Malaria Causes Permanent Damage to Phagocytes in the Spleen
—Macrophages formed in the bone marrow can only assume the function of embryonal phagocytes, or “scavenger cells,” to a certain degree according to a study by the University of Bonn and the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne. The researchers have demonstrated that malaria infection causes permanent damage to resident CD163 macrophages in the spleen, which are responsible for cleaning the blood, recycling iron and communicating with other cells involved in the body’s immune response.
—Glioblastoma is an aggressive brain tumor that infiltrates deep into the surrounding brain tissue. Even after surgery, tumor cells remain in the brain and the tumor recurs. Bonn researchers have now developed Core2Edge, a model based entirely on human tissue that captures these hard-to-access infiltration zones at the tumor margin. The model enables investigation of the invasive front and direct assessment of new drug candidates in human tissue - without the need for animal testing. The study of the Brain Tumor Translational Research Group has now been published in Nature Protocols.
—A novel retinal implant is offering people with geographic atrophy the opportunity to regain part of their central vision for the first time. Geographic atrophy is a severe late stage of age-related macular degeneration. An international research team led by Prof. Frank G. Holz of the UKB and the University of Bonn demonstrated in an international clinical trial that the majority of participants experienced significant improvements in visual acuity. The novel retinal implant technology has now received approval for routine clinical use in Europe, making it available beyond clinical trials.
Frank Holz Nominated for the Science Breakthrough of the Year 2026
—A remarkable achievement for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn: Prof. Dr. Frank G. Holz, Director of the Department of Ophthalmology at the UKB and Professor at the University of Bonn, has been shortlisted for the Falling Walls Science Breakthrough of the Year 2026 in the Life Sciences category. His project is now among the 30 most outstanding scientific innovations worldwide in this category, recognized by the prestigious Falling Walls Science Summit. Being shortlisted alone represents a significant international distinction.
—B-cell depletion therapies, in which B cells of the immune system, which may drive disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS), are temporarily removed, have contributed significantly to improved treatment for patients in recent years. Researchers from Bonn, along with their collaborators, have uncovered a previously unknown mechanism through which B-cell depletion therapies contribute to a better disease course in patients with MS. Surprisingly, the treatment appears to exert part of its beneficial effect by mobilizing regulatory immune cells that naturally reside in the gut.
New test points to precision treatment for autoimmune condition
—Interferon alpha is an inflammatory mediator that can cause Sjögren’s syndrome, an autoimmune disease. This is revealed in a recent study carried out by the University Hospital Bonn together with the University of Bonn, the University of Edinburgh and Newcastle University. Their findings, which have been published in the journal “Lancet Rheumatology,” could make it easier in the medium term to develop drugs to fight this chronic condition.
—New research questions often arise where different methods, mindsets and subject-specific cultures meet, and it is these kinds of encounter that Professor Elvira Mass and Professor Tatjana Tchumatchenko want to make happen in a targeted way in future. The two researchers have been picked as Henriette Herz Scouts by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
Making Cancer Cells More Predictable: PRECISE Aims to Forecast Therapeutically Actionable Vulnerabilities
—Which genes and signaling pathways does a cancer cell require to survive? And which of these could serve as therapeutic targets? The pan-European initiative PRECISE aims to identify such vulnerabilities not only through labor-intensive laboratory experiments but also by predicting them using computational models. The UKB and the University of Bonn, represented by Prof. Dr. Maximilian Billmann and Prof. Dr. Jonathan Schmid-Burgk, are among the founding partners of the consortium. The scientific vision of the initiative has now been published in a commentary in Nature Genetics.
How Skin Cells Detect Stress: Researchers Identify the Activation Site of a Key Immune Receptor
—Lipid droplets within skin cells act as a control hub for immune defense: the important immune receptor NLRP10 is activated at these tiny intracellular fat droplets in response to cellular stress. Researchers at the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart and the University of Bonn have uncovered this previously unknown mechanism of immune defense. Their findings improve our understanding of inflammatory skin diseases such as atopic dermatitis and could ultimately contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches. The study has now been published in the journal EMBO Reports.
