Ischemic heart disease is the main cause of mortality worldwide. We study cardiac tolerance to injury caused by acute oxygen deprivation from the molecular level to the whole organism using animal models. Our research is focused mainly on the study of mechanisms that underlie:

• high cardiac tolerance to injury early ontogeny,
• increased cardiac tolerance induced by adaptation to chronic hypoxia and regular exercise training,
• permanent consequences of early developmental interventions for cardiac tolerance in adulthood,
• and altered cardiac tolerance associated with various pathological states.

Further we study heart development with special emphasis on the cardiac conduction system. Our current research is focused on the following projects:

• elucidating cardiac conduction system formation with phylogenetic approaches,
• dynamic imaging methods for cardiac conduction system,
• and development of new methods for quantitative analysis of fibrous structures to study branching patterns of the coronary vessels and cardiac conduction system.

13th conference New Frontiers in Basic Cardiovascular Research