Skip to main content

Prof. Dr. Martin Schlee

Member, Steering-Committee Member

Institute of Clinical Chemistry & Clinical Pharmacology

Medical Faculty, University of Bonn University Hospital of Bonn Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25 53127 Bonn

martin.schlee@uni-bonn.de

+49 228 28716080

Website

The focus of Martin Schlee’s research group is immune recognition and immune tolerance of viral and endogenous nucleic acids. Nucleic acid receptors of the innate immune system initiate and control the antiviral immune response of the infected organism. The detection of pathogenic RNA/DNA by nucleic acid receptors is based on recognition of unusual RNA/DNA localization, structure and modifications, so-called pattern recognition motifs. The challenge here is that the innate immune system detects sensitively pathogenic nucleic acids without false activation by the endogenous nucleic acids. While an insensitive recognition favors the spread of infection, an excessive immune detection of nucleic acids leads to autoimmune diseases. The group has identified and characterized recognition motifs of the cytosolic DNA receptor cGAS and the cytosolic RNA receptor RIG-I and endogenous as well as viral RNA modifications that prevent recognition by RIG-I.

Martin Schlee

Download biosketch

Recent publications

  • Cytosolic nucleic acid sensing as driver of critical illness: mechanisms and advances in therapy.

    Signal transduction and targeted therapy

    Authors: Zhaorong Chen, Rayk Behrendt, Lennart Wild, Martin Schlee, Christian Bode

  • Immunoengineering of a Photocaged 5´-triphosphate Oligoribonucleotide Ligand for Spatiotemporal Control of RIG-I Activation in Cancer.

    Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)

    Authors: Sandra Lewash, Vivien McKenney, Christine Wuebben, Janos Ludwig, Racha Hosni, Dirk Radzey, Marieta Toma, Martin Schlee, Eva Bartok, Thomas Zillinger, Alexander Heckel, Gunther Hartmann

  • RNA-binding proteins hnRNPM and ELAVL1 promote type-I interferon induction downstream of the nucleic acid sensors cGAS and RIG-I.

    The EMBO journal

    Authors: Alexander Kirchhoff, Anna-Maria Herzner, Christian Urban, Antonio Piras, Robert Düster, Julia Mahlberg, Agathe Grünewald, Thais M Schlee-Guimarães, Katrin Ciupka, Petro Leka, Robert J Bootz, Christina Wallerath, Charlotte Hunkler, Ann Kristin de Regt, Beate M Kümmerer, Maria Hønholt Christensen, Florian I Schmidt, Min Ae Lee-Kirsch, Claudia Günther, Hiroki Kato, Eva Bartok, Gunther Hartmann, Matthias Geyer, Andreas Pichlmair, Martin Schlee

All publications by Prof. Dr. Martin Schlee