DFG RTG 3095: Protective and pathogenic antibody responses at barrier organs

Infections, allergic and autoinflammatory disorders in immunologic barrier organs such as the gut, lungs or skin are common and represent a major burden on our healthcare system. B cell responses can generate a wide variety of protective, allergenic or anti-allergenic, inflammatory or anti-inflammatory antibodies that play an important role in immunity in these tissues. Despite their importance, the mechanisms by which B cell responses are initiated and maintained at immunological barrier organs and how antibodies mediate their effector functions are still poorly understood. The RTG “Protective and pathogenic antibody responses at barrier organs” will address these questions in the context of immune protection, allergic and autoinflammatory diseases. The core research idea of the RTG originates from the research environment at the Universities of Lübeck (UzL) and Kiel (CAU), where research on inflammation at barrier organs is an important research topic, which was developed within the joint Cluster of Excellence "Inflammation at Interfaces" and continued within the Cluster of Excellence "PMI - Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation". All principal investigators of the RTG are members of the Cluster of Excellence. The research program of the RTG combines the strong expertise in inflammation at interfaces and mucosal immunity of the two universities with the B cell biology and antibody expertise of the selected PIs. To address the increasing complexity of data analysis in B-cell research in particular and in life sciences and medicine in general, the research program integrates a bioinformatics project to develop deep learning-based analysis of B cell populations. This measure also leads to collaborations between fellows from the life sciences/medicine and bioinformatics, thus fostering interdisciplinary communication skills. The qualification program builds on the structures developed within our previous RTGs and the central service institutions for the structured promotion of young researchers at the CAU and UzL, the Center for Doctoral Studies (CDSL) at the UzL and the Graduate Center at the Kiel University (GCKU). As a further development, the RTG also includes structured training in bioinformatics data analysis, a competence of increasing importance in the life sciences and medicine. The platforms established by our Clusters of Excellence will provide a solid basis for the successful and timely completion of the doctoral projects and for gaining new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of the antibody response. In summary, the new RTG combines a focused, interdisciplinary and clinically relevant research program with a training program that adapts the successful existing structures to the increasing needs of high throughput data analysis.