Project area C: immune cell and organ responses

This project area focuses on the development and application of multiscale imaging strategies to study organ-specific immune cell responses to distinct sterile and bacterial inflammatory triggers in ischemia-reperfusion (heart, kidney), autoimmune disease (rheumatoid arthritis, systemic sclerosis and lupus erythematosus, anaphylactic inflammation), infections (sepsis, enteritis, peritonitis) and cancer. The relevance of specific metabolic changes, like a shift to glycolytic energy production and alterations of the TCA cycle, for the maintenance of a tolerized state after inflammatory priming of monocytes will be followed by PET in vivo. GlucoCEST-MRI offers an alternative route to follow changes in glucose metabolism during acute kidney injury. The phagocytic capacity of different organ-specific macrophage populations will be investigated in relation to their efferocytic and anti-inflammatory capacity. A consequence of release of immune regulatory molecules by activated phagocytes is polarisation of monocytes towards myeloid-derived suppressor cells, which are explored in autoimmune disorders and tumour development. During bacterial infection, bacterial virulence factors impact on phagocyte heterogeneity and behaviour, which will be investigated during Yersinia infection. Finally, activation of mast cells results in the release of systemically acting inflammatory mediators, which elicit pronounced organ responses. The underlying mechanisms will be investigated at various scales from the cellular to the organismic level.

Projects

  • PEP-2026-03 – Label-free NIR-based imaging of neutrophil location and activity in psoriasis vulgaris
    Principal investigator: Luise Erpenbeck (Department of Dermatology)
    Project term: 07/2026–06/2027
  • PEP-2026-05 – Identification of ascending chronic urinary tract infections including vascular and functional consequences with longitudinal dynamic PET-MRI 
    Principal investigator: Selina Jorch (Department of Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Pain Medicine)
    Project term: 07/2026–06/2027
  • PEP-2026-06 – Host-microbiota interactions: visualizing translocating gut pathobionts in an autoimmune-prone mouse model
    Principal investigator: Martin Kriegel (Department of Translational Rheumatology and Immunology)
    Project term: 07/2026–06/2027
  • ST-2025-01: Investigating efferocytosis by peritoneal macrophages during endometriosis
    Project leader: Irene Aranda Pardos (Institute of Immunoloy)
    Project term: 01/2026-12/2026
  • CS-Boost-2025-04: Translational investigation of dynamic PET/MRI for evaluation of the breast cancer tumour microenvironment
    Clinician Scientist: David Ventura 
    Mentors: Philipp Backhaus, Florian Büther (Department of Nuclear Medicine, UKM & European Institute for Molecular Imaging)
    Project term: 06/2025 - 05/2027

Completed projects

  • PI-2023-01: Containing the infection – Visualization and analysis of the influence of innate immune cells on the intestinal barrier during a bacterial infection
    Project leader: Christopher Margraf (Institute of Infectiology, ZMBE)
    Project term: 01/2024 - 12/2024
  • CS-Starter-2023-02 – The role of hyperphosphatemia in endothelial inflammation
    Clinician scientist: Göran Ramin Boeckel (Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology)
    Mentor: Marcus Brand
    Project term: 05/2023–04/2024
  • CS-2021-01 – Cellular and metabolic imaging of monocyte dynamics during arthritis in vivo
    (related CRC project C01)
    Clinician scientist: Nadine Heiden (Department of Nuclear Medicine & European Institute for Molecular Imaging)
    Scientific and clinical mentors: Johannes Roth, Michael Schäfers
    Project term: 01/2022 - 12/2024
  • PEP-2022-05 – Functional analysis of cardiac resident hematopoietic cells during post-injury recovery in zebrafish
    Principal investigator: Felix Gunawan (Institute of Cell Biology)
    Project term: 01/2023–12/2023
  • MedK MD project – Untersuchung des Immunzellmetabolismus mittels radioaktiver Substrate
    (related to CRC project C01)
    Medical doctoral researcher: Lea Jansen (European Institute for Molecular Imaging)
    Mentor: Michael Schäfers
    Project term: 02/2022 - 01/2023

  • PI-2022-01 – NEUTROMARROW – Multiplex imaging of neutrophil
    development and maturation in the bone marrow
    Project leader: Mathis Richter (Institute of Experimental Pathology, ZMBE)
    Project term: 04/2022 - 03/2023

  • ST-2022-01 – Unravelling the dynamic interplay between neutrophils and
    macrophages following Yersinia pseudotuberculosis infection
    Project leader: Samriti Sharma (Institute of Infectiology, ZMBE)
    Project term: 04/2022 - 03/2023