Who is Professor Dr. Kurt Pfannkuche?
Professor Dr. Kurt Pfannkuche is a biologist and researcher specializing in cardiac tissue engineering, currently leading the Marga-and-Walter-Boll Laboratory for Cardiac Tissue Engineering at the University of Cologne. His laboratory is located within the Center for Physiology and Pathophysiology and operates in close collaboration with the Institute of Neurophysiology and the Department of Paediatric Cardiology at the University Hospital Cologne.
Academic Background and Career
Kurt Pfannkuche began his academic journey at the University of Cologne, where he studied biology with a focus on ecology, genetics, animal physiology, and pharmacology. His early research, guided by Professor Klaus Rajewsky, focused on engineering cell-permeable Cre-recombinase proteins. He then joined Professor Jürgen Hescheler's laboratory at the Institute of Neurophysiology, where he delved into stem cell biology and cardiac development. This experience sparked his interest in pluripotent stem cells and their potential applications in tissue engineering.
Research Focus and Contributions
Kurt Pfannkuche's research focuses on using human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to develop cardiac micro-tissues and organoids for therapeutic applications. His laboratory is optimizing the transplantation of micro-tissues into the myocardium following myocardial infarction. His team is taking on the key challenges of enhancing cardiomyocyte engraftment efficiency, preventing arrhythmias post-transplantation, and improving cell preparation technologies.
A significant part of his work is developing artificial cardiac tissues, including creating vascular structures to supply oxygen and nutrients to engineered myocardium. Kurt Pfannkuche's team is collaborating with experts in chemistry and engineering to explore novel biomaterials and bioreactor technologies. These technologies will support the growth and functionality of these tissues.
The research group conducts interdisciplinary research in collaboration with colleagues from chemistry and various engineering disciplines. Translational aspects are covered through collaborations with start-ups and larger enterprises. The group's international outlook is reflected in the diverse nationalities of its team members, including students from China, Germany, India, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.
Teaching and Outreach
Beyond his research, Kurt Pfannkuche is committed to education and knowledge dissemination mainly in the field of human physiology. He offers specialized courses in cell culture techniques for medical students and has been involved in various educational initiatives to promote understanding and application of stem cell technologies.
Kurt Pfannkuche's work is at the forefront of cardiac regenerative medicine. He combines stem cell biology, tissue engineering, and interdisciplinary collaboration to address critical challenges in heart disease therapy.
Selected Publications
The following selected publications highlight Kurt Pfannkuche's important contributions to the field of cardiac tissue engineering and stem cell research, especially in developing therapies for heart disease.
- Engineered In Vitro Multi-Cell Type Ventricle Model Generates Long-Term Pulsatile Flow and Modulates Cardiac Output in Response to Cardioactive Drugs. (Adv Healthc Mater. 2025, DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202403897)
This publication describes the development of a bioengineered ventricle model in vitro as a platform for advanced in vitro measurements of functional parameters of engineered cardiac tissue. In collaboration with AG Horst Fischer, RWTH Aachen.
- Engineering of Cardiac Microtissues by Microfluidic Cell Encapsulation in Thermoshrinking Non-Crosslinked PNIPAAm Gels (Biofabrication, 2022, DOI: 10.1088/1758-5090/ac73b5)
This publication presented a method for engineering cardiac microtissues using microfluidic cell encapsulation in thermoshrinking non-crosslinked PNIPAAm gels, providing a novel approach for creating functional cardiac tissues. In collaboration with AG Annette Schmidt, Uni Köln.
- High efficient serum free differentiation of endothelial cells from human iPS cells. (Stem Cell Res Ther. 2022, DOI: 10.1186/s13287-022-02924-x)
This work describes an improved workflow to generate endothelial cells from human iPSCs at efficiencies of above 90% without sorting.
- Generation of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in 2D monolayer and scalable 3D suspension bioreactor cultures with reduced batch-to-batch variations. (Theranostics. 2019, DOI: 10.7150/thno.32058.)
Here we demonstrate an improved method based on biphasic blocking of wnt signalling to generate cardiomyocytes from human iPSCs with reduced variation in differentiation efficiency.
- Cardiomyocytes facing fibrotic conditions re-express extracellular matrix transcripts.(Acta Biomater. 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.actbio.2019.03.017.)
This research investigated how physiological and pathophysiological matrix conditions affect the permanent culture of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, predicting transcriptomic chances in fibrotic environments.
PubMed Link of Professor Dr. Kurt Pfannkuche