Clusters of Excellence
The Institute for Infection Prevention and Prevention and Control participates
in the two Clusters of Excellence which have been successful in the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments: Katrin Kierdorf and Philipp Henneke are principal investigators in CIBSS- Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies, and Tjibbe Donker is involved in Future Forests - Adapting Complex Social-ecological Forest Systems to Global Change.
ARCANE - First meeting in Freiburg
The ARCANE May meeting took place from 13 to 15 May 2025 at the IIK - Institute for Infection Prevention and Control in Freiburg.
Codes and GitHub links were shared, presentations were given, and ideas for future synergies were discussed.
Find more information here on the project website.
International Symposium: Planetary Aspects of Urban Health
The Master of Global Urban Health (MSc GUH) programme, in collaboration with the Centre for Planetary Health (CPH), is organising an International Symposium on Planetary Aspects of Urban Health, to be held on September 25 – 26, 2025, at the University of Freiburg.
Unraveling the Link Between Early Intestinal Immunity and Chronic Granulomatous Disease (CGD)
Developing a strong immune system in the gut early in life is tough, especially as the gut microbiota (the community of microbes in our intestines) changes rapidly. In some cases, early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is the first sign of chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), a genetic condition caused by defects in NADPH oxidase (NOX2). This defect prevents the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in immune cells, which are crucial for fighting infections.
The Microbiota-Immune System Connection
Studies show that mice lacking certain NOX2 subunits (like p47phox or gp91phox) face problems with immune cell development in the gut. These issues affect how they respond to colitis (inflammation of the colon). When these mice were exposed to a more diverse microbiota at birth, they developed spontaneous IBD, granuloma formation, and even sepsis, highlighting how early microbiota exposure can influence immune responses.
Congratulations to Zohreh Mansoori Moghadam
We would like to extend our congratulations to Zohreh Mansoori Moghadam from AG Henneke for her outstanding work on this paper. Her research brings new insights into the complex interaction between immunity and microbiota, paving the way for future advancements in the field.
Moghadam, Z. M., Zhao, B., Raynaud, C., Strohmeier, V., Neuber, J., Lösslein, A. K., Qureshi, S., Gres, V., Ziegelbauer, T., Baasch, S., Schell, C., Warnatz, K., Inohara, N., Nunez, G., Clavel, T., Rosshart, S. P., Kolter, J., & Henneke, P. (2025). Reactive oxygen species regulate early development of the intestinal macrophage-microbiome interface. PubMed. https://doi.org/10.1182/blood.2024025240
Learn More About Immunology and Infection Prevention
Students and graduates interested in immunology are welcome to join AG Henneke and further impact the research on immunotherapy. Explore more about how early-life immune system development impacts chronic diseases and microbiota dynamics!
Anne Löslein won the posterprize in Vienna 2024 for her research on tuberculosis.
Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis, one of the deadliest infectious diseases worldwide. In the tissue, mycobacteria induce the formation of complex immune-cell structures known as graulomas. In this project, we investigate the role of stromal cells for granuloma formation and control of mycobacteria, as well as the interaction of macrophages and non-immune cells in mycobacterial infections.
ARCANE Project Kick Off
Wir freuen uns, den erfolgreichen Start unseres Projekts in Paris bekannt geben zu können, wo wir mit Partnern zusammenkamen, um die Zukunft der Modellierung von Krankenhausnetzwerken in Frankreich und Deutschland zu planen. Ziel dieser Initiative ist es, die grenzüberschreitende Gesundheitsversorgung durch fortschrittliche datengesteuerte Modelle zu verbessern.
Mehr Infos - ARCANE Kick Off Meeting – Arcane project
Organisiert von Mitgliedern des QUPI-Teams aus Freiburg.
Own depiction
Nature Communications: International and regional spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae in Europe
Resistance towards antibiotics poses challenges in hospitals, since treatment options become limited. This is especially true for carbapenems, which are broad-spectrum antibiotics often used as a last resort for treating serious bacterial infections, such as those caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae.
An international consortium – COMBACTE-CARE EURECA – led by Dr. Sandra Reuter has now investigated the carbapenem-resistant variants of Klebsiella pneumoniae circulating in Southern European countries. In comparison with previous studies, changes over time were visible such as a particular variant in Türkiye that is now more prominent as a carbapenem-resistant lineage with various resistance mechanisms. Other regional differences include a variant in Serbia that is now more resistant than in previous years.
The investigation also focussed on which resistance mechanisms are found in which countries and which variants of concern. Particularly worrisome is an up-and-coming, easily adapting lineage that variably picks up mechanisms depending on the country it is found in.
Budia Silva, M., Kostyanev, T., Ayala Montaño, S., Bravo-Ferrer Acosta, J., Garcia-Castillo, M., Cantón, R., Goossens, H., Rodriguez-Baño, J., Grundmann, H., and Reuter, S. (2024). International and regional spread of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumonia in Europe. Nat Comm 15(1): 5092. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49349-z
Own depiction
PNAS Publication - New method to measure how fast a virus variant spreads
A research group led by Dr. Sandra Reuter and Dr. Tjibbe Donker from the Institute for Infection Prevention has developed new methods to measure how quickly a new virus variant spreads.
The new method can be used to:
- Read genetic traces of new virus variants
- Determine when a new virus variant appeared
- Measure how quickly the new virus variant spreads
Using this method, we were able to recognise all important SARS-CoV-2 variants in data from all the countries we studied. Methods like this are possible due to the large amount of genetic data collected during the pandemic through so-called genomic surveillance. They represent a completely new way of analysing this data and provide new information needed for pandemic response.
Donker, T., Papathanassopoulos, A., Ghosh, H., Kociurzynski, R., Felder, M., Grundmann, H., & Reuter, S. (2024). Estimation of SARS-CoV-2 fitness gains from genomic surveillance data without prior lineage classification. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 121, Issue 25). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2314262121
Medical Director:
Prof. Dr. med. Philipp Henneke
philipp.henneke@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Breisacher Straße 115 B
79106 Freiburg