Dominik Fiegle

At the University of Regensburg I received a thorough basic scientific knowledge in biology bachelor and master study.

First I was trained in basic molecular biology in the plant physiology department. I applied and refined the acquired knowledge during practical courses in the master study. In the master's thesis in the department of virology and clinical microbiology I generated and validated a modified human cell line with furin protease over expression for the efficient recombinant production of native-like HIV envelope protein. To further expand my scientific and language skills I spend one semester at Charles University of Prague in the laboratory, working on the infection cycle of polyomavirus. As I gained insight into microscopic imaging during the time in Prague I decided to deepen my imaging skills during my PhD time. In addition, I wanted to transfer the acquired methods to a new research field and hence I joined the group of Prof. Volk in cardiac physiology at the Friedrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nürnberg as doctoral candidate. Here, we investigate the regulation of the t-tubular system (t-system) in animal and human cardiac myocytes. We use electrophysiology, confocal imaging, molecular biology and innovative in-vitro techniques to describe and investigate mechanisms of pathological remodelling of the t-system occurring in failing human hearts.