Mechanisms of Disease

One of the foundations for targeting a disease - in both preventive and curative medicine - is the understanding of the underlying molecular and pathological processes. In other words, what happens at the cellular and systemic (i.e., whole-body) levels in a given disease and how do these changes occur? The "workings" of a disease are often linked to molecular perturbations such as the disruption of specific gene or protein networks. In the long term, understanding these molecular perturbations allows for the development of new therapeutic approaches to treat a disease, e.g. in drug development.

The BioHealth research area "Mechanisms of Disease" uses different model organisms (baker's yeast, nematodes, fruit flies, human cell cultures, mice) to simulate human diseases and to investigate the pathological processes in cancer, cardiovascular and fatty liver diseases, neurological disorders and type 2 diabetes, but also during aging. 

Currently, we are conducting research on the following topics:

• The building process of ribosomes, which control protein synthesis and are critical for rapidly dividing cells (such as cancer cells).
• The role of the amino acid homocysteine (involved in the intermediary metabolism of methionine) and homocysteine-associated metabolites in various age-related diseases.
• Changes in lipid metabolism and lipid distribution in cancer cells.
• Alteration of bacterial membrane structure/lipid metabolism in resistant pathogens.
• The basic machinery of regulated cell death, which is often suppressed in cancer cells and plays an important role in neuronal death in neurodegenerative diseases.
• Metabolic alterations and metabolic disorders in old age as a risk factor of age-associated diseases.
• New prevention strategies and influence of sleep and sleep disturbances in models of Alzheimer's disease, for which there are no effective medications to date.