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The drugs that best protect against the rejection of a transplanted kidney cause damage to the organ itself through toxic side effects. As a result, the transplants survive for a shorter time. Therefore, a switch to a different immunosuppression is often attempted. However, only around half of those treated benefit from this and the rate of rejection also increases slightly.

Depression is an enormous burden for those affected and their families. Unfortunately, parental depression is one of the most prominent risk factors: Children of depressed parents are twice as likely to develop a depressive disorder themselves. However, it is still unclear how the interaction between biology (e.g., genetics) and the (social) environment leads to this increased risk. To understand these effects, we will 1. establish a large cohort of parent-child triads (mother, father, child) to analyse transgenerational transmission, 2.

An infection with the fox tapeworm typically affects the liver and varies greatly in severity. In some patients, the immune system can control the parasite, while in others, despite medication, it can spread to other organs like a malignant tumor. This study aims to explore the immune interactions and genetic markers in affected patients, seeking to understand the underlying cause of the different forms of disease. This research has important clinical implications.

Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers, with less than 10% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. In pancreatic cancer, nerves spread throughout the tumor, and they are believed to play a crucial role in the cancer's growth and spread. But how exactly do these nerves help the cancer progress? This question has been difficult to answer because the cell nuclei of nerves, which contain the essential DNA and mRNA, are located far from the tumor, in clusters called ganglia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a malignant hematological disease with a poor prognosis. Standard therapy includes chemotherapy with/without subsequent stem cell transplantation which has several toxic side effects. In order to hide from the immune-system AML cells appear to manipulate immune cells in the bone marrow. It is unclear how this mechanism can be reversed. To understand the interaction of AML and immune cells in the human bone marrow, cell-specific gene patterns associated with treatment response or relapse will be decoded in this project.