---
title: 'Rikke Birkedal'
url: 'https://sysbio.taltech.ee/people/rikke-birkedal'
markdown: 'https://sysbio.taltech.ee/people/rikke-birkedal.md'
date: '2026-08-22'
description: "Rikke Birkedal Research Interests I work in comparative cardiac physiology. More specifically, I'm interested in the relationship between cardiomyocyte morphology, excitation-contraction coupling, mechanical performance and energy production. For this, it is useful to compare cardiomyocytes from di…"
---

# Rikke Birkedal

## Research Interests

I work in comparative cardiac physiology. More specifically, I'm interested in the relationship between cardiomyocyte morphology, excitation-contraction coupling, mechanical performance and energy production. For this, it is useful to compare cardiomyocytes from different species with different ecological niches, because their cardiac performance relates to the overall behaviour of the animal. We use electrophysiology and fluorescence microscopy to study excitation-contraction coupling, and we use respirometry and spectrophotometry to assess energetic characteristics.

## Other Resources

[Estonian Science Portal](https://www.etis.ee/portal/portaal/isikuCV.aspx?PersonVID=57897&lang=en)

## Latest Publications

Karimi, H., Gustavson, O., Česnokova, I., Branovets, J., Birkedal, R., Laasmaa, M., & Vendelin, M. (2026). A Unified Platform for FCS and RICS Analysis with Advanced Statistical Inference. *ACS Omega*, *11*(12), 19201–19219. <https://doi.org/10.1021/acsomega.5c12269>

Branovets, J., Laasmaa, M., Stolova, J., Shen, X., Rätsepso, T., Bernasconi, R., Soodla, K., Balodis, M. J., Grahv, C., Hendrikson, E., Louch, W. E., Birkedal, R., & Vendelin, M. (2025). Lifelong creatine deficiency leads to augmented sarcoplasmic reticulum calcium release but not heart failure. *American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology*, *329*(2), H471–H489. <https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpheart.00106.2025>

Bernasconi, R., Soodla, K., Sirp, A., Zovo, K., Kuhtinskaja, M., Lukk, T., Vendelin, M., & Birkedal, R. (2025). Higher AMPK activation in mouse oxidative compared with glycolytic muscle does not correlate with LKB1 or CaMKKβ expression. *American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism*, *328*(1), E21–E33. <https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpendo.00261.2024>

Jaska, L., Birkedal, R., Laasmaa, M., & Vendelin, M. (2024). Simple Analysis of Gel Images With IOCBIO Gel Software. *Bio-Protocol*, *14*(16), e5053. <https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.5053>

Birkedal, R., Branovets, J., & Vendelin, M. (2024). Compartmentalization in cardiomyocytes modulates creatine kinase and adenylate kinase activities. *FEBS Letters*, *598*(21), 2623–2640. <https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.14994>

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