Happy Hi from the 2026 Rothenfels Meeting - the 29. Symposium „Infection and Immune Defense“ of the @dgfi-org.bsky.social and #DGHM
🦠🧫🔬 - always a great opportunity for networking for the community and esp. our aspiring junior researchers👩🏻‍🔬🧑🏽‍🔬👨🏼‍🔬 for presenting and discussing their projects.

With this #rothenfels2025 has come to an end🏁 Thanks to everyone who came and contributed with talks and discussions and fun and made it this special type of meeting🤩😎 Hope to CU again next year for #rothenfels2026 on March 16 to 18 - mark your calendars!📅
@dgfi-yi.bsky.social @dgfi-org.bsky.social

Pokémon turns 30 — how the fictional pocket monsters shaped science The Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity.

Happy 30th birthday, Pokémon! Since 1996, the Japanese media sensation has inspired generations of researchers in fields as diverse as evolution, biodiversity and research integrity. go.nature.com/4bcjZ9w

Trimodulin supports antibacterial defence and restricts inflammation in preclinical pneumonia models Graphical abstracterj;67/2/2500392/GA1F1GA1Overview of the study. CAP: community-acquired pneumonia; ctr: control; hpi: hours post infection; HVT: high tidal volume ventilation; i.n.: intranasal; i.p.: intraperitoneal; i.v.: intravenous; NV: non-ventilated; OD: optical density; OPKA: opsonophagocytosis killing assay; sCAP: severe community-acquired pneumonia; S. pneumoniae: Streptococcus pneumoniae; VILI: ventilator-induced lung injury.

Our recent ERS Publications paper on trimodulin received a very positive editorial by Rory Morty — grateful for his insightful and careful contextualisation of our findings.

Original: doi.org/10.1183/1399...

Editorial: bit.ly/4rDpLqX

Our pneumonia-on-a-chip connects organoid and infection biology to model early VAP pathogenesis and multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Proud of the entire NoVAP team! 💪

#LungOnAChip #Organoids #VAP #InfectionBiology #MicrophysiologicalSystems #JCI #NoVAPLab

Using organoid-derived alveolar cells in a lung-on-a-chip, we modeled ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP).

We found that mechanical ventilation–like strain worsens Pseudomonas infection, leading to barrier breakdown and bacterial translocation.

Our new research letter @JCI.org is out!

“Mechanical strain exacerbates Pseudomonas infection in an organoid-based pneumonia-on-a-chip model.”

Led by Dr. Karen Hoffmann, with Dr. Christian Zobel (BWKH) and myself as co-senior authors — a great NoVAP Lab collaboration!

🔗 doi.org/10.1172/JCI1...

In this Research Letter, @geraldinen.bsky.social et al. use an advanced human lung-on-a-chip model to show that increased mechanical strain can make the lungs more vulnerable to harmful bacteria such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa: doi.org/10.1172/JCI1...

Die Polizei, die Feuerwehr, die Ärzteschaft, die Umwelthilfe und die überwältigende Mehrheit (75%) der Berliner Bevölkerung fordert ein Verbot von privatem Feuerwerk an Silvester. Das kann man nicht länger ignorieren. Verletzungen, Schäden hohe Kosten.
Was macht die Politik?

🫁 Heute ist Welt-Pneumonia-Tag!
Noch immer sterben weltweit zu viele Kinder an #Lungenentzündung. Dr. Cláudia Vilhena von der FAU Erlangen hat die wichtigsten Fakten zur #Pneumonie für uns zusammengestellt:
👉 www.infectnet.org/web/blog-pos...
@fau.de @cvilhena.bsky.social #wpd2025 #pneumoniaday

Your weekend read

VAP is one of the most common hospital-acquired infections, but #phages are here to help 🤝 In a murine model of VAP, the combination of phage and antibiotic therapy led to faster clinical improvement and prevented epithelial cell damage🐁🫁

#phagetherapy #VAP #pneumonia

Faces: The Walter Benjamin Programme of the DFG YouTube video by DFG bewegt

Yesterday, our #ResearchCareers team gave an online presentation on DFG funding in the Walter Benjamin Programme. If you missed it, don't worry. We have a film about funded researchers and general information on this programme available: www.dfg.de/walter_benja...
youtu.be/wLe8xCMSpLA?...

Want to learn more about our work on lung immunity, infection, and barrier biology?

Check out the Nouailles Lab 👉 www.nouailles-lab.org

#LungResearch #Immunology #TeamScience

Proud of our amazing team and co–first authors Sarah Berger, Cengiz Gökeri & Peter Pennitz for leading this work — a great effort from the Nouailles Lab!

#TeamScience #MucosalImmunology #LungResearch

CXCL5 does more than recruit neutrophils — it directly disrupts the alveolar–epithelial barrier.

Targeting CXCL5 could help preserve lung integrity during severe pneumonia.

#LungInjury #Immunology #Pneumonia

New paper from the Nouailles Lab! 🧬
@mucosalimmunol.bsky.social
Co–first authors Sarah Berger, @cgokeri.bsky.social & Peter Pennitz show that CXCL5 not only attracts neutrophils but also weakens the lung barrier in pneumonia.
Read it here: doi.org/10.1016/j.mu...

#LungInjury #Pneumonia #CXCL5

Trimodulin enhances opsonophagocytic killing of S. pneumoniae, dampens inflammation independently of bacterial killing, and improves barrier integrity & survival in preclinical models.
Full study: European Respiratory Journal doi.org/10.1183/1399...

New preclinical study shows trimodulin—a plasma-derived Ig preparation enriched in IgM & IgA—supports host defense in severe respiratory infections.
Motivated by insights from the Phase 2 CIGMA trial (Welte et al., 2018; Singer et al., 2023).

Gruppenfoto der Teilnehmerinnen des 6. Netzwerktreffens von Infect-Net, Verband Deutscher Infektionsforscherinnen, in Jena. ca 45 Frauen stehen auf einer Treppe im Vordergrund von zwei Infect-Net Werbebannern eingerahmt. Foto Credits: Heiko Hellmann, UKJ

✨ Das 6. Netzwerktreffen von Infect-Net in #Jena war wieder eine wunderbare Veranstaltung mit spannenden Vorträgen, motivierenden Diskussionen und voller schöner Momente. Vielen Dank an alle Referentinnen und Teilnehmerinnen: ihr macht Infect-Net erfolgreich! 💜
📸 Heiko Hellmann | UKJ
#Frauennetzwerk

And now on to science. @geraldinen.bsky.social presents insights into her research on respiratory pathogens and mucosal immunity #singlecellsequencing #SARS-CoV-2

Simply the best. Many thanks.

And now a big shoutout to @amarillion.bsky.social, the best Infect-Net coordinator! You were always supportive, open-minded, creative and a big help. You will be absolutely missed! THANK YOU!
#grateful #creativemind #thankyou

See the joint job posting for all consortium projects www.circadianmedicine.de, visit our lab website buchauer-lab.eu, and apply by August 8th.

#trr418 #circadianmedicine

We are currently recruiting a bioinformatics/computational biology postdoc to join the infrastructure project of a newly funded large research consortium (SFB-TRR) on Circadian Medicine between Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin and Universität zu Lübeck ⌚ ⏰ ⏱️ 🕰️ !

The Chan-Zuckerbergs stopped funding social causes. 400 kids lost their school. Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg’s retreat from funding social issues forced the closure of a school Chan opened for disadvantaged families in Silicon Valley.

Priscilla Chan’s decision to stop funding the school she opened to help struggling families shows the risks for communities reliant on wealthy private donors.

DFG fördert 18 neue Graduiertenkollegs

www.dfg.de/de/service/p...

And our RTG NeurInfect led by Nils Opel, Manja Marz and Christian Geis is one of them! 🥳

Adjunctive phage therapy improves antibiotic treatment of ventilator-associated-pneumonia with Pseudomonas aeruginosa Nature Communications - Multidrug-resistant pathogens have become increasingly common in hospital settings. Here, the authors investigate the efficacy of adjunctive antibiotic and phage therapy in...

Read our latest #research on #phages #VAP, published with @springernature.com in @natcomms.nature.com.

Phages synergize with antibiotics and alleviate ventilator-induced pneumonia. Read more here: rdcu.be/el5ep

A group of people dressed in coordinated outfits are gathered in front of the Berlaymont building of the European Commission in Brussels. They are tossing various European national flags into the air in celebration. A large yellow sign in the centre reads "UNITED IN DIVERSITY," echoing the European Union's motto. Spectators watch the vibrant and festive scene from the background.

Today we celebrate 25 years of the EU’s motto ‘United in Diversity’.

More than words - it’s the heart of Europe. 🇪🇺

Registration open:
#CoViPa International Symposium on Pandemic Preparedness
📅 June 2-3, 2025
📍 @dkfz.bsky.social Heidelberg
👉 indico.dkfz.de/event/1169/
With Ulrike Protzer, Gülsah Gabriel, Marion Koopmans and many others
#virology #immunology #pandemicpreparedness #dkfz

So proud! Big congratulations to Cengiz @cgokeri.bsky.social, who has been selected as one of approximately 600 Young Scientists from throughout the world to experience and contribute to the 74th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting dedicated to Chemistry, which will take place from 29 June to 4 July 2025.