Prof. Dr. Sarina Ravens participates in RESIST research projects B3 and B5.
| My Research Interest in RESIST |
We are interested in how the immune cells are shaped by environmental factors (e.g. microbiota, infections) during early childhood and how this can be linked to the susceptibility towards infections during life.
We have recently developed a high-throughput sequencing technology and applied bioinformatics methods to analyze human T cell receptor repertoires in relevant patient cohorts. Within RESIST we will take advantage of the PRIMAL cohort (coordinated by D. Viemann) to understand how a defined microbiota, but also infections may influence the postnatal maturation, individual responsiveness and antigen receptor repertoire of T cells and B cells in preterm babies. We further aim at identifying new biomarkers to predict the susceptibility of individual patients against infectious diseases, which may finally improve current therapeutic strategies.
Prof. Dr. Ravens about her scientific work
Prof. Dr. Sarina Ravens – Curriculum Vitae
Current Position
Undergraduate and Postgraduate Training
Academic and Research Posts
Other Scientific Roles
Awards and Prizes
10 Selected Publications
León-Lara X, Fichtner A, Willers W, Yang T, Schaper K, Riemann R, Schöning J, Harms A, Almeida V, Schimrock A, Janssen A, Ospina L, von Kaisenberg K, Förster R , Eberl M, Richter M, Pirr S, Viemann D*, Ravens S* γδ T cell profiling in a cohort of preterm infants reveals elevated frequencies of CD83+ γδ T cells in sepsis. J Exp Med. In press
Yang T, Barros-Martins J, Wang Z, Wencker M, Zhang J, Smout J, Gambhir P, Janssen A, Schimrock A, Georgiev H, León-Lara X, Weiss S, Huehn J, Prinz I, Krueger A, Foerster R, Walzer T, Ravens S. RORγt+ c-Maf+ Vγ4+ γδ T cells are generated in the adult thymus but do not reach the periphery. Cell Rep. 2023 Oct 31;42(10):113230. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113230.
Leon-Lara X, Yang T, Fichtner AS, Bruni E, von Kaisenberg C, Eiz-Vesper B, Dodoo D, Adu B*, Ravens S*. Evidence for Adult-Like Type 1-Immunity Phenotype of Vδ1, Vδ2 , and Vδ3 T cells in Ghanaian Children With Repeated exposure to malaria. Frontiers Immunology, 2022 Feb 17;13:807765. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.807765.
Tan L**, Fichtner AS**, Bruni E, Odak I, Sandrock I, Bubke A, Borchers A, Schultze-Florey C, Koenecke C, Förster R, Jarek M, von Kaisenberg C, Schulz A, Chu X, Zhang B, Li Y, Panzer U, Krebs CF, Ravens S*, Prinz I*. A fetal wave of human type 3 effector γδ cells with restricted TCR diversity persists into adulthood. Sci Immunol. 2021 Apr 23;6(58):eabf0125. DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abf0125
Ravens S**,#, Fichtner AS**, Willers M, Torkornoo D, Pirr S, Schöning J, Deseke M, Sandrock I, Bubke A, Wilharm A, Dodoo D, Egyir B, Flanagan KL, Steinbrück L, Dickinson P, Ghazal P, Adu B, Viemann D*, Prinz I*. Microbial exposure drives polyclonal expansion of innate γδ T cells immediately after birth. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Aug 4;117(31):18649-18660. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1922588117 (# corresponding author)
Fichtner AS, Bubke A, Rampoldi F, Wilharm A, Tan L, Steinbrück L, Schultze- Florey C, von Kaisenberg C, Prinz I, Herrmann T, Ravens S. TCR repertoire analysis reveals phosphoantigen-induced polyclonal proliferation of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells in neonates and adults. J Leukoc Biol. 2020 Jun;107(6):1023-1032. DOI: 10.1002/JLB.1MA0120-427RR
Tan L*, Sandrock I*, Odak I, Aizenbud Y, Wilharm A, Barros-Martins J, Tabib Y, Borchers A, Amado T, Gangoda L, Herold MJ, Schmidt-Supprian M, Kisielow J, Silva-Santos B, Koenecke C, Hovav AH, Krebs C, Prinz I**, Ravens S**. Single-Cell Transcriptomics Identifies the Adaptation of Scart1+ Vγ6+ T Cells to Skin Residency as Activated Effector Cells. Cell Rep. 2019 Jun 18;27(12):3657-3671.e4 DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2019.05.064
Ravens S*, Hengst J*, Schlapphoff V, Deterding K, Dhingra A, Schultze-Florey C, Koenecke C, Cornberg M, Wedemeyer H, Prinz I. Human γδ T Cell Receptor Repertoires in Peripheral Blood Remain Stable Despite Clearance of Persistent Hepatitis C Virus Infection by Direct-Acting Antiviral Drug Therapy. Front Immunol. 2018 Mar 16;9:510 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00510
Ravens S, Schultze-Florey C, Raha S, Sandrock I, Drenker M, Oberdörfer L, Ravens I, Reinhardt A, Beck M, Geffers R, von Kaisenberg C, Heuser M, Thol F, Ganser A, Förster R, Koenecke C, Prinz I. Human γδ T cells are quickly reconstituted after stem-cell transplantation and show adaptive clonal expansion in response to viral infection. Nat Immunol. 2017 Apr;18(4):393-401. DOI: 10.1038/ni.3686
Ravens S, Fournier M, Ye T, Stierle M, Dembele D, Chavant V, Tora L. Mof- associated complexes have overlapping and unique roles in regulating pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and during differentiation. Elife. 2014 Jun 4;3:e02104 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.02104
