Engagement in the Research System

Thomas Thum is a physician and specialist in Internal Medicine and Cardiology trained at Hannover Medical School and Julius-Maximilians University, Würzburg. He obtained his PhD at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Imperial College, London. In 2009 he was recruited through the German Excellence Initiative as a Full Professor and Director of the Institute of Molecular and Translational Therapeutic Strategies (IMTTS; Hannover Medical School). In June 2013, he was appointed as a Visiting Professor of Cardiology at the Imperial College in London. Since 2018, he additionally is Director of the Research Center for Translational Regenerative Medicine. From January 2021 to December 2023, he worked as Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine in Hannover. Thomas has received many national and international awards such as the Paul-Martini-Award in 2021. Thomas became also Fellow of the European (FESC), the American Society of Cardiology (FAHA) as well as the Heart Failure Association (FHFA) and he is member of many additional societies (see below).

Thomas has made many ground-breaking discoveries in the field of non-coding RNAs. He pioneered the use of an oligonucleotide-based therapy of heart diseases (Nature, 2008); especially he developed a strategy to block miRNA-21 to treat cardiac and extracardiac fibrosis. Thomas developed a high throughput system for massive identification of functional ncRNAs. By this strategy Thomas and his team identified the miR212/132 cluster that has a crucial role in the cardiac remodeling process and cardiac autophagy (Nature Commun, 2012). Within the last decade he developed this approach into clinical testing in heart failure patients through his spin-of biotech company Cardior Pharmaceuticals GmbH (currently a phase II study is running). In 2024, Cardior was acquired by Novo Nordisk for >1 billion EUR. Additionally, Thum is interested in the development of new diagnostic strategies for cardiac diseased patients. Latest research interests of Thomas are in the field of cardiovascular long non-coding RNAs, which are defined as non-coding RNAs larger than 200 nucleotides in length. He has shown that these „lncRNAs“ can be also observed in the plasma of cardiac diseases patients and may be of use in diagnostics and prognostic evaluation of patients (Circ Res, 2014). Thum also pioneered the use of lncRNAs and circRNAs as therapeutic targets (Science Trans Med. 2016, Eur Heart J. 2022).

Academic Distinctions

Awards and Prizes (selection):         

2022        Desmond Julian Award

2021        Paul-Martini Award

2014        Sir Hans Krebs Award

2012        Franz-Maximilian-Groedel Award, German Society of Cardiology

2011        Outstanding Achievement Award, European Society of Cardiology

2010        Albert-Fraenkel-Award, German Society of Cardiology

Receiving an ERC Consolidator grant by the European Union in 2015, which was continued in 2020 with a Proof of Concept grant, followed by an EIC transition open grant (2022) based on the data from the two previous grants;  ERC Advanced Grant by EU in 2022.