Klaudia Schossleitner, PhD

work address:

Medical University of Vienna

Skin & Endothelial research division SERD

Department of Dermatology

Lazarettgasse 14, 1090 Vienna, Austria

e-mail:

            klaudia.schossleitner@muv.ac.at

homepage:

            www.meduniwien.ac.at/vascbiol

know-how and research interests:

Vascular barrier function is critical for the maintenance of blood flow and tissue homeostasis. In endothelial and epithelial cells the tight junctional complex safeguards barrier function. Tight junctional adaptor molecules in the cytosol, which link the tight junction complex to the cytoskeleton and to signaling pathways, play an important role in the control of vascular barrier function.

We investigate these adaptor proteins and have shown that they can be used to regulate vascular permeability. Therefore, tight junction adaptor proteins, such as cingulin and its interaction domains with the cytoskeleton and exchange factors of RhoGTPases could be used to protect barrier function in endothelial junct ions. Applying these findings, we try to develop a new treatment strategy against diseases characterized by vascular leak, such as, cancer, allergic reactions, burn injuries or sepsis.

research topic:

Protecting vascular barrier function

techniques and infrastructure of the research group:

            Basic methods of molecular biology, cell and tissue culture, transfection of cells, expression and purification of recombinant proteins, analysis of subcellular fractions, flow cytometry, histology and immuno-histochemistry, live monitoring of vascular permeability in vitro (live imaging, TEER, Transwell assays) and in vivo (using vascular probes for IVIS)

5 selected publications:

For an up to date list of publications please visit

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1202-5961

Zhuravleva, K., Goertz, O., Wölkart, G., Guillemot, L., Petzelbauer, P., Lehnhardt, M., Schmidt, K., Citi, S. & Schossleitner, K. (2020) ‘The tight junction protein cingulin regulates the vascular response to burn injury in a mouse model’, Microvascular Research, 36, 104067. doi:10.1016/J.MVR.2020.104067

Wenzina, J., Holzner, S., Puujalka, E., Cheng, P. F., Forsthuber, A., Neumüller, K., Schossleitner, K., Lichtenberger, B. M., Levesque, M. P. & Petzelbauer, P. (2019) ‘Inhibition of p38/MK2 signaling prevents vascular invasion of melanoma.’ Journal of Investigative Dermatology. doi:10.1016/j.jid.2019.08.451

Schossleitner, K., O’Mahony, C., Brandstätter, S., Haslinger, M. J., Demuth, S., Fechtig, D. and Petzelbauer, P. (2019) ‘Differences in biocompatibility of microneedles from cyclic olefin polymers with human endothelial and epithelial skin cells’, Journal of Biomedical Materials Research - Part A. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 107(3), pp. 505–512. doi: 10.1002/jbm.a.36565.

Schossleitner, K., Rauscher, S., Gröger, M., Friedl, H. P., Finsterwalder, R., Habertheuer, A., Sibilia, M., Brostjan, C., Födinger, D., Citi, S. and Petzelbauer, P. (2016) ‘Evidence That Cingulin Regulates Endothelial Barrier Function in Vitro and in Vivo’, Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology, 36(4), pp. 647–654. doi: 10.1161/ATVBAHA.115.307032.

Schossleitner, K., Habertheuer, A., Finsterwalder, R., Friedl, H. P. H. P., Rauscher, S., Gröger, M., Kocher, A., Wagner, C., Wagner, S. N. S. N., Fischer, G., Schultz, M. J. M. J., Wiedemann, D. and Petzelbauer, P. (2015) ‘A Peptide to Reduce Pulmonary Edema in a Rat Model of Lung Transplantation.’, Plos One. Edited by H. K. Eltzschig. Public Library of Science, 10(11), p. e0142115. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142115.