Header Navigation

During the last decades skin cancer became more significant and every third cancer diagnosis is a skin cancer. The purpose of this project is to analyze the function of the leucine-rich repeats and immunoglobulin-like domain proteins in the skin and skin tumorigenesis. The LRIG-family consists of three transmembrane proteins (LRIG1-3), which can regulate receptor-tyrosine-kinases in a positive or negative manner. This allows them to control cell fate and regulate tissue and organ development.

Infectious diseases of the lower respiratory tract remain among the top five causes of death with 3.1 million reports in 2012. Especially the increasing numbers of infections with drug-resistant pathogens that are refractory to standard antibiotic therapy or even resistant against drugs of last resort, represent a major clinical concern. This project aims to develop a novel, cause-directed cellular therapy for life threatening, pulmonary infections.

People who suffer from binge eating disorder experience recurrent episodes of binge eating. During these episodes, they consume an unusually large amount of food in a short amount of time and experience loss of control over eating. However, why such binge eating episodes occur is still largely unknown. This makes it difficult to develop targeted treatments.

In this project, we aim to take a closer look at the extracellular vesicle (EV) mediated communication between prostate cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts, which are special mesenchymal cells within the tumor microenvironment. To do so, we isolate EVs secreted by prostate cancer-associated fibroblasts, characterize them molecularly (with a focus on their miRNA-expression pattern) and investigate which effect these EVs have on the proliferation, migration and invasion potential of prostate cancer cells treated with them.

Cervical cancer is the fourth death related cancer in women worldwide. Stage-dependent therapies include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and chemoradiotherapy. However, therapy responses vary greatly in patients. We have previously shown that the presence of T helper 17 (Th17) cells in cervical cancer tissues, a specific type of immune cells, is associated with progression of the disease and a poor prognosis for the patients.

Cyclosporin A (CsA) is an immunosuppressant discovered in fungi. CsA serves to prevent rejection of transplant organs, or to treat autoimmune diseases. Generally, CsA treatment is long-term which increases the risk for renal toxicity and failure. The mechanisms responsible for renal toxicity are not well understood, but most likely include renal hypoxia and maladaptive responses to hypoxia.

The complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) affects about every twelfth patient after severe injuries of the upper extremities. In addition to chronic neuropathic pain sensory and motor deficits occur in the affected hand resulting in great reduction of personal quality of life. Based on recent research results, a purely local peripheral genesis of CRPS seems rather unlikely. It is assumed that pathologic changes also occur in the brains of these patients. 

Medical research is an important building block of tomorrow's healthcare. Young physicians should be won for science but not lost for the clinical work.

This is made possible by optimal working conditions at the Else Kröner-Forschungskolleg (EKFK) Magdeburg, where a combination of research and clinical work within an interdisciplinary training programme allows to develop the career as a Clinician Scientist.

Thematically, the Else-Kröner-Forschungskolleg Bonn (EKFB) focusses on the role of the innate immune system, which primarily serves the detection of viruses and bacteria.

Pancreatic cancer is characterized by a vast heterogeneity. However, independent studies have shown that molecular subgroups have different therapeutic vulnerabilities. Based on this knowledge, we try to develop new therapeutic options for a particularly aggressive subgroup by high-throughput drug screening experiments.