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Research Group Renz

The research activities of the Renz group focus on the immune pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory diseases, exemplified by allergies and asthma.

The research group focuses on the following topics:

  • Chronic inflammatory diseases such as allergies and asthma are triggered by a heterogeneous spectrum of underlying inflammatory processes. This leads to a new classification of these diseases in the form of so-called "endotypes". One of these endotypes is defined as the classic allergic eosinophilic, TH2-driven inflammatory response. The working group is also driving the characterization of other endotypes and developing new biomarkers from them, which can then also be used for the stratification of patiens.
  • In the context of precision medicine, the objective then is to develop endotype-specific new drugs. Here the working group has pioneered the development of new antisense strategies, which has led to the spin-offs of sterna biologicals and SECARNA Pharmaceuticals.
  • The development of these diseases is based on complex gene-X-environmental interactions. The working group is actively involved in unravelling the allergy- and asthma-promoting and allergy- and asthma- protecting environmental components. Here, (environmental) bacteria play a prominent role, and the group is dedicated to their mechanistic analysis in a number of research collaborations, also with the question of the applicability of these concepts in the context of allergy and asthma prevention.
  • The importance of biomathematical modelling, including the use of artificial intelligence,  plays an increasing role in the development  of a better understanding of chronic diseases. Here, the group collaborates closely with the MIRACUM research network in the so-called Use Case 2, which has set itself the goal of characterizing patients with asthma and COPD more and decoding new pathobiochemical networks and connections as part of the federal government's medical informatics initiative.

Contact: Prof. Dr. med. Harald Renz; Email: