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Prof. Dr. Christoph Wilhelm

Member, Steering-Committee Member

Institute of Clinical Chemistry & Clinical Pharmacology

Medical Faculty, University of Bonn University Hospital of Bonn Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25 53127 Bonn

cwilhelm@uni-bonn.de

+49 228 28751721

Website

The research team of Prof. Christoph Wilhelm studies the metabolic control of mucosal immune cells to better understand what distinguishes their protective function in infection from immune-mediated pathology and chronic inflammation. Specifically, we aim to untangle how dietary restriction and fasting affect the immune system and how exogenous and endogenous metabolites influence barrier immune cell function. We have found that a ketogenic diet can be used as an effective dietary intervention strategy for the treatment of chronic airway inflammation and that ketogenesis triggered by severe respiratory infections supports T cell function by providing ketone bodies as an alternative carbon source. Our central goal is to understand the link between Westernization and the growing health problem of chronic inflammation, as well as the increased susceptibility to infections in people with metabolic diseases.

Recent publications

  • High-salt diet induces immune-independent re-differentiation, metabolic shut down and cell cycle arrest of melanoma.

    Cell death & disease

    Authors: Clivia Lisowski, Natascha E Stumpf, Katarzyna Jobin, Daniela Klaus, Melanie Eichler, Ann-Kathrin Baumgart, Olena Babyak, Mirjam Meißner, Agnes Schröder, Patrick Neubert, Vanessa Schmitt, Marcel Michla, Süleyman Bozkurt, Jelena Zurkovic, Daniel Hinze, Jana Liebing, Matthias Eckhardt, Christoph Heuser, Lea Seep, Annkristin Heine, Janine Becker-Gotot, Christoph Thiele, Christian Münch, Thomas Becker, Jonathan Jantsch, Christoph Wilhelm, Michael Hölzel, Christian Kurts

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  • Tolerance to ferroptosis facilitates lipid metabolism and pathogenic type 2 immunity in allergic airway inflammation.

    Immunity

    Authors: Chantal Wientjens, Maria Doverman, Jelena Zurkovic, Tushar More, Jayagopi Surendar, Svetozar Nesic, Carola Sarici, Timon D Utecht, Johanna Pohl, Jonathan Pollock, David Voehringer, Karsten Hiller, Christoph Thiele, Christoph Wilhelm

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  • Neuroepithelial VIP-VIPR1 interactions differentially control enteric type 1 and type 2 immunity.

    Nature immunology

    Authors: Roksana M Pirzgalska, Beatriz Henriques-Alves, Bruno Raposo, Eric de Sousa, Júlio Torres, Jaechan Ryu, Cristina Godinho-Silva, Miguel Rendas, Madalena Pereira, Inês Godinho, Hélder Ribeiro, Vasco Correia, Manuel O Jakob, Patrycja M Forster, Christoph Wilhelm, Christoph S N Klose, Ricardo Rio-Tinto, Verena M Link, Tânia Carvalho, Carlos M Minutti, Manuela Ferreira, Henrique Veiga-Fernandes

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