Search
Displaying results 1 to 108 of 108.
Dr Zhi-Luo Deng
Prof Dr Dr Luka Cicin-Sain
Prof Dr Cheng-Jian Xu
Dr Nasim Safaei
Dr Tetyana Yevsa
Prof Dr Alice McHardy
Cornelia Senske
Diego Enrique Ortiz Quiroga
Katrin Anja Winter
Agata Anna Bielecka
Dr Lisa Osbelt-Block
Dr Till Robin Lesker
Prof Dr Till Strowig
Dr Yvonne Neumann
Dr Youssef el Mouali Benomar
Karina Watzke
Maeva Katzmarzyk
Dr Najat Bdeir
Ronja Friedhoff
Ayse Barut
Tatjana Lüddecke
Henrike Maaß
Claudia Munzel
Dr Upasana Kulkarni
Dr Natascha Gödecke
Dr Henning Jacobsen
Roni Souleiman
Noemi Siegert
Ansgar Schnieders
Paulina Schröter
Dr Anke Kraft
Alevtina Okhotnikova
Javier Fransisco Bataller
Yin-Han Chou
Martijin Zoodsma
Nienke van Unen
Ahmed Alaswad
Liang Zhou
Dr Saumya Dileep Kumar
Dr Zhenhua Zhang
Dr Jian-bo Fu
Dr Nhan Nguyen
Dr Xun Jiang
Hagen Schmaus
Dr Dorothee von Witzendorff
Lara Marie Lütke
Dr Sebastian Klein
Helena Lickei
Individualised Medicine for Viral Infections
Opportunistic infections remain a serious threat to immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients. We study opportunistic herpes viruses, such as the cytomegalovirus (CMV) by developing unique technologies for real-time measurement of virus growth, allowing us rapid identification of antiviral activity of primary samples and virtually any immune cell subset. This allows us to identify at-risk populations and develop targeted antiviral therapies for treatment and prevention of opportunistic viral infections. In the course of the COVID pandemic, our expertise in virus genetics was used to clone pseudoviruses expressing variants of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein for the assessment of the neutralization capacity of sera or monoclonal antibodies, and this technology is pursued in the identification of correlates of immune protection in vaccinated or convalescent populations. We team with local and international teams of physicians and epidemiologists, providing technical support and scientific advice on complex laboratory serological diagnostics. In March 2019, Prof Dr. Dr. Luka Cicin-Sain was jointly appointed by the MHH (Hannover Medical School) and HZI (Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research) as CIIM Professor for "Individualised Medicine of Viral Infections", and as of 2021 he leads the CiiM-associated Department of “Viral Immunology” (VIRI) at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Braunschweig.
Infection Biology
Microbial communities consisting of bacteria, fungi and viruses colonize all surfaces of the human body. They are referred to in their entirety as the microbiome. The composition of the microbiome varies between individuals and also within an individual in the course of life. Important influencing factors at the beginning of life are the mode of birth and diet, later the intake of antibiotics and medication as well as long-term diets, the state of health, but also sport and stress play a role. In recent years, a large number of studies have begun to investigate the extent to which the microbiome and its changes actively contribute to our health and the development of diseases. For various diseases, it has been shown in animal models and clinical studies that certain changes in the microbiome influence either the development or the course of e.g. chronic inflammatory bowel diseases or susceptibility to infections. This has led to the development of novel microbiome-based therapies that are currently being investigated in animal models and clinical studies. Prof. Strowig's department uses interdisciplinary approaches from microbiological, immunological and bioinformatic methods to gain a molecular understanding of the complex interactions between the intestinal microbiome and the host. The knowledge that can be gained from this forms an important cornerstone for the development of new individual prevention and therapy approaches. The close cooperation between the MHH and HZI at the CiiM will enable research results from basic research to be transferred more directly into practice in the future. One example is the successful establishment of a microbiome analysis platform, which is essential for researching the influence of the host's microbiome on its susceptibility to infections and has already been used for various patient cohorts (RESIST-SeniorIndividuals, LöwenKIDS). Another example is the identification of specific microbiome components that can be used in preclinical models to prevent colonization with disease-promoting bacteria.
Computational Biology for Infection Research
The group studies microbial communities, including bacteria, viruses and eukaryotic community members, in the context of human health and disease. Direct metagenome, -transcriptome or -proteome sequencing of microbial community samples enables the study of microorganisms that cannot be obtained in pure culture, corresponding to most of the microbial world.
CAIMed Group 1b: AI and Bioinformatics
The identification of genetic risk factors and their molecular signaling pathways as well as the development of predictive models for disease progression and severity are crucial for progress in the understanding and individualized treatment of diseases. At the MHH, existing and planned patient cohorts with state-of-the-art (single-cell) multi-omics data are available. The bioinformatics junior research group will focus on the pre-processing of molecular data in order to create standardized data sets for the analyses of the other CAIMed junior research groups. The aim is to integrate this data on an unprecedented scale using innovative AI methods. These include the identification of factors that correlate with disease severity and progression using causal inference methods. Furthermore, the investigation of cell type-specific genetic effects on molecular characteristics will be carried out using the "deconvolution" method. Finally, mathematical models such as support vector machines will be developed to predict individual reactions to diseases/treatments and thus create a molecular basis for the stratification of patient groups. The aim is to promote the implementation of these mathematical models in medical treatment or diagnostic procedures as a crucial first step towards individualized prevention. Close cooperation with the Integrative Multi-Omics Data group is planned.
Dr Sebastian Klein
Prof Dr Yang Li
Immunology of Viral Hepatitis and Infections in Liver Cirrhosis
Hepatitis viruses A-E pose a major health challenge worldwide. Acute infections with hepatitis B (HBV), C (HCV), D (HDV) or E (HEV) can progress to chronic hepatitis and lead to liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Chronic viral hepatitis affects more than 350 million people worldwide. While direct-acting antiviral drugs provide a cure for chronic hepatitis C, the long-term effects on the immune system after the infection is cured are not fully understood. While direct-acting antiviral nucleos(t)ide analogues can treat chronic hepatitis B, complete cure is rare. Innovative approaches, particularly modulation of the immune response to HBV, hold promise for a cure. Chronic hepatitis D is always a co-infection with HBV and thus concepts to cure HBV will also target HDV. In chronic hepatitis E, which is unique in immunocompromised patients such as organ transplant patients, enhancing the immune response against HEV may be a novel strategy. In people with cirrhosis of the liver, regardless of the cause, the immune system is compromised and susceptibility to infection is increased. In particular, bacterial infections of the peritoneal cavity due to ascites contribute significantly to disease progression. Our research group focuses on understanding immune responses to hepatitis viruses and developing biomarkers to better stratify patients for new therapeutic strategies to modulate the host immune system in the effort to combat chronic viral hepatitis. In addition, we are exploring the mechanisms underlying immunodeficiency in liver cirrhosis and investigating immunomodulation strategies to improve survival in these vulnerable patients.
Lisa Spatt
Dr Xun Jiang
Dr Maximilian Schieck
Beate Junk
Personalised Immunotherapy
Our motivation is to address fundamental questions of human immunology and translate them into personalized therapies and diagnostics. Specifically, our laboratory discovers new applications of antibodies and B cells to treat and prevent human infectious diseases. Effective vaccines against some viruses that escape antibody responses remain elusive. To tackle this challenge, we develop methods to better understand B cell responses, the cells that produce antibodies. We design tailored vaccines and provide novel solutions for infection diagnostics.
Clinical Bioinformatics
Personalized medicine offers a significant opportunity to enhance public health by accounting for individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. The "Clinical Bioinformatics" research group follows this direction, aiming to unravel the intricate molecular mechanisms underlying infection and aging. Through this pursuit, we strive to develop precise, individualized treatment strategies. Our research aims to develop and apply "bioinformatics approaches" to pinpoint the genetic and epigenetic factors influencing infection-induced immune responses by integrating multi-omics data from patients and constructing computational models that predict an individual’s risk of infectious diseases. We interact with experimental collaborators and clinical experts to verify our findings and promote their translation into medical treatments or diagnostic procedures. Our ultimate goal is to contribute to the main research focus of CiiM/MHH: the tailored and improved prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases and cancer for individual patients or patient groups. Within this framework, the team led by Prof. Dr. Cheng-Jian Xu is primarily dedicated to the domains of diagnosis, risk assessment, early detection, and patient stratification.
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 of the HZI is part of the developing CiiM and currently housed at the TWINCORE in Hannover. Our group currently has 6 PhD students and 5 postdocs. Students and postdocs – We are always looking for bright and enthusiastic students and postdocs (funded by e.g. the ERC starting grant). For more about our projects, please contact us by email.
Melanie Rodenberg
Patrick Kaufhold
Severin Wulf
Dr Manoj Kumar Gupta
Moana Witte
Melanie Urbanek-Quaing
Valerie Ohlendorf
Dr Christian Niehaus
Ayesha Lietzau
Julia Moch
Carlos Oltmanns
Erich Freyer
Senior Professorship Manns
Prof. Manns' senior professorship of the State of Lower Saxony supports the development and scientific organisation of the CiiM, whereby the integration of the MHH and HZI working groups as well as the core facilities and foundations is driven forward. The focus is on the development of patient-oriented concepts of personalised infection medicine, the expansion of national and international networks and the acquisition of third-party funding.
