Experimental Hepatology and Liver Immunology
Infiltration and activation of immune cells play an important role during the development of acute and chronic liver diseases. The exact molecular and cellular mechanisms leading to the development of liver inflammation have not been fully elucidated until now.
We are exploring the inflammatory processes during acute liver failure, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and steatohepatitis (NASH), liver cirrhosis and liver cancer in order to develop new diagnostics and therapies for liver diseases.
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Scientific Questions:
- Biology of monocytes and macrophages in fatty liver disease, cholangiopathies and fibrosis
- Regulation of monocyte- and macrophage-subpopulations during the development of hepatocellular carcinoma in fatty liver disease
- Role of the gut-liver axis in inflammatory processes during liver diseases
- Immunotherapy for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma
- Role of pathogenic and prognostic factors in chronic liver diseases, especially in intensive care
Financial Support:
- Individual grants from the German Research Foundation (DFG)
- SFB/TRR57 Organ Fibrosis (DFG)
- SFB 1382 Gut-Liver Axis (DFG)
- EU PEARL/Integrated Research Platform for Non-Alcoholic Steatohepatitis (WP 6, NASH)
- Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF)/ImmuneAvatar
- European Regional Development Fund (ERDF)
- German Cancer Aid
- Third-party funding from different foundations (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Wilhelm Sander Foundation, B. Braun Foundation)
- Industry grants
- Donations
Principal Investigator
Prof. Dr. med. Frank Tacke
Department Head, Dept. of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, Campus Charité Mitte (CCM) & Campus Virchow-Klinikum (CVK)
Research Team
Dr. Hilmar Berger
Research staff
Dr. rer. nat. Alix Bruneau
Postdoctoral fellow
Dr. rer. nat. Linda Hammerich
Group leader
Dr. rer. nat Felix Heymann
Scientific staff
Dr. rer. nat. Marlene Kohlhepp
Research associate
Hanyang (Branden) Liu
PhD fellow