Contact

► Karina Ivaskevica

Tel: +49 511 532-2759 (Office)

Fax: +49 511 532-161215

Address: 30625 Hanover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1

Office: Building J03, Block 01, Level 03, Room 1320

Career

Karina holds a B.Sc. in Biotechnology from HAW Hamburg and an M.Sc. in Bioanalytics from Coburg University of Applied Sciences. For her Master’s thesis at the Fraunhofer Institute in Würzburg, she specialized in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), researching the impact of alginate bead stiffness on culture conditions.

Current Projects

In January 2023, Karina joined the research group of Dr. Sarah A. Konze at the Institute for Molecular and Cell Physiology to pursue her doctoral studies. Her PhD project focuses on the contractile imbalance theory in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Using two-dimensional monolayers of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes, she investigates how MYBPC3-associated alterations in cMyBP-C expression, sarcomere organization, calcium handling, and contractile function contribute to the development of the HCM phenotype. In addition, she explores the role of cMyBP-C in early cardiac development, particularly in the context of homozygous MYBPC3 mutations, using heart-forming organoid models.

Expertise

• hiPSC cell culture
• 2D and 3D cardiomyocyte model systems
• Imaging-based analyses
• Functional measurements (twitch contractions, Ca2+ handling)