The elective courses at the Goethe University Frankfurt am Main are aimed at students who wish to pursue an experimental doctoral thesis.

Vascular disease and therapy

The study of vascular function and heterogeneity enables the design of therapeutic strategies to preserve homeostasis. Here we offer an ELECTIVE course which aims to train students (hands on experience) on endothelial cell culture, response to pro-inflammatory, and pro-angiogenic stimuli as well as confocal imaging and live endothelial cell metabolic mapping. The Elective will run for 2 days, comprising a Seminar component (2 hours) and a Practical component (14 hours over 2 days). Students may choose any subcategory of interest.

Novel approaches to tackle cardiac disease – Regeneration & new drugs

In this setting, we will study the differential effects of drugs on proliferative responses in cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and pericytes/smooth muscle cells.

Deciphering cardiovascular disease – RNA therapeutics & single cell technologies

By providing distinct experimental procedures, the course will provide knowledge on endothelial cell culture and function in response to pro-inflammatory and pro-angiogenic stimuli as well as confocal imaging, immunofluorescence and RNA biology.