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Wolfram Ruf

Thrombo-Inflammation in Ageing

Atherothrombosis and its complications, heart attacks and strokes are major contributors to morbidity and mortality in ageing populations. In addition, thrombosis is one of the major co-morbidities and is more widely linked to the development of ageing-related diseases. Our work is focused on the alterations in coagulation and hemostatic systems during ageing and the effects on chronic inflammatory diseases. We are interested in understanding how coagulation signalling regulates hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell health in ageing and thereby preserves immune functions and the regenerative capacity of the entire body. We aim to decipher the molecular mechanisms in the bone marrow niche and self-renewing hematopoietic stem cells that prevent immuno-ageing and its thrombo-inflammatory complications. By focusing on deep transcriptional and epigenetic phenotyping of the ageing bone marrow microenvironment in mice, we expect to advance translational approaches for reversing immune and vascular dysfunction in ageing-related diseases.

Research website

Positions held

  • Since 2015: Principal Investigator, German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK)
  • Since 2014: Alexander von Humboldt Professor and Scientific Director, Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis, Mainz, Germany
  • Since 2013: Professor, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany
  • Since 2005: Professor, Scripps Research, La Jolla, California
  • 1992 - 2005: Assistant Associate Professor (tenured 2001), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA
  • 1988 - 1992: Postdoc/Senior Research Associate, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California

Education

  • 1986 - 1987: Training in Transfusion Medicine, German Army Blood Bank, Koblenz
  • 1984 - 1986: Doctoral Fellowship, Clinical Research Unit for Blood Coagulation and Thrombosis of the Max-Planck Gesellschaft, M.D.
  • 1977 - 1984: Medical Studies, Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany

Selected publications by Wolfram Ruf

Müller-Calleja N, Hollerbach A, Royce J, Ritter S, Pedrosa D, Madhusudhan T, Teifel S, Meineck M, Häuser F, Canisius A, Nguyen TS, Braun J, Bruns K, Etzold A, Zechner U, Strand S, Radsak M, Strand D, Gu JM, Weinmann-Menke J, Esmon CT, Teyton L, Lackner KJ# and Ruf W# (2021) Lipid presentation by the protein C receptor links coagulation with autoimmunity. Science, 371:eabc0956 (#indicates joint correspondence) Link

Graf C, Wilgenbus P, Marini F, Reyda S, Kitano M, Macher-Göppinger S, Weiler H and Ruf W (2019) Myeloid cell-synthesized coagulation factor X dampens anti-tumor immunity. Sci Immunol, 4:eaaw8405 Link

Subramaniam S, Jurk K, Hobohm L, Jäckel S, Saffarzadeh M, Schwierczek K, Wenzel P, Langer F, Reinhardt C and Ruf W (2017) Distinct contributions of complement factors to platelet activation and fibrin formation in venous thrombus development. Blood, 129:2291–2302 Link

Gur-Cohen S, Itkin T, Chakrabarty S, Graf C, Kollet O, Ludin A, Golan K, Kalinkovich A, Ledergor G, Wong E, Niemeyer E,  Porat Z, Erez A, Sagi I, Esmon CT, Ruf W# and Lapidot T# (2015) PAR1 signaling regulates the retention of EPCR-expressing bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells. Nat Med, 21:1307–17 (#indicates joint correspondence) Link

Rothmeier AS, Marchese P, Petrich BG, Furlan-Freguia C, Ginsberg MH, Ruggeri ZM and Ruf W (2015) Caspase-1-mediated pathway promotes generation of thromboinflammatory microparticles. J Clin Invest, 125:1471–1484 Link