AdBHealth: More knowledge and more technology - advances in adenovirus biology for a healthy future

Research into adenoviruses aims to gain a better understanding of infections and develop new treatment and prevention options. Adenoviruses are common and cause colds, eye infections or gastrointestinal infections. While they are usually harmless for healthy people, they can be dangerous for children or people with weakened immune systems. The "AdBHealth" research group is therefore investigating how these viruses behave in the body and how they affect the immune system.

An important part of the work is analysing different types of adenoviruses, as only a small proportion of them have been well researched to date. The aim is to understand the mechanisms of the viruses more precisely in order to be able to treat infections more specifically in future. At the same time, the researchers are investigating how adenoviruses can be used safely as so-called vectors. These are modified viruses that no longer pose a risk, but can be used as a means of transport to introduce genetic information into cells - a technique that is already used in vaccines and gene therapy.

In order to investigate these processes, the research group works with cell and tissue models that reproduce human conditions as realistically as possible. In this way, infection processes and immune reactions can be reproduced in the laboratory. The risks that can arise when using adenoviruses as vectors and how these can be minimised are also being investigated. The aim is to develop new therapies that are both effective and safe, and to enable personalised treatment approaches in the long term.