Immunology

The past few years have seen great strides made in immune system research. The first immunology therapies have been approved, while others are being tested in clinical trials. Researchers are uncovering ever more details about the complex system of organs, tissues, and different cell types that make up the human immune system.

Our research on immunology & inflammation

Article

Scientific image
Press Release No. 5 Berlin

Gene editing precisely repairs immune cells

Some hereditary genetic defects cause an exaggerated immune response that can be fatal. Using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing tool, such defects can be corrected, thus normalizing the immune response, as researchers led by Klaus Rajewsky from the Max Delbrück Center now report in “Science Immunology.”
Simon Haas
Press Release No. 49 Berlin

Lisec-Artz Prize goes to Simon Haas

Simon Haas has been awarded the Lisec-Artz Prize, endowed with €10,000, for his single-cell analysis of communication between stem and immune cells in blood cancer. The University of Bonn Foundation established this prize to honor outstanding early-career cancer researchers.
Scientigic image
Press Release No. 42 Berlin

Avatars to help tailor glioblastoma therapies

Scientists have created a new zebrafish xenograft platform to screen for novel treatments for an aggressive brain tumor called glioblastoma, according to a new study by the Gerhardt and De Smet labs published in “EMBO Molecular Medicine.”
Joghurt mit Müsli
Science

Fighting hypertension with yogurt

People with hypertension are at the greatest risk of developing serious cardiovascular diseases. A team of researchers at the Experimental and Clinical Research Center are now investigating whether probiotics in food supplements can support drug therapies or even delay the need to start them.
Armin Rehm, Anthea Wirges, Uta Höpken and Mario Bunse
Press Release No. 41 Berlin

Starting up with highly promising immunotherapies

After spending many years researching together, a group of scientists has founded CARTemis Therapeutics, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center. Uta Höpken, Armin Rehm, Anthea Wirges, and Mario Bunse want to use novel CAR T-cell therapies to help patients with cancers that are currently untreatable.
Schlafende Person in einem dunklen Raum
Press Release No. 36 Berlin

The long-term course of severe long COVID

Many people with post-COVID syndrome who suffer from fatigue six months after a coronavirus infection are still severely physically impaired up to 20 months afterward. The study by ECRC researcher Judith Bellmann-Strobl and her colleagues was published in “eClinicalMedicine.”
Struktur eines Proteins
Press Release No. 32 Berlin

Low binding affinity improves vaccine efficacy

Researchers at BIH and the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new approach for vaccines against coronaviruses using modified spike proteins with lower binding affinity. This method could make vaccinations more effective, the team writes in the "European Journal of Immunology".
Scientific image
Science

Tackling rare kidney diseases

Michael Bader’s lab and six other European research groups are working to develop new methods to diagnose and monitor the progression of two kidney diseases. Both disorders are caused by an overactive unit of the body’s immune system. The researchers will receive €1.9 million for the project.
Wissenschaftlliches Bild
Science

How diseases begin in the gut

A Berlin-based team led by ECRC researcher Dominik N. Müller is analyzing how inflammation of the intestinal mucosa affects blood vessels. They are still looking for study participants – especially people with inflammatory bowel diseases, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure and diabetes.
Porträt
Science

Protecting and repairing neurons

She wants to uncover the mechanisms behind inflammatory neurodegenerative diseases, while also developing new therapeutic approaches and testing them in clinical trials. With these goals in mind, Frederike Cosima Oertel is launching the Translational Neuroimmunology Lab at the ECRC.