International Max Planck Research School for Genome Science

Cyganek, Lukas, Dr.

Group leader at the stem cell unit


  • Study of chemistry and Biology at Georg-August University, Göttingen
  • 2009 Staatsexamen (First state examination) in chemistry at Georg-August University Göttingen
  • 2009-2012 Studies in the doctoral program “Molecular Physiology of the Brain” at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen; Doctoral degree ‘Dr. rer. nat.’
  • 2013-2015 Post-doctoral researcher in the Stem Cell Laboratory of the Cardiology and Pneumology at the University Medical Center Göttingen
  • 2013 - 2015 Post-doctoral researcher in the Stem Cell Laboratory of the Clinic for Cardiology and Pneumology at the University Medical Center Göttingen
  • since 2015 Head of the Stem Cell Unit at the University Medical Center Göttingen




Major Research Interests

Our group focuses on the generation of patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and their applications in genome editing, cardiac differentiation, tissue engineering and disease modelling. By combining iPSC technology with CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing and further state-of-the-art approaches, we aim to deeply investigate the development, function and pathophysiology of cardiomyocytes on molecular, omics-based as well as on functional and pharmacological level in order to identify novel pathophysiological mechanisms in cardiovascular diseases/heart failure and to develop preventive and/or curative therapies (drug development, gene therapy and regenerative approaches).


Homepage Department / Research Group

http://stemcellunit.de/




Selected Recent Publications


  • Hanses U, Kleinsorge M, Roos L, Yigit G, Li Y, Barbarics B, El-Battrawy I, Lan H, Tiburcy M, Hindmarsh R, Lenz C, Salinas G, Diecke S, Müller C, Adham I, Altmüller J, Nürnberg P, Paul T, Zimmermann WH, Hasenfuss G, Wollnik B, Cyganek L. Intronic CRISPR Repair in a Preclinical Model of Noonan Syndrome-Associated Cardiomyopathy. Circulation. 2020; 142(11).

  • Kleinsorge M, Cyganek L. Subtype-Directed Differentiation of Human iPSCs into Atrial and Ventricular Cardiomyocytes. STAR Protocols. 2020; 100026.


  • El-Battrawy I, Albers S, Cyganek L, Zhao Z, Lan H, Li X, Xu Q, Kleinsorge M, Huang M, Liao Z, Zhong R, Rudic B, Müller J, Dinkel H, Lang S, Diecke S, Zimmermann WH, Utikal J, Wieland T, Borggrefe M, Zhou X, Akin I. A cellular model of Brugada syndrome with SCN10A variants using human-induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes. Europace. 2019; 21(9).

  • Cyganek L, Tiburcy M, Sekeres K, Gerstenberg K, Bohnenberger H, Lenz C, Henze S, Stauske M, Salinas G, Zimmermann WH, Hasenfuss G, Guan K. Deep phenotyping of human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived atrial and ventricular cardiomyocytes. JCI Insight. 2018; 3(12).

  • El-Battrawy I, Lan H, Cyganek L, Zhao Z, Li X, Buljubasic F, Lang S, Yücel G, Sattler K, Zimmermann WH, Utikal J, Wieland T, Ravens U, Borggrefe M, Zhou XB, Akin I. Modeling Short QT Syndrome Using Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes. J Am Heart Assoc. 2018; 7(7).