Infections are among the most pressing public health problems worldwide. Better understanding of infection processes at the molecular level can contribute to the development of new therapy, diagnostic and preventative strategies. We are working on not only basic research questions in infection biology, but also translational research approaches where we assess whether knowledge gained from basic research has potential use in patient healthcare.
In basic research we are primarily working with the Gram-negative soil bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, the pathogen causing melioidosis, a severe infectious disease in the tropics and subtropics. In the known endemic areas, pneumonia and severe sepsis are the most frequent clinical manifestations. B. pseudomallei can replicate in the cytoplasm of the host cell and induces directional actin polymerization and cell fusions, which can lead to direct spread from cell to cell. These properties as well as the extremely wide host spectrum have made B. pseudomallei a model organism in infection biology.
Our basic research projects are in the areas "Virulence mechanisms of B. pseudomallei", "Ecology of B. pseudomallei" as well as "Immune defence mechanisms". These projects are funded in part through the DFG Graduate College 1870 "Bacterial Respiratory Infections - Common and Specific Mechanisms of Pathogen Adaptation and Immune Defence".
Our translational research projects are in the area "Molecular infection diagnostics and clinical microbiolog". Here, the main focus is on validating new biomarkers for sepsis diagnosis, developing new methods for detecting pathogens, and investigating the prevalence and transmission of multidrug resistant bacterial pathogens. These projects are funded in part by the BMBF collaborative projects HIC@RE and RENOMAB.
