Open Research

Projects

Open Research Projects

Principal Investigator
Dr. Melanie Conrad

Antibiotic use during pregnancy and increased risk for allergic asthma in the next generation

We are a reproductive immunology group studying pregnancy, allergy and immune system development. The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease hypothesis posits that perinatal environmental exposures, during the fetal and …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Andreas Diefenbach

Innate lymphoid cells and metabolic homeostasis

We study development and function of the innate immune system, in particular of innate lymphoid cells (ILC). A current focus is to obtain a molecular understanding of how the innate immune system, by integrating environmental …

Principal Investigator
Dr. Claudia Dürr

Composition and functional activity of Group 2 innate lymphoid cells at the fetal-maternal interface

The goal of my laboratory is to understand the regulation and control mechanisms of immune responses at barrier sites. Barrier sites such as the lungs are continuously exposed to the environment and potential entry ports for …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Kamran Ghoreschi
Dr. Franz Hilke

Healthy skin homeostasis? – Does anti-cytokine treatment restore the physiological and immunological function of the skin?

Our laboratory focuses on the immunological and molecular pathomechanisms of the skin with the aim to identify approaches for personalized and preventive medicine. One group of our translational research interests are chronic …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Jan Halbritter
Dr. Ria Schönauer

No cyst is alike – studying a distinct PKD2-founder variant for better explaining disease variability

Our group is interested in identification and investigation of genetic, clinical, and environmental factors determining onset of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and kidney survival. We make use of next-generation sequencing …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Anja Hauser
Prof. Dr. Raluca Niesner

Mechanosensing by innate immune cells

Our scientific interest lies in understanding how cells of the immune system interact with their surrounding tissues. While molecular and biochemical processes underlying immune cell interactions have long been the subject of …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Ahmed Heagazy

Influence of non-immune cells on the induction, maintenance, and function of microbiota-specific CD4+ T cells in intestinal inflammation and pathology

Antigen presentation by non-classical antigen-presenting cells has recently been shown to be relevant for priming CD4+ T cell responses. Intestinal innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and epithelial cells (IECs) have been shown to …

Principal Investigator
Dr.Christoph Klose
Dr. Claudia Dürr

Dissecting the role of ILC2-derived IL-5 for eosinophil development and homeostasis

Tissue homeostatic functions of innate lymphoid cells; Neuro-immune interactions…

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Felix Knauf
Prof. Dr. Thomas Jentsch
Prof. Dr. Peter Aronson

Role of the sulfate transporter SLC26A1 in musculoskeletal health

Sulfate is an ion that is indispensable for human health. It is necessary for the formation of connective tissues, including bone and cartilage. The kidney plays a central role in body ion homeostasis by reabsorbing …

Principal Investigator
Dr. Dr. Marina Kolesnichenko

Intestinal epithelial NF-κB in regulation of metabolism

Our group “Signal Transduction in Health and Disease”, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Charité Virchow, aims to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in tissue homeostasis, inflammation, and resolution …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Wolgang Kübler
Dr. Lasti Erfinanda

Maintaining vascular integrity in ARDS with Organ-on-Chip technology

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a serious complication of infectious or sterile lung inflammation, typically as a consequence of pneumonia or sepsis, with high morbidity and mortality (30%-40%) and presently no …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Marcus Mall
Dr. Anita Balázs

Role of SLC26A9 chloride transporter in mucociliary clearance in health and chronic inflammatory airways diseases

The airway mucosa represents the first line of defense of the respiratory system against pathogens, pollutants, and irritants that are constantly inhaled during tidal breathing. Elimination of these potentially harmful …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Bastian Opitz
Dr. Facundo Fiocca Vernengo

Identification of novel strategies to prevent pneumonia in diabetic individuals

Diabetics have a higher risk of various infectious diseases including pneumonia. Current estimates suggest that 450 million people worldwide have diabetes, and this number will increase to approximately 700 million by 2045. …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Julia Polánsky-Biskup

Epigenetic control of T cell migration behavior

The three-dimensional structure of the genome – the epigenome – contributes significantly to the regulation of gene expression and forms the molecular basis for each cell type-specific transcription profile. In contrast to …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Chiara Romagnani
Dr. Christina Stehle

Signals driving intestinal hematopoiesis

Lymphocytes are composed of both adaptive and innate cells, which differentiate from hematopoietic precursors. These precursors derive from the fetal liver during embryogenesis and from the bone marrow after birth. However, …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Michael Sigal
Dr. Manqiang Lin

Establishment of human colon assembloids to study the regulatory networks between epithelial crypts and the surrounding niche

The gastrointestinal epithelium is organized into clonal crypts that represent sophisticated anatomical and functional tissue units. The epithelium is intimately associated with the mesenchymal stroma network, and various …

Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. Antigoni Triantafyllopoulou

Maintenance of immune homeostasis by tissue resident macrophages and microglia in SLE

Our research aims to understand the role of tissue-resident cells of the innate immune system in the prevention of chronic inflammatory diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus. Our goal is to identify mechanisms that …

Principal Investigator
Dr. Nicola Wilck
Dr. Hendrik Bartolomaeus

Targeting regulatory T cells with propionate in health and chronic kidney disease

In our project, we focus on maladaptive immune responses to prevent multi-morbidity in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Based on our longstanding interest in microbiome-immune interactions in cardiovascular and …