Messengers of maternal immune activation: Impact on the development and function of the offspring’s innate immune system (B01)

• Subject Area: Reproductive Medicine, Urology ; Immunology
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 534829736

Foetal immune development follows intricate spatial and temporal trajectories. These trajectories can be modulated by maternal immune activation (MIA) induced by, e.g., maternal infections. Potential maternal mediators that subsequently interfere with foetal immune development include transplacentally transferred maternal cytokines and cells. Using preclinical models and human samples, we here aim to understand the consequences of maternally-derived cytokines and immune cells - generated under MIA conditions - for innate immune development in offspring and postnatal response to pathogens.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1713: Maternal Immune Activation: Causes and Consequences
• Applicant Institution: Universität Hamburg
• Project Heads: Professorin Dr. Petra Clara Arck; Dr. Dimitra Zazara