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Displaying results 11 to 20 of 73.
Virology and Innate Immunity
Pathogens (germs) infiltrate our bodies daily but do not remain undetected. They encounter the strong defenses of our immune system, which recognizes invaders and promptly takes appropriate measures. However, many pathogens can produce life-long infections even with an intact immune system. The herpesvirus family is one such group of pathogens. Upon infection, herpesviruses establish a chronic infection and become lifelong companions.
Vaccinology and Applied Microbiology
Vaccination is the most efficient strategy to prevent infectious diseases. The art of the vaccine researcher lies in finding substances that prevent us from falling ill with diseases such as influenza or viral hepatitis. But what makes a vaccine successful and ensures effective protection? Our scientists study the reaction of the immune system to answer that question – and to develop better vaccination strategies.
Recombinant Protein Expression
Proteins play an important role in infectious diseases. They not only take over central functions in the invasion and replication of pathogens, but also in the defensive reaction of our body or as a drug. For a detailed investigation of proteins, scientists often require them in large amounts and extremely pure state. Read more about how proteins are artificially produced and purified.
Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting
Our organism is made of many different cells that are specialized to perform specific tasks. As long as they work together in the collective, we will stay healthy – do they change or are they changed by pathogens, we become unbalanced and sick. The Flow Cytometry and Cell Sorting platform provides the instrumentation and expert knowledge for the phenotypic identification and functional analysis of cells at the single cell level.
Systems Immunology
To see the immune system with the eyes of mathematics – that is the guiding principle of the department Systems Immunology. Mathematical models help to faster and better understand diseases that are associated with immune functions. Read here how scientists use mathematics to investigate chronic inflammatory diseases, the regulation of adaptive immune responses, and the interaction between the nervous, the endocrine and the immune system.
Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration
What kind of role play infections and the associated inflammatory reactions for the progression or even for the onset of neurodegenerative diseases? Recurrent infections and the involved inflammation may trigger a series of processes in the brain that finally lead to neuronal damage due to the immune response. Thus, better understanding of neurodegenerative processes could improve the therapeutic approach in neurodegenerative disease.
Mouse Pathology
Histology is the science of tissues and pathology. In a sense, it is also the science of diseases and their pathogenesis. The major concern of histologists working in our service unit is helping other HZI researchers make this connection and work out the details of the relationship between histological changes at the tissue level and the infectious diseases they are studying.
Viral Immunology
“Back then, I wasn’t ill so often”: With advancing age not only the skin loses its elasticity – many organs lose their functions. So does the immune system: Defense cells do not react promptly anymore, and immunological memory is not established. As a result, we are poorly protected by vaccines and more susceptible to infections, but at the same time suffer from inflammatory disease. While the mechanisms of immune aging remain unknown, chronic viral infections are environmental factors that may accelerate the age-related changes of the immune system. Read more about how pathogens may have an impact on the real age of our immune system.
Synthetic biology of microbial natural products
The Bozhüyük group focuses on bacterial natural products, with unique structures and bioactive properties. The group studies modular assembly lines like polyketide synthases (PKSs) and non-ribosomal peptide synthetases (NRPSs), which produce many essential clinical agents – but are especially valuable to develop new anti-infectives. This group is located at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) .
Proteome Analytics
Pathogenic bacteria and viruses utilize and manipulate cellular processes of our immune system. The identification of protein functions in the human immune system that decisively control the progression of infections constitutes the central aim of the research group Cellular Proteomics at the HZI.
