2023 Russell Ross Memorial Lectureship in Vascular Biology Lecturer - Lars Maegdefessel, MD, PhD

Lars Maegdefessel studied medicine at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. After finalizing his doctorate, he became a Clinical Fellow in Cardiology and Vascular Medicine in Mainz, before moving to Stanford University as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow. In 2012, he was recruited as an Assistant Professor in Experimental Vascular Medicine to the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. In 2016, he began a dual affiliation between Stockholm and the Technical University in Munich (TUM), Germany, where he has recently been promoted to Director of the newly formed Institute of Molecular Vascular Medicine at TUM.

Research in Dr. Maegdefessel’s laboratories in Munich and Stockholm focuses on the therapeutic and biomarker potential of non-coding RNAs in vascular diseases. The two main vascular diseases he is interested in are abdominal aortic aneurysms, carotid artery disease and ischemic forms of stroke. The labs have access to various human biobanks and cohorts, in vivo and in vitro models (organs-on-chips) and utilize multiple Omics approaches to unravel novel molecular targets with relevance to vascular disease development and progression.

Dr. Maegdefessel has been awarded research grants and awards from the European Research Council (Starting and Consolidator), the German Research and Swedish Research Councils (DFG and Vetenkapsradet), the German Ministry of Education and Research, the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation, the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK), the National Institute of Health (NIH), as well as the American Heart Association (Postdoctoral Fellowship Award in 2010).