The Group of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology (GMCC) aims to establish a clinically oriented basic research direction that provides novel insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms underpinning heart failure. The major goal of the research group is to establish novel molecular targets for treatment of heart failure.

The host institution, the Department of Circulation and Medical Imaging, the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (NTNU, Trondheim), offers a unique environment for clinically oriented basic research, with the new integrated university hospital that is “built for multidisciplinary collaboration”.

We have established a basic research laboratory with state-of-the-art equipment that is situated under the same roof as the Department of cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery at St. Olavs University Hospital.

The experimental approaches range from whole body characterisation of the heart using testing for aerobic capacity, echocardiography and intraventricular catheterization, to isolated hearts and down to the cellular and molecular mechanisms in isolated cardiomyocytes.

For the characterisation of cellular and molecular mechanisms, we use material from different sources: human cardiac biopsies obtained during surgery, experimental comparative models as well as human Inducible Pluripotent Stem cells (hIPS).

Methodologies include fluorescence microscopy, electrophysiology and confocal imaging in addition to standard technology for molecular regulation by biochemical techniques.