Detail

Keywords

Calcium; Cardiac Electrophysiology; Ion Channels; Muscle Fibers, Skeletal; Muscular Dystrophies; Pharmacology

Research group(s)

• Muscle physiology
  Head: Karlheinz Hilber
  Research Area: Skeletal and cardiac muscle physiology
  Members:
  Karlheinz Hilber
  Xaver König

Research interests

1. Investigating Ion Channel Mechanisms Underlying Cardiomyopathy in Muscular Dystrophies
2. Understanding the Role of Store-operated Calcium Entry in Skeletal Muscle
3. Studying the Pharmacology of Cardiac Ion Channels
4. What drives Cancer-related Cachexia in the Heart?
5. How is SERCA function regulated by Stim and Plectin proteins?

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

• electrophysiology
• confocal microscopy
• standard biochemistry
• hereologous expression
• echocardiography
• ECG

Grants

• Altered Calcium-handling in the genesis of cardiac cancer-cachexia (2025)
  Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), stand-alone project
  Principal Investigator
• SPARC: Stim and Plectin mediated Regulation of SERCA (2025)
  Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), stand-alone project
  Principal Investigator
• Metabolic therapy of heart failure: which role for B vitamins (2019)
  Source of Funding: EU, Era-Net CVD
  Principal Investigator
• Defining the Role of Store-operated Calcium Entry in Dystrophic Skeletal Muscle (2018)
  Source of Funding: Österreichische Muskelforschung, Stand-alone project
  Principal Investigator
• Store-operated Calcium entry in skeletal muscle (2018)
  Source of Funding: FWF (Austrian Science Fund), Stand-alone project
  Principal Investigator
• Cardiogenic agents (2009)
  Source of Funding: aws (austria wirtschaftsservice), PRIZE
  Principal Investigator

Selected publications

1. Koenig, X. et al., 2011. Voltage-Gated Ion Channel Dysfunction Precedes Cardiomyopathy Development in the Dystrophic Heart M. Rota, ed. PLoS ONE, 6(5), p.e20300. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0020300.
2. Choi, R.H., Koenig, X. & Launikonis, B.S., 2017. Dantrolene requires Mg2+to arrest malignant hyperthermia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114(18), pp.4811–4815. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1619835114.
3. Rubi, L. et al., 2018. Calcium current properties in dystrophin deficient ventricular cardiomyocytes from aged mdx mice. Physiological Reports, 6(1), p.e13567. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.14814/phy2.13567.
4. Koenig, X., Choi, R.H. & Launikonis, B.S., 2018. Store-operated Ca2+ entry is activated by every action potential in skeletal muscle. Communications Biology, 1(1). Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s42003-018-0033-7.
5. Koenig, X. et al., 2019. Mechanistic insights into store-operated Ca2+ entry during excitation-contraction coupling in skeletal muscle. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell Research, 1866(7), pp.1239–1248. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbamcr.2019.02.014.