Alessandra Moretti

Prof. Alessandra Moretti is a Professor of Regenerative Medicine of Cardiovascular Diseases at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), School of Medicine and Health. She leads research in stem cell biology and cardiovascular development, with a focus on regenerative therapeutic approaches for heart diseases.

Her educational background includes a degree in Chemistry and Pharmacy from the University of Padua, Italy, where she earned her doctorate in 1997. She completed four years of postdoctoral research at the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard Medical School's Massachusetts General Hospital.

Prof. Moretti's research centers on cardiovascular progenitor cells, cellular plasticity, and human induced pluripotent stem cells for modeling cardiovascular diseases. Her work bridges fundamental developmental biology and clinical applications, targeting cardiac cell specification mechanisms and novel treatments for heart failure and muscular dystrophies through regenerative approaches.

Her publication trajectory shows progression from foundational discoveries in cardiac progenitor cells (e.g., Isl1+ lineage studies) to translational applications like gene editing for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. The research consistently integrates molecular mechanisms of cardiomyocyte identity with disease modeling using patient-specific stem cells.

She has received several prestigious awards, including:

• ERC Advanced Grant (2018)
• German University Medicine Innovation Award (2013)
• Biology Prize of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences (2012)
• Principal Investigator of the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) (since 2011)
• Astra-Zeneca Prize for Cardiovascular Research (2006)

Prof. Moretti leads a research group at Klinikum rechts der Isar focusing on stem cell-based cardiovascular regeneration. Her laboratory investigates molecular pathways in heart development and disease using advanced stem cell models, supported by major grants including the ERC Advanced Grant and DZHK funding. She continues to advance therapeutic strategies for cardiac repair through gene editing and stem cell engineering.