PIER Health and Infection
In Hamburg there are a large number of long-standing and closely interlinked partnerships between universities and independent research institutes which promote highly regarded infection research at both a national and international level, always with the aim of improving our understanding of the causes of infectious diseases as well as how we can prevent and treat them.
Overview
All PIER PLUS partners of the profile
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Collaborative research
PIER Health and Infection aims to bring together and promote existing research in Hamburg into the structural biology of pathogens and infected cells through broader basic biomedical research and clinical research. Other fields that play a key role in this area are public health and implementation research, health economics, and health communication, as well as research into ethical issues. Furthermore, current research topics are to be identified on an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary basis, e.g. in the context of newly emerging epidemics.
Efficient networks
As PIER Health and Infection's lead partners, the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and Universität Hamburg, together with the Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV) and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), bring together the most important research strands. EMBL Hamburg complements this research collaboration as an associated partner of the profile with its outstanding structural biology methods. The addition of the experimental structure research facilities at Science City Hamburg Bahrenfeld (CSSB, DESY) means that research into all aspects of infectious diseases can be conducted within the Hamburg Metropolitan Region.
At the same time, successfully established collaborative research networks, such as the Leibniz Centre Infection (LCI) (together with Research Center Borstel) and Leibniz ScienceCampus InterACt, are mapped to create an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional science campus. In the field of applied transnational research, the UKE and Universität Hamburg, together with other university and independent partners, form one of seven German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) sites.
Research activities
Infection research at the CSSB
Photo: Pixabay
Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB)
Researchers from the 9 partner institutions are working at the CSSB to look at the complex molecular mechanisms of infections. The basic research aims for greater understanding of the structure, dynamics, and functions of pathogens and their interactions with the hosting organism.
InterAct Leibniz Science Campus
Photo: Pixabay
InterAct Leibniz Science Campus
InterACT combines expertise in the fields of infection, structural, and systems biology with in-situ imaging procedures and methods in bioinformatics for the purpose of investigating the interactions of pathogens and reactions in the hosting organism as part of the cellular infection cycle.
Knowing Vaccines: Innovative Training Network
Photo: Pixabay
Knowing Vaccines: Innovative Training Network
Knowing Vaccines: Innovative Training Network is a multidisciplinary research project on the historical, scientific, cultural, and political negotiation processes related to vaccines. It fosters productive dialogue between humanities scholars, social scientists, medical experts, and natural scientists.
Resistance to antibiotics
Photo: CSSB
International Genetically Engineered Machine Hamburg (iGEM)
The interdisciplinary student research team iGEM Hamburg is responding to the growing crisis in antibiotics resistance. The idea is transporting antimicrobial molecules into bacterial pathogens. The principle relies on a protein from metabolizing iron and combines current findings on binding processes, infiltrating target cells with proteins, and bacterial target structures in especially creative ways.
Research on the Marburg virus
Photo: BNITM
Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM)
The MARVAX consortium brings together experts in vaccine development, virology, and immunology to research innovative approaches in the fight against the Marburg virus. The coordinated developments of new vaccine candidates on the basis of 2 viral vectors should maximize immunogenicity and vaccine protection.
Interdisciplinary Competence Center for Interface Research
Photo: Pixabay
Interdisciplinary Competence Center for Interface Research (ICCIR)
The Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and the Hamburg Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) are working together at the ICCIR to investigate bio-physical interactions and their effects on interfaces for the purpose of innovative solutions in treatment and diagnosis. The interdisciplinary medical technology research combines modern sensory technology and methods from mathematical engineering.
Prostrate cancer research
Photo: UKE
Hamburg Prostate Cancer Consortium (HPCC)
To transfer research findings into clinical practice quickly, the HPCC brings together leading institutions for prostate cancer research and works with local and international partners. It promotes quick and mutually beneficial integration of preclinical and translational expertise.
Center for Health Care Research and Public Health
Foto: UKE
Center for Health Care Research and Public Health
Scientists from the CHCR & PH research in interdisciplinary teams at the UKE, Universität Hamburg, and with partner institutions in the HAM-NET on health services research and public health in Hamburg. The network, with over 50 institutions, focuses on patient-centered care, health inequality, cost-effectiveness evaluation, and innovative care models for diseases.
Scientific direction
Scientific direction
Photo: UHH, RRZ/MCC, Mentz
Profile spokesperson
Prof. Dr. Blanche Schwappach-Pignataro
(UKE)
Profile board
- Prof. Dr. Blanche Schwappach-Pignataro (UKE)
- Prof. Dr. Holger Sondermann (DESY/CSSB)
- Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tobias Knopp (TUHH/UKE)
- Prof. Dr. Tobias Lenz (UHH)
- Dr. Dewi Ismajani Puradiredja (BNITM)
