Research Profile TRA Life and Health
The transdisciplinary research area (TRA) promotes scientific collaboration between scientists from medicine, life sciences, pharmacy, nutrition research, mathematics and computer science. In addition to the research foci already established at the University of Bonn in the field of life and health, new research areas are promoted under the program "Construction and Deconstruction of Life". To this end, we have established a Hertz Professorship for "Artificial Intelligence and Neuroscience" (Prof. Dr. Dr. Dominik Bach). The area of "Construction" is strengthened by two new Argelander Professorships in "Organoid Biology" (Jun.-Prof. Dr. Elena Reckzeh and Jun.-Prof. Dr. Ana Ivonne Vazquez-Armendariz).
Construction
This research focus area concerns the construction of reductionistic systems of living matter through the usage of stem cell technologies, gene editing, nanotechnology and biomaterials as well as semi-synthetic biohybrids to derive deterministic or self-organizing models of development and disease.
The Bonn Organoid Club provides a forum for researchers active in the TRA and other interested scientists to exchange information and views regarding the development and usage application of organoids in a wide range of biological systems.
Deconstruction
TRA scientists utilize state-of-the-art technologies to study the immune and nervous systems and other complex biological systems of subjects ranging from simple model organisms to human beings. Immunologists and neuroscientists collaborate with systems biologists and mathematicians in the ImmunoSensation2 Cluster of Excellence, which represents a primary focus within the Transdisciplinary Research Area.
Breakthroughs have been attained in understanding certain functions on the organism level through intricate study, but a general theoretical and scale-independent comprehension of these systems remains elusive. This TRA will be increasingly focusing its work on the nexus point of artificial intelligence, machine learning and life sciences, studying behavioral disease phenotypes on the basis of high-dimensional data of varying complexities.
Another key element in building predictive models of human disease is the integration of clinical, genetic, molecular, and cellular data by relying on mathematics and modeling. Bonn researchers with interest in mathematics and modeling in the life sciences meet regulary in the MaLiS (Mathematical Life Sciences) Club.
Bonn Organoid Club
The Bonn Organoid Club is a forum for biomedical researchers to share expertise and reagents for organoid models. One focus here is on technical aspects that are of interest to many scientists in this field. In addition, external scientists are invited to present their research on the topic of "organoids" to the Bonn community. The organizers of the Bonn Organoid Club are Florian I. Schmidt, Elena Reckzeh and Ana Ivonne Vazquez-Armendariz, supported by the “Life and Health” Transdisciplinary Research Area (TRA).
Our next talks:
14.05.2024 3 p.m. Carmen Aguilar (Universität Würzburg): Title: "Using organoid-based models to revolutionise urinary tract infection research"
Venue: Lecture hall of BMZ II, Venusberg-Campus
More information: please contact TRA Life and Health oder Prof. Dr. Florian I. Schmidt.
Mathematical Life Sciences (MaLis) Club
The "MaLiS" Club meets regularly to discuss ongoing projects around mathematical questions in medicine and life sciences, either at the Venusberg Campus or in Endenich/Poppelsdorf. Interested scientists from the University of Bonn and cooperating local institutions are welcome to participate.
Scientific organizers: Alexander Effland, Jan Hasenauer and Kevin Thurley
Next seminar: April 26, 2024
3 to 5.15 p.m.
"Alte Sternwarte" (Poppelsdorfer Allee 47), room "Lyra"
Peter Krawitz (Institute for Genomic Statistics and Bioinformatics, UKB): GestaltMatcher: Delineating gene-gene interactions from dysmorphic faces
Rosa Kreider (IRU Mathematics & Life Sciences, Bonn): Modeling Interferon- driven Immune Cell Priming in Viral Infections
Daniel Koch (MPI for Neurobiology of Behavior – caesar): Ghost structures in biological systems
Further date: Jun. 7, 2024
Please contact Christina Fricke for further information.
Spatial Biology Club Bonn
Recent advancements in single-cell omics technologies have illuminated tissues' molecular and cellular heterogeneity, driving transformative insights into health and disease. The emergent field of spatial omics technologies is poised to build upon these insights, elucidating the complexities of life at all scales. However, this rapid technological evolution poses a pivotal experimental and computational challenge: deciphering life through the lens of spatially informed datasets.
This club will highlight the latest developments in spatial technologies, machine learning, and data analytics by invited speakers, workshops and meetings. As such, we aim to foster a collaborative environment for sharing and exchanging innovative ideas, techniques, and methods to Bonn groups who use or plan to use spatial-omics.
Organizers: Özgün Gökçe, Felix Meissner, Andreas Schlitzer and Dagmar Wachten
Next events:
23.04.2024 3 - 4 p.m. Gonçalo Castelo-Branco, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm: "Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics and epigenomics of oligodendroglia in development and Multiple Sclerosis" (Venue: DZNE Lecture Hall)
14.05.2024 4 - 5 p.m. Christoph Kuppe, RWTH Aachen: "Using MERFISH to decode spatial niche co-variation in human heart and kidney disease" (Venue: DZNE Lecture Hall)
11.06.2024 11 a.m. - 12 p.m. Prof. Jian Shu, PhD, Harvard Medical School: "Decoding cell fates through single cell omics, imaging and generative AI" (Venue: BMZ I, Lecture Hall, Venusberg Campus)
Life and Health Research Prize 2024
TRA Life and Health aims to promote innovative research and transdisciplinary collaboration with the bi-annual "Life and Health Research Prize". The project "Systematic analysis of regulators that confer translation specification across species" by Junior Professor Dr Kathrin Leppek (Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology) and Junior Professor Maximilian Billmann (Institute of Human Genetics) has now been awarded the prize for 2024. The two scientists are working together on the combination of experimental data sets with computer models. This joint work should help to understand huge amounts of data derived from analyses of biological processes with the aim of finding new cellular mechanisms. There are good reasons to believe that these very specific and at the same time very large data sets contain relevant information for the new joint research question on mRNA translation by ribosomes.
In addition to the quality of the planned project, an important funding criterion was that scientists from two different fields are working together.
Congratulations to the award winners!
A video by Gunar Peters GPM, Bonn, on behalf of the University of Bonn.
"Modelling for Life and Health" Transdisciplinary Research Prize has been awarded first-ever
Prof. Dr. Thomas Schultz (Institute for Computer Science II, University of Bonn) and Priv.-Doz. Dr. Theodor Rüber (Clinic and Polyclinic for Epileptology, UKB Bonn) have received the "Modelling for Life and Health" Transdisciplinary Research Prize for their project on improved diagnostic approaches prior to epilepsy surgery.
The award of the TRAs "Modelling" and "Life and Health" is endowed with €120,000 and funds highly innovative research projects at the interface between mathematics or computer science and biomedical research.
Method Development Grant 2023
TRA Life and Health funds the following projects for development of novel, innovative methods:
- Ulrike Endesfelder (Institute of Microbiology and Biotechnology) - Revolutionizing Fluorescence Microscopy with Event-based sensors for High Temporal Resolution and Dynamic Range Imaging
- Sebastián Dupraz/Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar/Dagmar Wachten (Institute for Neurovascular Cell Biology/Institute of Innate Immunity) - Rabid-Seq: a single cell methodology to examine true local intercellular interactions within the Neurovascular Unit
- Thomas Becker/Dominic Winter (Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology) - Systematic Mapping and Characterization of Protein Complexes by Complexome Profiling
Collaborative Research Projects
Scientists at the University of Bonn and the TRA are leading a large number of collaborative research projects in the field of life and health.
- EXC 2151 - ImmunoSensation2: The immune sensory system
- TRR 237 - Nucleic acid immunity
- TRR 259 - Aortic diseases6655
- TRR 261 - Cellular Mechanisms of antibiotic action and production7
- TRR 333 - Brown and Beige Fat Organ Crosstalk, Signaling and Energetics ( BATenergy)
- SFB 1089 - Synaptic micronetworks in health and disease
- SFB 1454 - Metaflammation and cellular programming
- GRK 2873 - Tools and Drugs of the Future
- GRK 2168 - Myeloid antigen presenting cells and the induction of adaptive immunity
- FOR 2372 - G-Protein signalling cascades: with new modular probes and modulators towards novel pharmacological concepts 11111010
- FOR 2743 - Mechanical Stress Protection12121111
NRW-funded network iBehave
Contact
Dr. Meike Brömer