Working Groups

While there are treatment options for the immunodeficiency syndrome AIDS today, there is still not a cure. This is mainly due to the fact some of the human immunodeficiency viruses invade the genome of the host, where they cannot be attacked. Therapeutic agents can only destroy the free viruses in ...

Primary human liver cells are required in order to investigate infections of the liver and to conduct preclinical tests of new agents. Isolating them from patient samples is a technologically challenging process requiring the highest levels of skill. This skill is available at the “Primary Human ...

Professor Thomas Krey’s research group aims to determine the structures of particular viral and cellular proteins that play a key role in the processes leading to infection. Consequently, the group is particularly focussed on the use of x-ray crystallography. Information regarding the structures of ...

The working group of Prof. Jörg Janne Vehreschild in Köln cooperates with the Robert Koch Institute. To pave the way for the upcoming challenges in HIV research, the Translational Platform was founded in 2015. It supports clinical and epidemiological cohort studies in HIV. The platform provides ...

Prof. Marc Hübner aims to identify new drug candidates against parasitic threadworms, so-called filariae, and developing them further for human use. To this end, new in vitro and in vivo models are being developed and identified candidates are being tested in clinical trials in humans. With ...

The intestinal microbiome plays a crucial role in the course of infections. As part of this research platform, Prof. Bärbel Stecher and her team are examining what exactly happens when gram-negative pathogens and opportunists colonise the intestine. An important project is targeting ...

Besides analysing replication mechanisms of hepatitis B (HBV) and D (HDV) viruses, the focus of Professor Stephan Urban and his team is to develop new drugs against these pathogens. With Myrcludex B, which blocks the entry of viruses into the liver cell, a substance has already been taken from basic ...

Medical data and biological samples obtained from transplant patients are collected and managed across Germany with the help of the DZIF Transplant Cohort. The data and samples form the basis of scientific studies which investigate the connections between numerous factors influencing an organ’s ...

The working group is responsible for projects aimed at the detection, occurrence and description of emerging viruses. To accomplish this task, the scientists are collecting samples of potential virus carriers, such as game, farm and domestic animals, thereby building up a comprehensive database ...