University Hospital for Orthopaedics

Contact persons:

Marina Danalache, Julius Michael Wolfgart, Ulf Krister Hofmann

Articular cartilage is one of the bradytrophic tissues. The sparsely scattered cartilage cells maintain an extensive extracellular matrix in equilibrium via anabolic and catabolic processes. We are investigating in detail which biochemical processes are responsible for the degradation of this matrix. The precise knowledge of these processes can open up drug strategies to slow down or stop the degradation of articular cartilage by blocking these processes.

Contact persons:

Sascha Hemayatkar-Fink, Marina Danalache, Rosa Riester and Sebastian Höfelsauer.

In order to evaluate the resistance of cartilage cells, we test the ability of chondrocytes to survive under different stress conditions in vitro. Since chondrocytes dedifferentiate in the usual 2D culture, 3D cultures are used for our questions, such as dextran gels, alginate or cultivation in the native tissue itself.

Contact persons:

Marina Danalache, Rosa Riester, Dr.Saskia Sachsenmaier and Sebastian Höfelsauer.

Various signalling pathways play a role in the degeneration of cells such as those found in tumours. In melanoma cells, we compare knock-out cells and controlled overexpression of specific genes to investigate their effects on cellular protein biochemical synthesis performance. We then compare this with the effects we observed on cellular biomechanical properties. From this we can then draw conclusions about the metastatic potential of these cells.

Contact persons:

Florian Bonnaire, Marina Danalache, Sebastian Höfelsauer

In collaboration with various external cooperation partners, we investigate embryonic development, peripartum and adolescent maturation as well as the aging process of the intervertebral disc. Using bovine and human samples, we are specifically investigating the emergence of defined spatial cellular arrangement patterns, which could serve as a new image-based biomarker for the degree of maturation and also the extent of degeneration.

Contact persons:

Marina Danalache, Rosa Riester and Sebastian Höfelsauer

Under load, the articular cartilage is subjected to enormously high compressive and shear forces. In the cartilage itself, the chondrocytes are scattered in an extensive extracellular matrix. It is this extracellular matrix that possesses the biomechanical properties to meet the high demands placed on it in the long term with low friction. In order to protect the chondrocytes from the high mechanical stresses that occur, a special form of extracellular matrix exists directly around the cells: the so-called pericellular matrix. Like a cocoon, it surrounds the chondrocytes and seems not only to provide mechanical protection, but also to be involved in the coordinated signal transmission from the extracellular matrix into the cell. We investigate in detail the composition and function of this matrix.

Contact persons:

Marina Danalache, Rosa Riester and Sebastian Höfelsauer

Imaging techniques are often used to qualitatively describe morphological changes in tissues. These results are then correlated with quantitative data obtained from biochemical analysis methods. In our laboratory we also have the possibility to measure mechanical changes of tissues and cells on a microscopic level and thus derive a direct functional relevance from the observed structural changes.

Contact persons:

Marina Danalache, Rosa Riester and Sebastian Höfelsauer

In the production of artificial matrices for the regeneration of cartilage or bone, it seems to be advantageous to generate structures that serve the needs of the cells to be used. We are investigating the effects of such functional architectures on the cellular performance and their mechanical resilience in cartilage and bone cells.