Turbo booster for the immune system
Freiburg researcher Olaf Groß receives ERC Proof of Concept Grant for the development of immunostimulating agents
Immunologist Prof. Dr. Olaf Groß from the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has been awarded a Proof of Concept Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) of the European Commission for his IMMUNOSTIM project. With the Proof of Concept funding line, the ERC supports ERC-funded scientists for pioneering research with 150,000 euros to develop promising ideas with commercial or social potential up to proof of concept. With this funding, Olaf Groß and his team in the Metabolism and Inflammation research group at the Institute of Neuropathology at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg will test whether a new class of immune-activating agents they have discovered can increase the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapies or vaccines against infectious diseases.
Groß is investigating a protein complex known as the 'inflammasome' within macrophages, specialized cells of the body's immune system that patrol the tissue for signs of danger. When their inflammasome is activated, macrophages sound the alarm by releasing potent factors called cytokines. "These cytokines alert other cells in the body and trigger an inflammatory response that helps other immune cells to fight cancer cells or infections," explains Groß. As part of his ERC Starting Grant, he and his team discovered a new class of small molecules that specifically activate the inflammasome and act like a turbo booster for the immune system.
"The development of inhibitors of the inflammasome for the treatment of inflammatory diseases has been eagerly awaited," explains Groß. "But we think that in the right clinical context, inflammasome activators can be just as valuable," he adds. During the proof-of-concept phase, Groß and his team will test whether his IMMUNOSTIM compounds improve the efficacy of cancer treatments and vaccines. "We will also be looking for commercial partners for the further development of this promising new class of immunotherapeutics," says Groß.
Groß received his doctorate from the Technical University of Munich in 2008. After a postdoctoral stay at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, he set up an independent research group at the Klinikum rechts der Isar in Munich with a focus on inflammasomes. Since 2017, Groß has been a professor at the University of Freiburg at the Institute of Neuropathology at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. He is a spokesperson for the potential field of metabolism research at the University of Freiburg and a member of the Cluster of Excellence CIBSS - Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies. Within CIBSS, he investigates the signaling mechanisms responsible for inflammasome activation by IMMUNOSTIM compounds and searches for further molecules that modulate metabolic and immune signaling processes.
Further information:
Metabolism and Inflammation Research Group
CIBSS - Center for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies
Contact:
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Olaf Groß
Institute of Neuropathology
Medical Center - University of Freiburg
Phone: 0761 270-63810
olaf.gross@uniklinik-freiburg.de
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