Preterm birth is the leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The most important threats are infections. About a quarter of all infants born < 32 weeks of gestation develop a serious infection during infancy…

Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of frequent chronic rheumatological diseases which start in young adults and lead to disability of the patients. Current therapies are not efficient enough in stopping the progressive impairment of the musculoskeletal system…

Infections are one of the main risks leading to neonatal morbidity and mortality of preterm infants. There is little information on how the immune cell maturation and immune status of preterm babies differs from that of term infants. This project focuses on γδ T cells, αβ T cells and B cells…

Nod-like receptors (NLRs) constitute a vital part of the innate immune system. These immune receptors recognize invading pathogens from within the cell and trigger an inflammatory reaction in the affected tissues via the activation and secretion of proinflammatory interleukines…

Elderly individuals often show impaired adaptive immune responses towards vaccines. One underlying mechanism, called immune senescence, is a narrowing of the repertoire of immune receptors on white blood cells (B cell and T cell receptors), which reduces the flexibility of the immune system to respond to pathogens…

Human Cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an extremely common β-herpesvirus, persistently infecting the majority of the human population worldwide and inducing an unparalleled cellular immune response in the affected individuals. While HCMV infection reactivation from latency is well-known to cause severe disease…

It is known that during aging, the functionality of the immune system declines. As a result, elderly persons are more prone to develop cancers and are more susceptible to infection with viral, bacterial and parasitic pathogens. Examples are the increased susceptibility to infections with influenza viruses…

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a global clinical challenge. Worldwide more than 250 million people are chronically infected with HBV with 650.000 HBV-related deaths annually. Current treatment options for chronic hepatitis B in industrialized countries are PEG-IFNα or nucleos(t)id-analoga (NA)…

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infection often causes chronic infection, which may lead to liver cirrhosis that can progress to hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV vaccines are considered highly efficacious and are successfully applied worldwide. However, approximately 5% of HBV vaccinated individuals do not mount protective antibody responses after vaccination…

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) has chronically infected ca. 71 million people worldwide. These patients are at risk of severe liver disease including hepatocellular carcinoma. The WHO has reported approximately 400.000 HCV-associated deaths for 2015…

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is an autoimmune disease affecting the biliary tract. Chronic inflammation leads to a destruction of the biliary tract with recurrent bacterial Cholangitis…

The risk and the course of serious bacterial infections are primarily determined by the interaction between the specific bacterium and the infected human. The susceptibility to infection is critically determined by individual host-specific factors including an underlying immunodeficiency, the age and the existence of implants…

Within our research, we are focusing on infections of the lower respiratory tract such as pneumonia, which is still the most communicable disease worldwide. Our research aims to understand the onset of infectious diseases and to establish new therapeutic options based on approaches using regenerative medicine…

Infection with the hepatitis D virus (HDV) induces the least frequent but most severe form of chronic viral hepatitis, inducing liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in ~70% of patients. Development of chronic infection is thought to be immune-mediated, however there is not sufficient data available to support this.