Tricontinental Summer School in Cardiovascular Research (TRiSSCaR)

September 1 - 12, 2025

TRiSSCaR is an exciting educational initiative organized by Dr. Konstantinos Drosatos from the University of Cincinnati, Dr. Marc Freichel from Heidelberg University in Germany, and Dr. Roger Foo from the National University of Singapore.  The Tricontinental summer school program aims το expose talented undergraduate and master's students to cutting-edge heart and vascular research with the goal of helping students explore training opportunities in cardiovascular PhD research. 

Application Process

Completed applications must be submitted by June 15, 2025 to Dr. K. Drosatos (k.drosatos@uc.edu) or Dr. K. Philipparert (koenraad.philippaert@pharma.uni-heidelberg.de).

All applications must include:

• a personal statement
• academic transcript and
• one reference letter from a faculty member

A scientific committee consisting of junior and senior faculty members from the 3 institutions will evaluate all applications.  Students currently studying biological and life sciences, medicine, or bioengineering, who are interested in pursuing PhD studies, are encouraged to apply. 

Twelve applicants will be selected to participate in the 10-day, in-person, summer school.  Tuition and accommodation costs are covered by the program with all course instruction conducted in English.  Hotel accommodations for the 2025 inaugural course will be at The Graduate Hotel, near the University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine campus.   Six additional, non-sponsored, program slots may become available with tuition and travel expenses paid by the student.  

Location

The location changes annually between Cincinnati, Heidelberg and Singapore. The inaugural course is set to take place September 1-12, 2025 at the University of Cincinnati, in Cincinnati, Ohio USA

Contact Information

• Konstantinos Drosatos (University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine) – k.drosatos@uc.edu
• Marc Freichel (Heidelberg University) - marc.freichel@pharma.uni-heidelberg.de
• Roger Foo (National University of Singapore) - roger.foo@nus.edu.sg

Program Information

Lectures & Curriculum 

The program will include morning lectures by 3 investigators who have a rich research experience with documented scientific productivity in top-level journals.  Lectures will be followed by a 60-minutes lunch break. Afternoon sessions will include experimental method demonstrations.

Additional elements include career development modules with scientific presentations, career discussions, interview preparation including mock interviews. The summer school will conclude with scientific debates on controversial cardiovascular research topics.  Exams and each students' debate performance  will be evaluated with the top-2 ranked students receiving an award for their outstanding performances.

The summer school program will also include cultural activities.  These activities aim to raise student awareness of the history of the participant institutions and corresponding locations (University of Cincinnati, Heidelberg University, and the National University of Singapore). 

Lecture Topics 

•  Cardiovascular (CV) development and cardiac and systemic CV physiology
•  Cardiomyopathies (inherited, acquired)
•  Vascular biology and complications (atherosclerosis, aneurysms)
•  Metabolic biology and cardiometabolic disease
•  Immune biology and intercellular crosstalk
•  Epigenetic and transcriptional regulation of gene expression, RNA biology
•  Modeling of cardiovascular disease (animals, organoids, computational)
•  Multi-OMIC analysis
•  Experimental design and scientific biases