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Research activities

AG Bacher

Chronic immune activation in the CNS leads to dysfunction and loss of neurons and axons in  neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, therefore neuroinflammation might serve as an aim for potential therapies to control the progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s:

  • Investigating the inflammatory mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases and the pathogenic roles they play.
  • Role of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) in disease-related neuroinflammatory processes
  • Investigating the effects of the inhibition of the endogenous MIF activity at different stages of AD pathology using a new MIF inhibitor in sporadic AD mouse models.

AG Bauer/Kaufmann

Innate immune recognition of RNA

  • immunostimulatory potential of RNase-L degraded self RNA during viral infection
  • role of RNA modifications on immune activation and pathogenicity of viruses
  • capability of cholesterol-coupled dsRNA to act as a new adjuvant delivery system

Host defence in pneumonia

  • role of innate immune receptors in controlling hyperinflammation and tissue repair during pneumonia
  • role of ADAR1 on lung dendritic cell and macrophage development during bacterial pneumonia