ERC Starting Grants for up-and-coming talents at Charité and BIH

ERC Starting Grants rank among the most coveted and significant European awards. Three young researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) convinced the selection committee of the European Science Council this year. Their highly promising projects are dedicated to the self-healing powers of the kidney, site-dependent immune memory and invasive fungal diseases. Over the next five years, they will each receive around 1.5 million euros from the European Research Council (ERC) to set up a research team.

 

Backed by ERC funding, visionary and basic research-oriented ideas are given the opportunity to initiate scientifically significant innovations in their respective fields of research. PD Dr. Michael S. Balzer, Dr. Claudia Giesecke-Thiel and Dr. Johannes Hartl will now be able to put their forward-looking plans into practice.

The power of adaptation: How the kidney heals itself

While a damaged kidney can adapt surprisingly well, we still do not know exactly how it does this. Subtle adaptation signals are often drowned out by the "noise" of tissue damage and inflammation. This is precisely where the SINGuLAR project enters the picture. Instead of examining diseased kidneys, nephrologist PD Dr. Michael S. Balzer, research group leader at the Department of Nephrology and Intensive Medical Care, and his team are now investigating the healthy adaptation of the single remaining kidney after living organ donation. Kidney donors permanently lose half of their kidney mass. Remarkably, the remaining kidney compensates, taking over the lost function and effectively “outgrowing” itself. "This adaptation is a natural, healing process – entirely without the disruptive signals of disease," says Dr. Balzer. "This represents an ideal model for researching genuine regeneration mechanisms in humans." Using state-of-the-art single-cell technologies, he and his team will create a high-resolution map of gene activity during ongoing kidney adaptation. The researchers want to show how these processes are orchestrated, how they unfold spatially and temporally, and whether they can be used therapeutically, for example to specifically promote self-healing in cases of acute kidney damage.
Further information on Balzer Lab.

How does the infection site influence the immune response?

The coronavirus pandemic made it clear that long-term immune protection in the body is not organized in the same way throughout the body. While the antibody levels in the blood remain stable after infection or vaccination and therefore reliably protect against serious illness, the antibodies on the mucous membranes of the upper respiratory tract disappear again after a short period of time – making symptomatic infection with the virus possible again. In her TopBMemory project, Dr. Claudia Giesecke-Thiel aims to shed more light on the underlying immunological mechanisms. She explains: "We want to understand how the site of initial contact with the pathogen shapes the immune response and immune memory and how this ‘first impression’ changes when the body later comes into contact with the same pathogen via a different route." To this end, the immunologist and her team will examine pathogen-specific immune cells in detail and test their function using pharyngeal tonsil organoids. For the project, she will be moving from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics (MPIMG) to the Department of Infectious Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at Charité. "Ultimately, we seek to define strategies through which systemic vaccination can establish, and potentially sustain, protection at mucosal barriers." says Claudia Giesecke-Thiel.

Molecular causes of systemic fungal infections

In contrast to the well-known problem of bacterial or viral infections, fungal infections that enter and disseminate through the bloodstream represent a little-noticed but fundamentally life-threatening health problem. It is estimated that more than 1.5 million people worldwide die from such an infection every year. Systemic fungal infections are difficult to diagnose and can only be treated to a limited extent. At present, there are only a few effective drugs available. Consequently, Dr. Johannes Hartl, research group leader at BIH, and his team involved in the FungalPath project are investigating the question of why there are fungi that cause serious infections in humans, while many closely related species hardly occur or do not appear at all in a clinical context. "We want to decipher the molecular changes in fungi that make them dangerous for humans," explains Dr. Hartl. "By identifying the differences between the pathogenic and the harmless relatives of these fungi, we are creating the foundation for better diagnostics and treatments." The interdisciplinary research team harnesses state-of-the-art technologies – especially mass spectrometry – to analyze proteins and metabolic products of numerous fungi. In addition to the fungi's adaptation strategies, the researchers are interested in the host's reactions to an infection, in order to simulate these responses as close to reality as possible in the laboratory. The findings will contribute to preparations for newly emerging pathogens and the development of treatment strategies.
Further information on Hartl Lab.

Starting Grants of the ERC
The European Research Council (European Research Council l ERC) currently supports young scientists in the Horizon Europe research framework program. Funding is provided for outstanding talents some two to seven years after earning their doctorate who are pursuing an unusual research approach on a freely chosen topic. Around 1.5 million euros are available for the establishment of each working group over a period of five years.

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Markus Heggen
Press spokesperson
Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
T: +49 30 450 570 400

 

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