Microbiota-mediated modulation of protective immunity and immunopathology (P07)

• Subject Area: Immunology ; Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Virology
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 395357507

Acute and chronic viral infections remain a major public health concern yet most external factors affecting efficacy of anti-viral immunity remain poorly understood. Based on our previous results demonstrating enhanced immunopathology and impaired virus control in germfree and in mice with limited bacterial diversity (OligoMM12-colonized mice) after chronic LCMV infection, we will now assess particularities of OligoMM12 consortia and derivatives thereof during the course of the infection and investigate mechanistic links of these particularities to the regulation of virus-specific cytotoxic and T helper cell responses in different tissues. These mechanistic insights may be highly useful for the rational design of more efficient and personalized vaccination regimens and anti-cancer therapies including checkpoint inhibition.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1371: Microbiome Signatures -- Functional Relevance in the Digestive Tract
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Project Heads: Professor Dr. Caspar Ohnmacht, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Dietmar Zehn