Project Details
Projekt
Generation of standardized virus preparations, primary cell culture models from lungs, nasal epithelium, tonsils, and blood including organoids and precision-cut tissue slices
Subject Area
Virology
Term
since 2026
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 548065690
Studies using standardized virus preparations are crucial for ensuring reliable, comparable, and reproducible results across different research settings and laboratories. This is essential for performing studies in basic virology to obtain a deeper understanding of human adenoviruses (HAdV)-related diseases, pathology, virus/host interactions, and to develop accurate diagnostics, effective antivirals, as well as safer gene therapy vectors. Importantly, standardization helps to confidently interpret data and ensures that the virus used in different experiments is consistent in its characteristics. To evaluate different aspects of HAdV infection to close existing research gaps and to move towards clinical translation, it is mandatory to utilize well characterized and standardized virus preparations within this interdisciplinary AdBHealth research unit. Besides standardized virus preparations, also the applied cell model systems to study HAdV are highly relevant. Human primary cells in general and more complex primary cell models, including 3D cultures, and organoid models, as well as precision-cut tissue slices are important for virus research and for studying virus-host interactions to perform physiologically relevant, in vivo-close investigations compared to traditional cell cultures. These models can better recapitulate the complex cellular structures and interactions found in human organs and in addition, this allows mimicking human biology and avoids species-specific barriers. This project aims to produce standard material allowing to compare different HAdV types in different cell models and thus requires standardized virus preparations and cell-culture systems, which will be available within the AdBHealth consortium. Consequently, we aim to accomplish the following two objectives. We will (1) perform genome engineering and produce HAdVs essential for this consortium. Standardized virus preparations will be generated, including wild type viruses, mutated viruses, and replication-deficient viruses which will be distributed within members of AdBHealth. The focus will be on chosen HAdV types, which are in the research center of AdBHealth. Besides standard virus preparations, also the explored cell models are essential. Therefore, in the second objective (2) we aim to establish cell models based on primary cells and tissues. In this consortium, we will combine strong expertise generating different cell culture models, including organotypic 3D cell culture models, spheroids and organoids from nasal epithelial cells (NEPCs) and tonsil tissues, precision cut lung slices (PCLS), as well as PBMCs. Both objectives are essential to harmonize all follow-up experiments in AdBHealth.
DFG Programme
Research Units
