Skip to main content
News Icon

Publication

Possible SARS-CoV-2 mass testing with new technology

Prof. Dr. Jonathan Schmid-Burgk heads the new working group for "Functional Immunogenomics" at the Institute for Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the University Hospital Bonn. As part of the newly established professorship and management position, the 34-year-old genome researcher is investigating the complex interplay between genes and our immune system. With the help of robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), he is developing new techniques for protein analysis in living human cells with programmable gene scissors. The aim is to accelerate the modification of the human genome in order to analyze it. Prof. Schmid-Burgk is currently working on a mass test for COVID-19 using the LAMP-Seq process he developed. He brings his new techniques to the Cluster of Excellence ImmunoSensation at the University of Bonn. Following his doctorate, for which he received the doctoral award from the Bonn University Society in 2017, his previous academic career led Prof. Schmid-Burgk to Cambridge (USA). There he spent three and a half years researching at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard - funded by a grant from the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO).

Related news

News Icon

Publication

Multiple Sclerosis: Potential biomarker linked to progression and brain inflammation identified

—Better ways to detect ongoing brain damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) are urgently needed. An international team of scientists, including ImmunoSensation³ member Prof. Anne-Katrin Pröbstel, has identified a molecular circuit that drives brain injury in MS. In a mouse model, blocking the enzyme Bruton's tyrosine kinase prevented harmful clustering of immune cell and brain tissue demage. Patient data revealed the same immune signaling pattern, suggesting strong translational potential for diagnosis. The study was recently published in Nature Immunology.
Full publication
Symbol Image

Publication

Instructions for building antibodies decoded

—MOG Antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. The blood of patients contains antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a protein in the myelin layer that surrounds the neurons in the brain. It is believed that these antibodies contribute to the destruction of this protective layer in the brain. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Universities of Basel and Bonn, in collaboration with an international team, have now deciphered the construction plan of the anti-MOG antibodies.
View entry
News Icon

Publication

A fatal mix-up: how certain gut bacteria drive multiple sclerosis

—If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel, together with colleagues in Bonn, have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome. The results have now been published in the journal Gut Microbes.
View entry

Back to the news overview