The Walter
Brendel
Centre of Experimental Medicine (WBex) at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München is a newly established research
institution which integrates the Institute for Surgical Research and
the Institute of Cardiovascular Physiology into a research centre
dedicated to perform basic research at the clinical interface.
Cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction or stroke are the
most common cause of morbidity and mortality in industrialized
countries. Basic research in this area is therefore essential and will
significantly contribute to uncover the physiological and
pathophysiological processes underlying cardiovascular diseases. From
this knowledge, the development of novel promising treatment strategies
can be promoted with the intention to reduce both mortality and
morbidity of cardiovascular diseases. To reach these goals, one of our
main missions is our strong support for translational medicine which
will accelerate bringing those novel treatment strategies from bench to
bedside.
Who was
Walter Brendel?
Walter
Brendel is the "patron" of the centre. His name was not only choosen
because he was the first director of the Institute for Surgical
Research which is now part of the WBex. He was also
a
physiologist and one of the first in Germany to establish a research
institute which tried to combine basic research with clinical topics to
promote new concepts and developments in diseases subject to surgical
treatment.
He was born in 1922. After his medical
studies in Heidelberg and his
doctorate in 1948, he started his research career at the famous Max
Planck Institute in Bad Nauheim near Frankfurt which was leading in
circulatory physiology. He became interested in temperature regulation
and the effects of hypothermia where he made seminal findings on
cold-induced brain edema and microvascular impairment at low body
temperature. He became a faculty member of the LMU Munich in 1961.
Together with the chairman for surgery,
Rudolph Zenker, he started
surgical research projects and built up an institute with many
international relations. The institute became even better known world
wide because of the anti lymphocyte serum which was an effective
treatment to suppress organ rejection and led to a cooperation with
Prof. Barnard in the early heart transplantations. In the mid seventies
Walter Brendel started research on the clinical application of shock
waves. Indeed, the development of extracorporeal shock wave
lithotripsy, the fragmentation of stones in the gall bladder, the
ureteric tract and other locations is one of the hallmarks in the
history of the Institute for Surgical Research. Furthermore, detailed
studies of the microcirculation and the development of the concept of
hemodilution as well as the the pathophysiology and treatment of
neurotrauma became very successful scientific focus. Walter Brendel was
a very charismatic person who motivated young physicians to seek new
ways for the understanding and treatment of diseases and produced a
unique environment both for scientific and social activities. It is no
surprise that many researchers in Germany and overseas who had worked
in his institute became famous researchers and clinicians. Walter
Brendel died in 1989.
