propidium Iodide, and Tunel Staining', Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow & Metabolism, vol. 31, no. 5, pp. 1311-1320. https://doi.org/10.1038/JCBFM.2010.233

Riegelsberger, U-M, Deten, A, Pösel, C, Zille, M, Kranz, A, Boltze, J & Wagner, D-C 2011, 'Intravenous human umbilical cord blood transplantation for stroke: Impact on infarct volume and caspase-3-dependent cell death in spontaneously hypertensive rats', Experimental neurology : a journal of neuroscience research, vol. 227, no. 1, pp. 218-223. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.EXPNEUROL.2010.11.008

61 - 63 out of 63