With the participation of scientists from ImmunoSensation, the Collaborative Research Centre "Metaflammation and Cellular Programming" is investigating the links between lifestyle and inflammatory processes. The German Research Foundation has now extended funding for the research centre.
The CRC 1454 ‘Metaflammation and Cellular Programming’ is already entering its second funding period. It deals with the connection between a Western lifestyle and chronic inflammatory diseases - for example, how an excessive calorie intake coupled with insufficient exercise favours the development of cardiovascular diseases, neurodegenerative diseases or metabolic syndrome.
Using a holistic approach, the researchers are investigating why lifestyle or environmental factors, such as obesity, smoking or insufficient exercise, influence the misprogramming of immune cells and thus cause ‘metaflammation’ - a chronic inflammation triggered by the immune system. The researchers are investigating how the interaction of cells in inflamed tissue takes place and how molecular signalling pathways contribute to the development of diseases during metaflammation.
The scientific network is part of the Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA) ‘Life and Health’ and combines the expertise of scientists from the Faculty of Medicine, the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Faculty of Agricultural, Nutritional and Engineering Sciences as well as the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation2 and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). Researchers from the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) in Bonn, the Max Planck Institute for Metabolic Research in Cologne, the German Rheumatism Research Centre in Berlin and the Technical University of Braunschweig are also involved.
Please visit the CRC Metaflammation website for further information.
Contact
Institute of Innate Immunity
University Hospital Bonn
E-Mail: dwachten@uni-bonn.de