Markus J. Barten - candidate for Clinical Councilor

Markus J. Barten is a cardiac surgeon by training and was Medical Director for Research and Consultant for Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery at the University Hospital Jena, Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Germany, till 2007.

From 1997 to 1999 Markus did a 2 year postdoc fellowship in the Laboratory of Transplantation Immunology of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Stanford University, California, USA.

Since February 2007 Markus has a joined position: (1) Senior Medical Scientific Expert in Research and Development, Transplantation, Novartis Pharma AG, Basel, Switzerland; (2) Research associate, Department of Cardiac and Thoracic Surgery, Universityhospital Jena, Germany.

He is appointed to Associate Professor, Privatdozent, for Cardiac Surgery in 2008, University Hospital Jena, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany.

Research areas

Markus research is focused on transplantation immunology (e.g. therapeutic drug monitoring) and the outcome of cardiac patients after surgery (e.g. reperfusion injury) as well as predictive medicine. He develops flow cytometric assays to gain further insights in inter- and intra-cellular pathways of immune cells, and for a more practicable use in the clinical routine.

Markus is head of a national funded transplantation research project with 2 coworkers and up to 4 medical students since 1999. He coordinates international collaborations with clinics and basic research institutions and fosters a strong relation within researchers of early drug development in the industry.

Markus is reviewer of international scientific journals, lecturer and congress organizer. He is a member of the ISAC, the Transplantation Society, the German Society of Cytometry and the German Society of Cardiac-, Thoracic- and Vascular-Surgery. Since 1997, Markus actively contributes to the field of flow cytometry, for example, he is member of the Editorial Board of the journal Cytometry Part A, and he is selected to give a tutorial at the ISAC XXIV congress 2008. Markus has published more than 40 papers in peer-reviewed journals, with 18 papers as first author.

Campaign Statement

In times of gene technology, ISAC should set future directions to guide the cooperation of researchers of academia and of industry in the application of basic and clinical science. This approach needs the contribution from scientists from many different areas like physics, biology and medicine.

Despite, my major focus is on the methodology of flow cytometry, I also strongly support image and slide based cytometry as another leading methodology in the scientific and clinical setting.

I encourage the collaboration of cytometry related researchers located in the USA and research groups in Europe. In particular, ISAC will profit from communication with many cytometry societies all over the world. For example, working relationships with cytometry societies from East Europe and South America should be built.

As a person who has worked in many different areas, I support the transfer from cytometry as technology to cytometry as a valuable diagnostic tool in the clinical routine. Therefore, a open exchange of knowledge between the specialists from all cytometry disciplines is the key for a successful application of cytometry in the clinic. Additionally, I further support interdisciplinary exchanges and cross-disciplinary activities.

Such a transient communication between different parts of the society will increase and strengthens the unique role of ISAC in the field of analytical cytometry. Consequently, the implementation of regular interdisciplinary workshops, courses and tutorials about the latest cytometry technology and its clinical application will be a major focus of my work as a councilor. Moreover, I will use this approach to focus on the extension of the educational program for students nationwide. For me, the involvement of students in the progression of analytical cytometry early on in their career is the solid basement of ISAC in the future.