IMIB - Institute for Molecular Infection Biology

Analysis of innate immune responses of gastrointestinal epithelium to infection using human organoids as model

The epithelial lining of the gastrointestinal tract functions as a physical and immunological barrier between the microbes of the gut and the body. The mucus secreted throughout the gastrointestinal tract acts as a physical barrier, while the signaling cascades of the immune system provide the first line of immunological defense. Up to now, the functionality of the signaling in living but untransformed primary epithelial cells of the whole gastrointestinal tract in mouse and human could not be analyzed. Recent advances in culturing of the stem cells isolated from adult epithelium enables culturing mini versions or the respective organs, called organoids.

The group has established a biobank of human and murine gastrointestinal organoids. Profiling of these organoids has revealed that there is extensive organization of the innate immune receptors such as TLRs along the cephalocaudal axis. Each gut segment expresses its specific set of pattern recognition receptors. I am interested in the importance of this patterning for disease. I am establishing new infection models and search for a possb tissue- or cell type-specific response to infection.