The working group
Since 2009 the group has been working on research projects in the field of catheter based interventions for congenital heart defects. The group is based in the German Heart Institute Berlin in the department of congenital heart disease. The team members come from a wide range of disciplines which provides a wide array of expertise, know-how and ways of thinking. This is a benefit for a research group: think outside the box, look at it from a different angle.
The close interaction between different scientific disciplines allows for a quick translation between idea and implementation.
| Kid | Cath | Cardio | Lab |
| Children - About 1% of all children worldwide are born with a congenital heart disease. | Minimally invasive, catheter based procedures in contrast to surgery: no incision, no opening of thorax, no heart lung machine. Use of existing pathways to the heart: the vessels. | Cardiology The heart of our group |
Resarch and development, interdisciplinary translation between disciplines. Development and testing of cardiac devices. |
Boris completed his medical studies in Freiburg, Innsbruck and Berlin.
In 2001 he started his career as a pediatrician at the DHZB in the department of congenital heart disease.
On a journey through the Berlin hospitals (Charité departments and the Children’s Hospital Neukölln) he gained experience in different pediatric specialties including emergency medicine and neonatal and pediatric intensive care.
He completed his doctoral thesis in 2005 and his medical specialization in pediatrics in 2007, returned to DHZB and became a member of the cardiovascular MRI team. Boris has been the team leader of KidCathLab since the very beginning in 2009. When the group came to life he shifted his focus from clinical work to research activities.
His main interests and abilities are pediatric cardiology, catheterization and imaging. And most importantly, he has an open (h)ear(t) for new ideas. He is also a co-founder of a company for planning, implementation and marketing of telemedicine networks and he is certified in mountain and expedition medicine.
Straight after graduation of Medical School in Berlin Hendrik joined the team in 2010 and became one of the physicians on the team. This gave him the opportunity to get hands-on experience straight from the start. Hendrik performs catheter interventions (implantations, intracardiac echo, explantations) and is involved in the assessment and evaluation of the results. He is on his way to becoming a pediatrician.
During his time with KidCathCardio lab he finished his Doctorate’s thesis.
Kerstin successfully completed her studies of Veterinary Medicine at the Free University of Berlin in 2003 and got a broad range of practical experience in all clinical fields with large animals. Until 2013, she worked as research assistant in the clinic for ruminants at the Free University of Berlin. In January 2014, she joined the team with responsibility for the healthy state of the sheep and administration of anesthesia.
Marco has been with KidCathCardioLab way from the beginning in 2010. He was the first engineer to join the team. Studying mechanical engineering at the Karslruhe and Massachusetts Institute of Technology prepared him well the tackle the every day tasks of engineering in our Lab.
Marco is involved in the catheter development and works material sciences. He is especially interested in exploring promising materials for stents.
Stefan is our real Berliner. He joined the group in 2010. As a student for business administration he is the perfect person to look after the financial issues of the group. This includes purchasing and making sure that all needed materials are on stock. He often lends a helping hand in the operation room.
After graduation of the University of Freiburg with a Master’s degree in English, German and Scandinavian languages Katie moved to Berlin. During her studies she focused on Neurolinguistics and first and second language acquisition. So she freelanced as a German and English teacher for adults and worked in speech therapy with children.
She has been with the team since 2010. She is responsible for administrative issues and coordinates the animal trials. She also teaches Medical English at the Academy for Perfusionists at the DHZB.
Heiner Peters joined our team as an intern in 2012. In January 2013 he majored in mechanical engineering at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, where he specialized in product development and microstructure technologies.
Heiner is involved in the catheter development for LifeValve and BELP, in heart valve shaping processes and mechanical analyses of vessel mechanics. His work includes catheter designing and manufacturing as well as mechanical calculations and CAE simulations.
Jonas Haring majored in industrial engineering at RWTH Aachen University where he concentrated on mechanical engineering and medical technologies. He also holds a Master’s degree in Chinese-European Economics and Business studies from Berlin School of Economics and Law.
Jonas Haring joined DHZB in February 2014. Within the LifeValve project, he is mainly involved in the development of artificial heart valves from biological tissues. The focus of his work lies on the implementation, optimization and testing of novel shaping processes.
Sabra Zouhair completed her Diploma degree in Biotechnology at the Technical University of Berlin. She majored in Medical Biotechnology. In the course of her studies she developed a strong interest for regenerative medicine and she will continue her career in this field. She joined the team in the beginning of 2014.
Sabra is responsible for the biological part of research in developing and processing an artificial heart valve from animal pericardial tissue.
After studying Medicine at the Freie Unverstiät Berlin Björn started his way to being a pediatric cardiologist at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin. In 1997 he finished his doctoral thesis with magna cum laude in the field of neuropathology research. His interest in cardiac anatomy and physiology brought him to the Deutsches Herzzentrum Berlin where he started in 1999 in the department of congenital heart disease. He has stayed on ever since and has become the deputy departmental leader. His scientific interests are focused around interventional cardiology, pace maker therapy for patients with congenital heart disease being one of them.
He is very busy in the clinical day-to-day business; nevertheless he finds time for research in areas especially important to him. He is responsible for the pace maker project within KidCathCardioLab in which innovative concepts for the implantation of so called epicardial pace maker leads are explored.
Torben studies Medicine here in Berlin. During one of his classes he came across the work of KidCathLab and was immediately fascinated by the idea of the Lifevalve project and joined the team to write his doctorate's thesis. He hasn't decided yet on to which medical direction his path is going to lead but he has learned that pediatric cardiology might be a good direction to head forward to.
Leon is a medical student at the joint medical faculty between the Humboldt University and the Free University of Berlin. During one of his elective courses in the curriculum he came across the subject of childrens cardiology and the KidCathLab and was henceforth intrigued with research concerning tissue engineered heart valves.
In October 2014 he joined the LifeValve project as a doctoral student, in order to write his thesis about longterm outcomes of tissue-engineered pulmonary heart valves in sheep. Leon has not decided yet, which medical direction he wants to specialize in, but is very interested in either cardiology or childrens cardiology/congenital heart diseases.