Research Area C: Cellular and Molecular Principles of Inflammation

Leader of the RA: Dieter Kabelitz (immunology), Thomas Roeder (immunology & physiology)

This Research Area makes use of state-of-the-art transgenic and knock-out/knock-in technologies to address the mechanisms of cellular interactions between defined molecules relevant for the inflammatory response. Proven excellence comprises the fields of cytokine receptor signaling (e.g., IL-6/gp130, IL-15, IL-26, TNFα, CD95, FasL), NFkB signaling and the immuno-biology of epithelial cells, macrophages, mast cells and T-­lymphocyte subpopulations.  The identifycation and functional characterization of antimicrobial peptides and proinflammatory fungal lipids is a local strong­hold. Sophisticated cell culture systems and innova­tive biochemical separation and functionnal read-out technologies are used to investigate the signaling pathways involved in the cellular regulation of in­flammation.

Scientists (young/new scientists underlined):

Dieter Adam, Sabine Adam, Alexander Arlt, Thomas Bosch, Ernst Brandt, Rainer Duden, Helmut Fickenscher, Andreas Frey, Jürgen Harder, Enno Hartmann, Ottmar Janssen, Wolfgang Jelkmann, Kyeong-HeeLee, Matthias Leippe, Edmund Maser, Rolf Mentlein, Ulrich Mrowietz, Ralf Paus, Frank Petersen, Rainer Podschun, Jürgen Prestin, Kay Uwe Römer, Stefan Rose-John, Philip Rosenstiel, Paul Saftig, Jens-Michael Schröder, Hinrich Schulenburg, Stefan Schütze, Martina Spehlmann, Norbert Tautz, Thomas Valerius, Michael Winkler

Resources:

confocal laserscan microscopy (Zeiss LSM510), FACSAria, multiphoton microscope (Lavision TriMScope), systematic analytical technologies for the molecular interactions on the subcellular level, state-of-the-art mass spectrometry and lipid chemistry, 2-D differential gel electrophoresis (DIGE) proteome analysis, automated siRNA platform with genome wide libraries

Selected  publications