DeutschProjects funded by the Leibniz Association
Leibniz institutes join forces in Leibniz Research Alliances and Research networks to work on topics of high scientific and societal relevance across the boarders of disciplines. The DRFZ is a partner in several of these networks.
In addition, the Leibniz Association funds research projects that can be competitively applied for by Leibniz institutes. Several of these Leibniz Competition projects are running at the DRFZ.
Since 2016, the DRFZ is coordinating the Leibniz ScienceCampus Chronic Inflammation, an interdisciplinary network with several departments of the Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Max Plack Institute for Infection Biology.
DRFZ in the Leibniz Research Networks
Founded in 2017 as an initiative of the DRFZ and the ScienceCampus Chronic Inflammation, the Leibniz Research Network “Immune-Mediated Diseases” aims to explore the societal, economic and biomedical challenges of immune-mediated diseases.
The network functions as a communicative exchange forum of the Leibniz partner institutes to promote science and to further develop technical and methodological competencies on the topic.
Contact person at DRFZ: Chiara Romagnani
High volumes of information and data as well as the growing importance of simulation and optimization of technological and social processes create the need for adequate and up-to-date methods for analysis and information generation. Modern methods of mathematical modeling and simulation (in short: MMS) have proven to be a fundamental tool as a connecting element. They enable, for example, the reliable extraction of information from large data sets, the avoidance of expensive experiments, the prediction of experiments, the analysis of stochastic events and the shortening of development cycles.
The main goal of this network of more than 30 Leibniz institutes is to systematically exploit this potential and exploit synergy effects. In order to make the most sustainable and effective use of hardware and software resources, the most suitable, fastest and most error-resistant methods are discussed.
Contact person at DRFZ: Andreas Grützkau
Global food systems are cornerstones of human and planetary health. In order to provide a healthy diet for the world’s population, which is estimated to grow to ten billion people by 2050, while preserving the livelihoods of future generations, a rapid and fundamental transformation of the global food system is needed.
This requires cross-disciplinary solution strategies for the transformation towards a healthy and sustainable food system against the background of climatic and societal changes and impacts. In the Leibniz Research Network “Green Nutrition – Healthy Society”, competencies from the fields of healthy nutrition, health, biodiversity, environment, climate change, food production and sustainable development as well as their societal relevance are bundled. A “green diet” includes both a nutritionally optimal diet and a resource-saving food production, processing and distribution.
In addition to scientific exchange, the goals of the network are the identification of concrete research needs on current issues in the field of healthy and sustainable nutrition and the initiation of interdisciplinary collaborations.
The aim of the research network is to detect biological active substances, to research their effect and finally to use them medically.
Focal points are:
- Collection of organisms and biological materials as potential sources for new active substances
- Isolation, analysis and chemical modification of active substances
- Research into potential areas of application for biological agents: –
for example, as antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, or with other medicinal effects - Application in health products, nutrition and agriculture
Contact person at DRFZ: Mir-Farzin Mashreghi
Leibniz Competition
Collaborative Excellence
In this joint project, we are currently investigating the cellular hallmarks of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA), the most common rheumatic disease in children. For unknown reasons, JIA spontaneously resolves in some patients, whereas in others joint inflammation persists and recurs. A better understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, the identification of predictive markers of disease recurrence and the follow-up of these patient cohorts by the DRFZ Epidemiology units, will be crucial to ameliorate patient diagnosis and treatment.
Since 2020
Contact at the DRFZ
Chiara Romagnani, Tilmann Kallinich and Mir-Farzin Mashreghi
The project aims to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying the quiescence of
hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) and memory lymphocytes in bone marrow niches. Quiescence of these cells is fundamental for hematological and immunological memory, which maintains chronic inflammatory diseases during their dormant
states.
An international and interdisciplinary network of experts in stromal cell biology, haematology, and molecular cell biology, in particular RNA biology, will
complement the expertise of the Leibniz institutes DRFZ and Forschungszentrum Borstel. The consortium combines experimental in vivo and ex vivo approaches
to define the signals inducing, maintaining or terminating quiescence, the integration of signalling pathways in the hematopoietic and immune cells, and
the targets of signalling, which confer long-lasting quiescence.
Since 2019
Contact at the DRFZ
The functional decline of the immune system with aging (ImmuneAging) is a major burden for elderly individuals leading to multiple age-associated diseases including chronic inflammation. T lymphocytes contribute to ImmuneAging by acquiring a senescent phenotype, which seems to result from cumulative proliferation stress over the life-time of a human being.
We recently discovered a progressive,
heterochromatin-restricted loss of DNA methylation, which correlated to the proliferation history of the cells. We now hypothesize that this ‚proliferation-induced heterochromatic de-methylation‘ (PIHD) is functionally involved in the senescence process in T cells.
In this collaborative project, we want:
- to define the molecular mechanism
and the cellular consequences of PIHD, - to compare the extent of PIHD in T cells
during healthy conditions and during disease, - to identify substances able to
prevent or revert PIHD and hence, T cell
senescence.
Contact at the DRFZ
Since 2018
Leibniz Junior Research Group
The mammalian immune response depends on the efficient interaction and collaboration of many, highly individual cells. Given that complexity, it is not surprising that the effects of drugs targeting cell-to-cell communication remain incompletely understood: Despite success stories of -biologic therapies’, e.g. TNF-alpha blockers in rheumatoid arthritis, only a limited number of patients show a major treatment response. Analysis of complex networks requires mathematical methods. The junior research group will apply and develop advanced mathematical modeling and data analysis techniques to investigate the regulation of immune responses, drawing on quantitative single-cell technologies (multicolor FACS, single-cell sequencing, multiplexed histology, etc.) and ample collaborative opportunities available at the DRFZ. The group will investigate the effects of perturbations, such as inhibition of cell communication pathways, on the type and strength of an immune response, and thus pave the road for optimization of targeted therapies in the future. Dr Kevin Thurley is an outstanding candidate for heading a Leibniz Junior-research group. He worked at internationally renowned institutions, the Max-Delbrück-Center and the Charité-Universitätsmedizin in Berlin, the University of Cambridge UK, and the University of California San Francisco, and his pioneering work is documented in high-ranking scientific journals, including PNAS, Science Signaling, PLoS Biology. His core interest is elucidating biological complexity, and he has shown how stochastic intracellular calcium signals can reliably transfer information, how the mammalian circadian clock coordinates metabolic functions, and how diffusible cytokines can serve as local messengers between immune cells. With his track record of developing broad-ranging systems-biology models and quantitative data analysis methods in close collaboration with biologists, Dr Thurley is an ideal match for the scientific community at the DRFZ.
Institute: German Rheumatism Research Center Berlin (DRFZ)
Project leader: Dr. Kevin Thurley
Since 2018
Transfer project
Using B-cell-depleting antibodies has led to promising results in the past in the treatment of autoimmune diseases. However, a drawback of these therapies is the depletion of plasma cells that secrete autoantigen-specific antibodies. The leader of the transfer project will continue to work on an affinity matrix he developed that can isolate antigen-specific plasma cells and deplete them. If this method, thought by experts to be almost impossible, succeeds, it would represent a key breakthrough in the treatment of B-cell-mediated autoimmune disease.
Institute:
German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin (DRFZ)
Cooperating partners:
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin; Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie (FMP)
Funding period 2021
Contact at the DRFZ
Falk Hiepe