Konstantin Gängel – Vascular malformations and anomalies
We study the mechanisms that lead to the formation and growth of vascular malformations. Our aim is to find biomarkers and pharmacological targets in order to develop treatment strategies for patients suffering from this type of vascular anomalies.

3D reconstruction of confocal images from developing blood vessels in a mouse retina at postnatal day 7.
Blood vessels transport blood, and thereby oxygen and nutrients to the cells of the body, and are thus essential to human life. While the smallest blood vessels are tiny, about one fifth as thick as a hair, they are many in number. In fact, when laid out in one line, the blood vessels of the human body would span about 100 000 km – more than twice around the earth.
Depending on their location, blood vessels have adopted a remarkable functional diversity that allows them to execute their specific tasks. It is fascinating in itself how the vascular system develops and functions.
Morphological abnormalities of blood vessels
However, in some diseases, blood vessels do not develop normally, which can result in vascular malformations, which are morphological abnormalities of blood vessels that often go hand-in-hand with impaired endothelial or mural-cell function. The malformations can affect all vessel types, arise either sporadically or as a consequence of inherited mutations, and can be present at birth or acquired later in life. While certain malformations remain asymptomatic, others severely impact the quality of life and can cause seizures, paralysis, stroke, or life-threatening hemorrhages.
We use a combination of mouse genetics, intravital microscopy and single-cell RNA sequencing approaches to study vascular malformations. Our aim is to characterize the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to the formation and progression of those vascular anomalies. In doing so we hope to identify new biomarkers that help us predict how malformations progress, find new therapeutic targets and develop new treatment approaches for the associated diseases.
Read more about our research projects
Follow us on X: @KGaengel
Group members
Publications
Intravital Imaging of Disease Mechanisms in a Mouse Model of CCM Skin Lesions-Brief Report
Part of Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology, p. 113-118, 2025
- DOI for Intravital Imaging of Disease Mechanisms in a Mouse Model of CCM Skin Lesions-Brief Report
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Part of Cell Reports, 2024
- DOI for Mosaic deletion of claudin-5 reveals rapid non-cell-autonomous consequences of blood-brain barrier leakage
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Incongruence between transcriptional and vascular pathophysiological cell states
Part of NATURE CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH, p. 530-549, 2023
- DOI for Incongruence between transcriptional and vascular pathophysiological cell states
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Cellular Origin of Sporadic CCMs
Part of New England Journal of Medicine, p. 1291-1291, 2022
Mural Cell SRF Controls Pericyte Migration, Vessel Patterning and Blood Flow
Part of Circulation Research, p. 308-327, 2022
- DOI for Mural Cell SRF Controls Pericyte Migration, Vessel Patterning and Blood Flow
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Part of Developmental Cell, p. 779-+, 2020
Part of Transgenic research, p. 53-68, 2020
- DOI for Tamoxifen-independent recombination of reporter genes limits lineage tracing and mosaic analysis using CreER(T2) lines
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CDC42 deletion elicits cerebral vascular malformations via increased MEKK3-dependent KLF4 expression
Part of Circulation Research, p. 1240-1252, 2019
Part of Open Biology, 2019
- DOI for Integrins are required for synchronous ommatidial rotation in the Drosophila eye linking planar cell polarity signalling to the extracellular matrix
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Defective endothelial cell migration in the absence of Cdc42 leads to capillary-venous malformations
Part of Development, 2018
Part of PLOS Genetics, 2018
- DOI for Prickle is phosphorylated by Nemo and targeted for degradation to maintain Prickle/Spiny-legs isoform balance during planar cell polarity establishment
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Gpr116 Receptor Regulates Distinctive Functions in Pneumocytes and Vascular Endothelium
Part of PLOS ONE, 2015
New imaging methods and tools to study vascular biology
Part of Current opinion in hematology, p. 258-266, 2015
Endocytosis regulates VEGF signalling during angiogenesis
Part of Nature Cell Biology, p. 233-235, 2013