Systems Immunology

Our Research

The Department of Systems Immunology is devoted to develop models for the dynamics of specific biological systems. The models are validated with pre-existing experimental results and then used to investigate particular biological problems. On the one hand, the models help to interpret experimental results on quantitative grounds. On the other hand, the models infer predictions to initiate further and conclusive experiments that may solve important scientific questions. If the predictions are confirmed the model has proven to be a justified simplification of the complex reality and may be further used. If the prediction is wrong, the model assumptions have to be reconsidered or extended. In this more interesting case, pre-existing knowledge is likely to be set in question and we learn about new and unknown relationships of the biological system.

This synergistic iterative communication between theory and experiment is well established in physics but still in its childhood in biology. We consider it as our mission to establish this methodology and to prove that research in biology can benefit from theoretical predictions.

Although we use differential equation approaches for biological systems with a large number of well intermixed constituents, a major emphasis of our research is set on the dynamics of the spatial organization of biological systems. The position of molecules within a cell or of cells within the tissue can be essential for functionality. We develop and use space-resolved and agent-based mathematical modelling techniques, in which every player is represented as a discrete and individual object, to discover unknown relationships between space-time and functionality.