Forschung
Arbeitsgruppe - Labgroup 2015
Our research group addresses the role of mononuclear phagocytes in host defense, lung injury progression, and in regeneration processes of the lung epithelium in pneumonia-induced ARDS, with a special focus on influenza virus infection. A central question is how different functional phenotypes of macrophages interact with the distal lung epithelium to promote epithelial cell apoptosis and injury during the antiviral host defense, and how they communicate with the epithelium to drive repair processes from subsets of local epithelial progenitor cells after influenza virus infection. We aim to elucidate molecular interactions at the virus-host interface and the detailed mechanisms of these cellular cross-talks within the infected alveolome, to ultimately define therapeutic targets for intervention to attenuate lung injury and drive tissue regeneration after severe influenza virus pneumonia.