Arne Hansen

Arne Hansen serves as DZHK Professor for cardiac tissue engineering at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf's Department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology. His research develops complex human three-dimensional cell culture models to study cardiac disease mechanisms and pharmacological effects using induced pluripotent stem cells.

His work focuses on creating predictive human in vitro models through stem cell reprogramming, CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, cardiomyocyte differentiation, and tissue engineering. His team develops automated systems measuring action potentials, calcium transients, and contractile force to investigate cardiac gene and drug effects with high standardization. By integrating functional analysis with cellular biology surrogates, his research aims to deepen understanding of cardiac biology and cardiomyopathy mechanisms.

Hansen's publications reveal consistent focus on engineered heart tissue models, with recent work emphasizing atrial-specific models, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy mechanisms, and metabolic maturation of cardiomyocytes. His research bridges stem cell biology, cardiac physiology, and pharmacological testing.

• Stipend German Research Foundation (2004-2005)
• Ursula M. Händel-Tierschutzpreis of German Research Foundation (2011)
• Forschungspreis für Alternativen zum Tierversuch, Hansestadt Hamburg (2019)

Hansen co-founded EHT Technologies GmbH (2015) to translate research into applications. His laboratory develops customized test systems with automated physiological readouts, enabling standardized investigation of cardiac gene and drug effects. Current work focuses on creating physiologically accurate human in vitro models to facilitate biomedical translation.