DeutschProjects funded by the German Research Foundation – DFG
The German Research Foundation (DFG) is the central self-governing organisation of science in Germany. It funds research projects at universities and other research institutions.
The DFG supports cooperation between researchers at regional and supra regional level in Germany. It supports university research networks with a multidisciplinary research program that focuses on one topic (Collaborative Research Centres – SFBs and Transregional Collaborative Research Centres – TRRs). There are also Germany-wide cooperation networks of individual researchers working on the same topic in an interdisciplinary manner (Priority Programmes – SPPs), Clinical Research Groups – FORs, which focus on clinical research with a specific disease- or patient-oriented research focus, and Equipment Centres to promote the establishment of equipment centre infrastructures, so-called Core Facilities.
The “Forschergruppe” investigates the interaction between metabolism and signal transduction in the regulation of B cells. By investigating immunometabolism, new regulatory mechanisms will be identified that influence B cell reactions. The research focusses on two main aspects: First, how the microenvironment influences B cell function, particularly in immunological niches such as the germinal centre, bone marrow or inflamed kidneys, by studying access to nutrients and oxygen. In a second complementary research focus, the molecular basis of the interplay between signalling and metabolism will be defined.
The DRFZ sub-project focuses on the spatio-temporal dynamics of calcium signalling and metabolism in germinal centre B cells.
PIs at DRFZ
Anja Hauser
Raluca Niesner
As a member of the Germany-wide consortium National Research Data Infrastructure for Immunology (NFDI4Immuno), the DRFZ will be involved in the establishment of a national immunological research data infrastructure over the next five years, starting in March 2023.
The aim of NFDI4Immuno is to define standards in research data management and to establish a supra-regional storage platform in order to secure research data in a sustainable and quality-assured manner according to the FAIR principles and to make it usable for further utilisation. The FAIR princliples stand for: Findable, Accessible, Intero perable, and Re-usable, i.e. the data must be easy to find, data and metadata must be accessible, and the data can be linked to other data. Re-usability for further research must also be guaranteed.
In addition to the DRFZ, the Friedrich Löffler Institute, the Centre for Regenerative Therapies of the Technical University of Dresden, the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, the University Hospital Essen, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, the University of Tübingen, the DKMS Society and the University Hospital Münster are members of the consortium, which is coordinated by the German Cancer Research Center. Prof. Hyun-Dong Chang will be responsible for project management at the DRFZ, in addition to being co-spokesperson of the consortium.
The NFDI4Immuno is one of 27 NFDI consortia funded by the DFG which aim to make scientific data resources more accessible, which have until now have been mostly decentralised and project-dependent.
PI at DRFZ
Hyun-Dong Chang
The etiological background of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD: Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis) is still poorly understood, in particular the local cellcell interactions. The driving hypothesis behind this new joint initiative is that a dysregulated signal exchange between the epithelium and immune cells and the consequences thereof contribute to the pathogenesis of IBD.
The DRFZ focuses on how the crosstalk of intestinal microbiota and immune cells can affect intestinal barrier functions and on how mechanisms of the innate immune system can initiate inflammation or, in contrast, lead to epithelial protection and barrier repair.
PIs at the DRFZ
Hyun-Dong Chang, Andreas Diefenbach, Ahmed Hegazy, Andrey Kruglov, Andreas Radbruch, Chiara Romagnani, Antigoni Triantafyllopoulou
The priority programme “Physics of Parasitism” defines a new frontier in this field, namely the physics of parasites interacting with their hosts. “We ultimately aim to elaborate a comparative and quantitative framework of the physical constraints and mechanical forces acting at the dynamic parasite-host interfaces. We will measure the material properties and mechanics of parasites in their niches, uncover the physical basis of their locomotion, and determine the mechanical and physical basis for their attachment.” The priority programme uniquely combines expertise from parasitology, molecular cell biology, experimental and theoretical physics, mathematics and simulation science.
The DRFZ is involved with the following projects:
Locomotion of parasitic nematodes in the gut: movement in viscoelastic mucus intertwined with the metabolic activity of the nematodes (Raluca Niesner in collaboration with Susanne Hartmann, FU Berlin)
Physical principles of parasite-host interactions in Giardia muris infection (Anja Hauser in collaboration with Sebastian Rausch, FU Berlin)
The Corona pandemic has led to changes in the medical care of children and adolescents. Children and adolescents with a chronic disease are particularly vulnerable, as they are dependent on regular health services on the one hand and at higher risk for a severe course of COVID-19 on the other hand. In an interdisciplinary research program, the short- and long-term consequences of the pandemic on these children and adolescents will be examined with respect to changes in medical care as well as their physical and mental health. We focus on children and adolescents (aged up to 18 yrs) with three common chronic diseases, type 1 diabetes, obesity, and rheumatic diseases. Patients and their parents will be asked about their physical and mental health, their use of health services and their COVID-19-related stress as part of their participation in the three large established patient registries: diabetes prospective follow-up registry (DPV; N=77,413), prospective registry for overweight and obese children and adolescents (APV; N=124,130) and national pediatric rheumatology database (N=14,000). The already existing health parameters in the registers will be extended by patient reports on their psychosocial situation by a corona-specific questionnaire. In addition, the psychosocial resources and risk perceptions of children and their parents will be recorded and their influence on the use of health services as well as on their physical and mental health will be analyzed.
The prospective design allows the analysis of interindividual differences and its influencing factors. By accessing already existing prospectively collected data sets of the three patient registers, changes in the medical care and health status of the children can be examined over time, i.e. before and during the pandemic.
In addition, an extended psychosocial survey is carried out in a subsample. We will consecutively include all children and adolescents who take part in their routine examinations within one year, have already agreed to participate in the patient register and gave their informed consent to an additional survey. Parents provide information for children under the age of 12, for older children self-reports will also be collected.
The overall aim of the project group is to identify and evaluate the medical care situation and the physical and mental health of children and adolescents with chronic diseases (main endpoints) as well as their interactions during the pandemic. This allows identifying differences and commonalities in the effects of the pandemic on the care and health of children of different diseases. Recommendations for further care practices can be derived.
PI at the DRFZ
Kirsten Minden
The Collaborative Research Centre CRC 1444 “Directed Cellular Self-Organisation for Advancing Bone Regeneration” aims to reveal the processes involved in bone regeneration especially in aged individuals where bone healing is impaired. Bone regeneration is also altered in people with chronic inflammation or metabolic disorders. Understanding the underlying principles is crucial for a personalized approach for treatment.
PIs at the DRFZ
Andreas Diefenbach, Anja Hauser, Raluca Niesner, Julia Polansky, Antigoni Triantafyllopoulou
The research group investigates the mechanisms of bone and cartilage regeneration after damage. In particular, the early immune response and restoration of mechanical competence with regard to changes during ageing. In sub-project 7 conducted at the DRFZ, osteo-immunological interactions in the course of fracture healing are analysed using longitudinal intravital imaging.
PIs at the DRFZ:
Anja Hauser and Raluca Niesner
The DFG Priority Programme SPP 1937 Innate Lymphoid Cells is a national, interdisciplinary priority programme for the structured funding of research groups conducting joint research in the new scientific field of the Innate Lymphoid Cells (ILCs).
ILCs are a group of lymphocytes of the innate immune system discovered recently. They are important effector cells in the immune defense of infections and tumors. However, they are also involved in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases such as chronic inflammatory bowel diseases, rheumatoid arthritis etc..
It is now also known that ILCs are tissue-resident cells that strongly impact on the biology of various organs and tissues.
Three research groups at the DRFZ are investigating the interaction between ILCs and the surrounding tissue in order to gain an understanding of the development of chronic inflammatory diseases.
PIs at the DRFZ:
Andreas Diefenbach, Chiara Romagnani, Anja Hauser
The main goal of NeuroMAc is to better understand the molecular mechanisms of myeloid cell diversity in the CNS and the interactions of microglia with neurons and other glial cells during development, health and perturbation.
The TRR167 aims to define common and distinct genetic pathways for the development of different sets of myeloid cells in the brain, to identify the cellular mechanisms of myeloid cell function during the onset, resolution and recovery of disease in models of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation and to investigate the therapeutic potential of myeloid cells in preclinical models of CNS diseases.
PI at DRFZ
Antigoni Triantafyllopoulou
Since 2010, the TRR 84, aims to decipher lung-specific mechanisms and cellular interactions during infections and inflammations in order to develop new therapeutic concepts for the treatment of pneumonia. The TRR84 has established a scientific network that includes medical and basic science university partners, several basic research institutes, the Robert Koch Institute and two Max Planck Institutes.
PIs at DRFZ
Antigoni Triantafyllopoulou
Andreas Diefenbach
Mass cytometry (CyTOF technology) is a new technology that captures the complexity of cellular systems in unprecedented detail and promises significant contributions in biomedical diagnostics and research. The DRFZ initiated the establishment of the nationwide German Mass Cytometry Network GERMANET for mass cytometry in Germany, which is now being continued in the German Mass Cytometry Alliance. The aim is to bundle the expertise of all German mass cytometry centres and to strategically expand the network.
PI at the DRFZ:
Henrik Mei
Expired projects in 2020
The aim of the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre TRR130 B cells: Immunity and Autoimmunity is to gain a better understanding of the role of B lymphocytes in physiological immune reactions and in chronic inflammatory diseases.
The DRFZ contributes to this consortium with its expertise in the field of memory B lymphocytes, especially memory plasma cells, in a biomedical and clinical context.
Furthermore, it provides optical technology development, i.e. flow cytometry and intravital microscopy.
PIs at the DRFZ:
Andreas Radbruch (Co-Speaker), Hyun-Dong Chang, Thomas Dörner, Anja Hauser, Falk Hiepe/Tobias Alexander, Mir-Farzin Mashreghi, Henrik Mei, Raluca Niesner, Margitta Worm