The Science Fund FWF supports promising research projects with a total volume of 8.6 million euros, in collaboration with the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW). This is intended to promote the innovative and interdisciplinary collaboration of outstanding postdoc teams from Austrian universities. One of the approved "Zukunftskollegs" will be carried out by member of the Vetmeduni Vienna in the field of preclinical development of peptide therapeutics for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The aim is to establish a platform for interdisciplinary drug development and to make drug candidates available for further clinical development.

The "PeptAIDes drug development" (Peptides for the treatment of Autoimmune and Inflammatory Diseases) is one of four approved projects and will be developed by Dagmar Gotthardt (from Veronika Sexl’s group) together with Roland Hellinger (MedUni Vienna), who is responsible for the coordination of the project, Tim Hendrikx (MedUni Vienna), Eva-Maria Zangerl-Plessl and Kirtikumar Jadhav (University of Vienna). “We are proud that one of our young scientists was selected in such an extremely competitive environment with such high demands” said Otto Doblhoff-Dier, Vice Rector for Research and International Relations at the Vetmeduni Vienna. The research platform "PeptAIDes" encompasses the entire range of the scientific disciplines involved in drug development. The aim of the project is to test peptides in preclinical studies for a future use in clinical trial stages.

New findings from researchers at the Department for Functional Cancer Genomics at the Vetmeduni Vienna, in cooperation with the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), provide insights into mechanisms of immune cells that could affect future therapies for human diseases. The study called “The neonatal microenvironment programs innate γδ T cells through the transcription factor STAT5“ includes the participation of member of Richard Moriggl’s group.

Our immune system contains specialized cells that act as the first answer against pathogens such as bacteria and viruses. These cells are called gamma-delta (γδ) T cells and are mainly found in organs such as the intestine, lungs, skin and lymph nodes. However, this specific T cells can also promote autoimmune and immune-related diseases such as psoriasis and multiple sclerosis. Understanding the basic biology of γδ T cells is essential in order to find ways to treat these diseases. In addition, by controlling the γδ T cells in a targeted manner, one could envision the use of these cells to fight infections and inflammations. This new study shows, for example, that STAT5 is necessary for the growth of certain types of γδ T cells during neonatal mouse life. Mice that do not express STAT5 do not produce these T cells and are resistant to multiple sclerosis. Furthermore, the authors describe a new type of γδ T cells that can only be found in the intestine. This new cell type has different functions than other types of γδ T cells and requires STAT5 for its growth. The results imply that the newly identified cell type is an important defence mechanism against intestinal infections shortly after birth.  Therefore, manipulation of γδ T cells may help to strengthen immunity in early age.

Published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation

Darshana Kadekar, Rasmus Agerholm, John Rizk, Heidi A. Neubauer, Tobias Suske, Barbara Maurer, Monica Torrellas Viñals, Elena M. Comelli, Amel Taibi, Richard Moriggl, and Vasileios Bekiaris

Doi:10.1172/JCI131241

Klara Klein from the Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the Vetmeduni in Vienna received the DOC grant from the Austrian Academy of Sciences to develop her project "Oncogenic mechanisms of mutant STAT5B in natural killer cells" over the next two years.

With the funding program "DOC", the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) supports highly qualified PhD students from different research areas. From July 1st 2020, Klara Klein will receive the "DOC Scholarship" (in the sum of 38,000€) for her promising PhD project which addresses whether and how a mutation of the transcription factor STAT5B contributes to the malignant transformation of natural killer cells (NK). In the course of the project, supervised by Veronika Sexl, a novel mouse model will be developed that allows the STAT5B mutation to be restricted to NK cells. This will potentially clarify whether mutated STAT5B leads directly to the development of NK cell leukemia or lymphoma and whether the mutation of the transcription factor STAT5B represents a potential target for new therapies.

Barbara Schraml,
LMU Munich Biomedical Center,
Walter Brendel Center for Experimental Medicine

Title: Dendritic cells in early life. Immune sentinels wise beyond their age?

https://www.schraml-lab.de

Barbara Schraml’s research focuses on understanding the precise organ-specific functions of dendritic cells in immunity and in the context of their local tissue environment.