EXC 2167:  Precision Medicine in Chronic Inflammation (PMI)

• Subject Area: Medicine ; Basic Research in Biology and Medicine ; Microbiology, Virology and Immunology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 390884018

Chronic inflammatory diseases (CID) represent a major challenge to healthcare and incur a substantial financial burden to society. CID are lifelong conditions, many with increasing prevalence and often manifest early in life. Targeted therapies inhibit key pathophysiological factors; however, heterogeneity within CID limits treatment efficacy. The aim of PMI is to enhance treatment effectiveness by establishing a new disease taxonomy within and across CID, facilitating individualized choice of therapy. Deeper understanding of disease mechanisms can uncover new therapeutic targets and enable pre-emptive approaches to prevent disease onset. PMI consolidates efforts from 380 researchers across universities and research institutions into 11 research and technology fields aligning highly visible basic scientific research with powerful technology platforms capable of analysing large patient cohorts from Germany's second-largest university hospital, including sequencing, microbiome, proteomics & metabolomics. Key clinical stakeholders have come together in interdisciplinary inflammation centers and have implemented strictly standardized treatment processes for CID based on established clinical guidelines. High patient acceptance of the broad consent (which is subject to ongoing legal and ethical research and development) enables the structured export of clinical data and biomaterials derived from all diagnostic residues. While PMI primarily provides enabling infrastructures and personnel to foster collaboration around scientific gaps, flagship projects exemplify the teamwork. These include Clinical Demonstrators for in-depth assessments during interventions in humans and Target Innovations for pre-clinical validation. Significant scientific successes reflect the strong collaborative culture fostered by the partnership, which is further bolstered by large additional grants made possible through PMI's critical mass and by seamless access to biosamples, model systems, and technologies. PMI has revolutionized the clinical research landscape in both Medical Faculties: Dedicated research data management interlinks between the clinical and the research space including the biobanks and other fields use the PMI approach for their own precision medicine agendas. The 2nd FP will build upon this success by introducing high-resolution clinical phenotyping, integrating research results further into patient care, reforming broad consent processes, and employing AI for personalized patient guidance and co-creation. Career development, a prime focus of PMI, is aided by a state and university supported, significant expansion of the clinician scientist program, that has been seeded by PMI. A new clinical research governance, backed by dedicated funding, is led by top clinical researchers selected every three years (SH excellence chairs). The chairs also receive resources to create additional assistant professorships, nurturing the next generation of clinical researchers.

• DFG Programme: Clusters of Excellence (ExStra)
• Applicant Institution: Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel
• Co-Applicant Institution: Universität zu Lübeck
• Participating Institution: Forschungszentrum Borstel; Leibniz Lungenzentrum; IPN - Leibniz-Institut für die Pädagogik der Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik; an der Universität Kiel; Kiel Institut für Weltwirtschaft (IfW Kiel); Max-Planck-Institut für Evolutionsbiologie; Muthesius-Kunsthochschule Kiel; Universitätsklinikum Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH)
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Stefan Schreiber
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Zeynep Altintas; Professorin Dr. Petra Bacher; Professor Dr. John F. Baines; Professor Dr. Björn Bergh; Professor David Ellinghaus, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Andre Franke; Professorin Dr. Evelyn Gaffal; Professor Dr. Mathieu Groussin; Professor Dr. Jan Heyckendorf; Professor Dr. Markus Hoffmann; Professor Dr. Robert Alexander Huber; Professorin Dr. Sabrina Jabs; Professorin Dr. Henriette Kirchner; Professorin Dr. Inke Regina Koenig; Professor Dr. Matthias Laudes; Professor Dr. Manuel Liebeke; Professorin Dr. Silke Meiners; Professor Dr. Stefan Niemann; Professorin Dr. Mathilde Poyet; Professorin Dr. Gabriela Riemekasten; Professor Philip Caspar Rosenstiel, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Malte Spielmann; Professor Dr. Stephan Weidinger; Professor Dr. Elmar Wolf