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.
In addition to infection research, the PIER PLUS partners are cooperating in three other clearly defined research areas: In projects in healthcare research, in medical technology and bioinformatics and in cancer research. These four major fields of cooperation are also reflected in the partners' individual focus areas and research groups.
Content
All PIER PLUS partners of the profile
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Cooperative research
PIER Health and Infection aims to bring together and promote existing research on the structural biology of pathogens and infected cells with broader biomedical basic research and clinical research in Hamburg. In addition to infection research, the profile also focuses on healthcare research, medical technology and bioinformatics and cancer research. The areas of health economics and health communication as well as ethical issues also play a major role. In addition, current research topics are to be identified on a cross-institutional and interdisciplinary basis.
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 are mapped, including broad existing cooperative relationships such as between UKE and LIV, or initiatives such as the Leibniz Centre Infection (LCI) (together with Research Center Borstel) and Leibniz ScienceCampus InterACt, 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. The Center for Inflammation, Infection and Immunity (C3i) also brings together a large proportion of the PIER PLUS partners in the field of infection research.
Research activities
Infection research
In the field of basic biomedical research on infectious diseases, the Hamburg metropolitan region has a long-standing and closely interlinked cooperation structure of universities and non-university research institutions. The nationally and internationally renowned infection research always pursues the goal of better understanding the causes of infectious diseases and thus contributing to their prevention and treatment. The Center for Inflammation, Infection and Immunity (C3i) brings together the majority of the PIER PLUS partners in the field of infection research; the C3i network also includes four Collaborative Research Centers (CRC) and several research groups. Inflammation, infection and immunity is also a central building block in the research profile of the University of Hamburg, where it forms one of six focal points.
InterAct Leibniz ScienceCampus
Centre for Structural Systems Biology
Knowing Vaccines
Vaccines against Marburg viruses at the BNITM
Medical technology and bioinformatics
Hamburg University of Technology and the UKE are working together on questions relating to biophysical interfaces in the ICCIR, e.g. between implants and bone, tissue and electrodes or tumor cells and healthy tissue. Technology and computer science are also used analytically, for example at the Institute for Computational Systems Biology.
Robotics have been used in operating theaters for some time. In the future, customized artificial intelligence will make a contribution: Computer-controlled robots have been successfully supporting surgeons during rectal surgery for some time, now intelligent software is being added (link in German). It will ensure that tumors are safely removed and healthy tissue is protected.
Interdisciplinary Competence Center for Interface Research
Cancer research
The Hamburg Prostate Cancer Consortium (HPCC), to which the University of Hamburg and the Hamburg University of Technology belong, alongside the UKE, is an established exchange center for research and application in the fight against prostate cancer. The Breast Center Hamburg and the UKE's gynaecological research laboratory also conduct intensive research into the spread of tumor cells and early detection of breast cancer.
Hamburg Prostate Cancer Consortium
Transfer
The approach adopted by the international Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) initiative to develop a vaccine against Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) provides a key example of how basic research into infectious disease can be successfully transferred into specific clinical applications. The aim is for Hamburg’s institutions to help stop global epidemics before they result in humanitarian emergencies.
Another promising approach to clinical research in which Hamburg’s institutions are involved in a “from bench to bedside” sense is the development of a therapeutic vaccine for treating hepatitis B infection, which affects approximately 260 million people worldwide.
Scientific direction
Foto: 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)