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Displaying results 31 to 40 of 72.
Microbial Immune Regulation
The microbiota encompasses a diverse population of microorganisms that colonize many body sites such as skin and intestine of multicellular hosts. The composition of the microbiota in humans is highly variable and is influenced by nutrition, immune competence, illness and use of medication (especially antibiotics). We are interested to enhance our understanding on how these microbial communities affect human infectious diseases and how they can be manipulated to treat diseases.
LncRNA and Infection Biology
RNA is a truly remarkable molecule with functions and activities far beyond that of an intermediate information carrier. The abundant class of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) contains highly specialized RNA with structural or regulatory functions that range from assembling large protein complexes to localizing, sequestering, or allosterically modifying proteins and other interaction partners. Our genome contains thousands of lncRNAs, many of which are specifically regulated during bacterial or viral infections. However, their contribution to launching and sustaining an effective host response remains elusive. Our group combines a cutting-edge suite of technologies from the fields of biochemistry, genomics, molecular biology, and computational biology to decode how lncRNA work mechanistically and how they contribute to host defense mechanisms. This group is located at the Helmholtz Institute for RNA-based Infection Research (HIRI).
Computational Biology for Infection Research
The Department of “Computational Biology for Infection Research” studies the human microbiome, viral and bacterial pathogens, and human cell lineages within individual patients by analysis of large-scale biological and epidemiological data sets with computational techniques. Focusing on high throughput meta’omics, population genomic and single cell sequencing data, we produce testable hypotheses, such as sets of key sites or relevant genes associated with the presence of a disease, of antibiotic resistance or pathogenic evasion of immune defense. We interact with experimental collaborators to verify our findings and to promote their translation into medical treatment or diagnosis procedures. To achieve its research goals, the department also develops novel algorithms and software.
Computational Biology for Individualised Medicine
Infections are among the biggest threats to health and the most significant causes of death worldwide. Our aim is to reveal the host genetic risk factors and their downstream molecular pathways, which are crucial to make progress in understanding and treating infectious diseases in an individualised manner as well as to improve the identification of patients at risk. The department is part of the developing CiiM and currently housed at the TWINCORE in Hannover.
Antiviral and Antivirulence Drugs
Work in the Empting lab focuses on tackling innovative and difficult-to-address anti-infective targets such as bacterial virulence regulatory systems as well as un(der)explored anti-herpesviral persitance mediators. By this, we aspire to circumvent common resistance mechanisms and to refill the dried out development pipeline. This group is located at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS)
Antiviral Antibody-Omics
Antibodies are key components of the adaptive immune system and are critical for defending against infectious diseases. In our research group, we strive to gain a better understanding of the mechanisms of antibody-mediated protection, with the ultimate objective of creating novel and more effective vaccine and treatment strategies for infectious diseases. The junior research group is based at TWINCORE in Hannover.
Innate Immunity and Infection
The moment a pathogen, which has successfully entered the body, is recognized, the body quickly mobilizes its defenses. Interferons are molecules that are counted among the body’s first line of defense. They prevent proliferation and the spread of viruses in the body and serve to alert the immune system. Read here about the different ways we use to try and decode this system, all in an effort to find new approaches to infectious disease prevention and therapy.
Compound Profiling and Screening
The World Health Organization (WHO) considers the spread of microorganisms which are resistant to the most common antibiotics an increasing threat to the well-being of the world population. Not only is the number of patients increasing whose infectious disease can no longer be treated, but also in some circumstances patients with other severe diseases will not be treated if the therapy is accompanied with suppression of the immune system and thus, an increased risk of infection. Thus, new active agents for the treatment of infectious diseases are urgently needed, as well as the responsible use of existing antibiotics. Prerequisites for the discovery of new drugs are relevant biological screening assays together with compound libraries of broad chemical diversity. We perform primary screens, based either on own protocols or on protocols developed by cooperation partners and transferred to our infrastructure. In cooperation with partners we also perform secondary assays to optimize first primary hits.
Dynamics of Respiratory Infections
Several chronic inflammatory diseases of the lung have been recently associated with alterations in the composition of the airway microbiome. Moreover, the lung microbiota can be classified according to its predominance either of proinflammatory bacteria, such as strains from the genera S taphylococcus, Pseudomonas , and Haemophilus or of low-stimulatory bacteria from genera like Prevotella, Streptococcus , and Veillonella . Moreover, it is already known that the commensal lung microbiota can influence host immune system activation by producing numerous structural ligands and metabolites such as lipopolysaccharide, peptidoglycan, and secondary metabolites. However, the interaction between the lung microbiota and the airway epithelium, as well as their interactions with pulmonary pathogens, are not well understood.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology conducts research on health and disease at the population level – infection epidemiology is concerned with contagious diseases. Their tools and methods are systematic queries, clinical examinations and laboratory diagnostic documentation for both healthy and afflicted individuals, as well as statistical analysis of the compiled data. Causes and risk factors for infections can thus be identified. Infectious diseases epidemiology contributes to the development of preventive measures, early detection and therapy for diseases. Moreover, it examines the efficacy of such measures. Thus epidemiology ties in with scientific findings in basic research as well as medicine, and examines these processes at the population level.
