Programm am 12.Juni 2025
- 16:30 - 17:15 Uhr | "Determinants of pulmonary immune homeostasis”
Sylvia Knapp, Medical University of Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Research Division Infection Biology - 17:15 - 18:00 Uhr | "Regulatory T cells and Foxp3: programming immunological tolerance”
Joris Van Der Veeken, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) - 18:00 - 18:30 Uhr | Get-together

Sylvia Knapp, Medical University of Vienna
Determinants of pulmonary immune homeostasisSylvia Knapp, MD, PhD, is Professor of Infection Biology at the Medical University of Vienna. She studied Medicine in Vienna and Berlin, and is a board-certified Internist.
After her clinical training, Sylvia obtained her PhD at the University of Amsterdam, where she investigated pattern recognition receptors in bacterial infections. Between 2006 and 2021, she was Principal Investigator at CeMM and continued her clinical duties while also running her own lab. In 2012, Sylvia was appointed Professor of Infection Biology at the Medical University Vienna. She is highly committed to bridging academic medicine and basic science. She is a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and of Academia.Net circle of excellent female scientists. Sylvia is a member of the University Board of the Medical University of Graz, elected vice president of the Ludwig Boltzmann Society as well as the Viennese College of Physicians, and vice-dean of doctoral studies at the Medical University of Vienna.
About Sylvia’s research: Research of the Knapp lab concentrates on the innate immune response to infections, focusing specifically on the comprehensive repertoire of macrophage functions in development, health and disease. We study the initiation and resolution of clinically relevant infections, and the role of danger molecules and their interactions with host structures and pathways. Our latest research is directed towards the interplay of immune cells in regulating tissue homeostasis in health and disease. Innate immunity, the evolutionarily conserved arm of the immune system, is instrumental in maintaining tissue homeostasis while at the same time providing the tools to immediately sense and respond to danger signals such as invading pathogens, metabolic stress or injuries. This wide and diverse range of tasks requires an incredible plasticity and flexibility of the players involved, with tissue-resident macrophages being essential in orchestrating many of these responses. Using clinically relevant infection, injury and metabolic stress models, research in the Knapp-Lab focuses on how host factors can influence the balance of innate responses in steady state and upon danger.
More info: https://innere-med-1.meduniwien.ac.at/knapplab

Joris Van Der Veeken, Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP)
Regulatory T cells and Foxp3: programming immunological toleranceJoris van der Veeken was born in the Netherlands and studied pharmacology at Utrecht University.
He then moved to New York for his PhD and postdoc in the laboratory of Alexander Rudensky at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Joris started his lab at the IMP in Vienna in 2021. His group is studying the molecular mechanisms underlying T cell differentiation and function.
About Joris’ research: Regulatory T (Treg) cells are a dedicated immunosuppressive T cell subset defined by expression of the lineage-specific transcription factor Foxp3. Treg cells are continuously required to keep the immune system in check and prevent the spontaneous onset of lethal multi-organ autoimmunity. How Foxp3 controls Treg cell differentiation is still poorly understood. The seminar will discuss the development of new genetic models to dissect the gene-regulatory functions of Foxp3 and its role in maintaining tolerance towards self-antigens, tumors, and the intestinal microbiota.
More info: https://www.imp.ac.at//groups/joris-van-der-veeken
Programm am 15.Mai 2025
- 16:30 - 17:15 Uhr | "T cell regulation by bacterial metabolites”
Clarissa Campbell, CeMM – Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences - 17:15 - 18:00 Uhr | "Metabolic regulation of tissue homeostasis by macrophages”
Thomas Weichhart, Institue of Medical Genetics, Medical University of Vienna - 18:00 - 18:30 Uhr | Get-together

Clarissa Campbell, CeMM
T cell regulation by bacterial metabolitesClarissa Campbell studied biology with a minor in genetics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and subsequently earned a master’s degree from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), investigating how bacterial molecules exert immunomodulatory effects on mammalian cells via nuclear receptors, a topic she would continue to explore throughout her career.
She joined the Tri-Institutional Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis Program at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York as a graduate student where she specialized in mucosal immunology and regulatory T (Treg) cell biology. After obtaining her PhD, Clarissa Campbell remained under the mentorship of Dr. Alexander Rudensky at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to continue her work on host-commensal interactions and pursue broader scientific questions bridging the fields of immunology and metabolism. Her research has characterized a circuit whereby microbial metabolites including short-chain fatty acids and secondary bile acids facilitate the differentiation of peripherally induced Treg cells, which in turn suppress immune responses to colonization and preserve a niche for a group of intestinal bacteria. More recently, she found that a bile acid-sensing nuclear receptor contributes to the cell-intrinsic responsiveness of effector T cells to fasting. Clarissa Campbell joined CeMM as a principal investigator in July 2021. Her lab is interested in investigating how changes in microbial and organismal metabolism contribute to regulating immune-cell function.
About Clarissa’s research: Our goal is to understand how immunity and metabolism are integrated at the organismal level. Adaptive lymphocytes of higher vertebrates play an essential role in immunity and perform extensive accessory functions that contribute to tissue homeostasis. Although the fundamental operative principles of immune cells are well characterized, many functional mechanisms still lack contextualization in physiological settings and therefore fail to yield novel concepts and therapeutic avenues. We are investigating how metabolic cues affect the differentiation and function of T cells. Our studies focus on the intestinal mucosa, where T cells are exposed to a myriad of microbial metabolites and dietary nutrients. We also want to understand how changes in organismal metabolism that occur as a consequence of gastrointestinal infections impact immune responses. Our group uses gnotobiotic husbandry, engineered bacterial strains, metabolomics and experimental infection to identify novel mechanisms contributing to the regulation of T cell function in physiological settings.
More info: https://cemm.at/research/groups/clarissa-campbell-group

Thomas Weichhart, Medical University of Vienna
Metabolic regulation of tissue homeostasis by macrophagesThomas Weichhart studied biology and genetics at the University of Vienna and earned his PhD in 2005 under the supervision of Alexander von Gabain, identifying an endogenous ligand for TLR4.
Following a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Marcus Säemann at the Medical University of Vienna’s Institute of Nephrology and Dialysis, he established his independent research group and has been an Associate Professor at the Center of Pathobiochemistry and Genetics since 2014. As a principal investigator, he has contributed to understanding how metabolic pathways regulate immune function in health and disease. He currently coordinates an FWF-funded SFB consortium on immunometabolism.
About Thomas’ research: The immune system is tightly regulated by cellular metabolism, which dictates how immune cells respond to infections, cancer, and chronic inflammatory diseases. Dysregulation of these metabolic networks can cause diseases such as sarcoidosis, cancer, and autoimmunity. Thomas’s lab investigates how metabolic signals with a focus on mTOR and specific metabolites control immune cell function. Recent work has explored metabolic shifts in macrophages during granuloma formation in sarcoidosis and the therapeutic potential of mTOR inhibition. Additionally, his team examines how macrophage-derived metabolites influence tissue and immune cell function to regulate tissue homeostasis and the outcome of inflammatory disease.
More info: https://www.weichhart-lab.com
Programm am 18. März 2025
- 16:30 -17:15 Uhr
“SOCIAL IMMUNITY: the colony-wide immune system of insect colonies”
Sylvia Cremer
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Klosterneuburg - 17:15 – 18:00 Uhr
“High Throughput Genome Engineering to Decode T cell Functions”
Ralf Schmidt
Medical University of Vienna, Department of Laboratory Medicine, KILM - 18:00 - 18:30 Uhr
Get-together

Sylvia Cremer, Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA)
SOCIAL IMMUNITY: the colony-wide immune system of insect coloniesSylvia Cremer studierte Biologie an der Universität Erlangen und wurde 2002 an der Universität Regensburg zum Dr. rer. nat. promoviert. Nach einem Postdoc an der Universität Kopenhagen und einem Junior Fellowship am Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (WIKO) habilitierte sie sich 2010 an der Universität Regensburg. Seitdem arbeitet sie am ISTA (Institute of Science and Technology Austria) in Klosterneuburg, zunächst als Assistenzprofessorin, seit 2015 als ordentliche Professorin.
Ihre Forschung wurde überwiegend durch den ERC finanziert, sowohl durch einen Starting als auch einen Consolidator Grant. Für ihre Forschung wurde sie mehrfach ausgezeichnet, unter anderem mit dem Walther-Arndt-Preis der Deutschen Zoologischen Gesellschaft DZG (2013) und dem Elisabeth-Lutz-Preis der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften ÖAW (2015).
Forschung
Sylvia Cremers Forschung konzentriert sich auf die kooperative Krankheitsabwehr sozialer Insektenkolonien, insbesondere von Ameisen. Zusätzlich zu den individuellen Immunsystemen aller Koloniemitglieder bieten diese kollektiven und kooperativen Aktionen der Kolonie einen Krankheitsschutz, die sogenannte soziale Immunität. Die Krankheitsabwehr sozialer Insekten auf Kolonieebene ist erstaunlich ähnlich organisiert wie das Immunsystem einzelner Organismen. Das liegt daran, dass Insektenkolonien Superorganismen bilden, in denen sich die einzelnen Insekten - ähnlich wie Zellen in einem Körper - entweder auf die Fortpflanzung (die Königin bzw. die Keimbahn) oder auf die Erhaltung (die sterilen Arbeiterinnen bzw. das Soma) spezialisiert haben. Die Fitness eines jeden Individuums ist daher eng mit der Gesamtfitness der Kolonie verbunden, was die bedingungslose Zusammenarbeit zwischen den Koloniemitgliedern fördert. Dies führte zur Entwicklung hochentwickelter Abwehrmechanismen gegen Krankheiten in der Kolonie, einschließlich des hygienischen Selbstmords durch soziale Apoptose und der altruistischen „Finde mich und iss mich“-Signalisierung infizierter Individuen.

Ralf Schmidt, Labormedizin, MedUni Wien
High Throughput Genome Engineering to Decode T Cell FunctionsRalf Schmidts Labor konzentriert sich auf die Entwicklung und Anwendung von Genom-Engineering-Ansätzen zum besseren Verständnis der T-Zell-Biologie und zur Entwicklung neuer Therapeutika. Während seines Postdocs im Marson-Labor an der UCSF und den Gladstone Instituten trug er dazu bei, groß angelegte CRISPR-Screening-Plattformen in primären menschlichen T-Zellen zu etablieren. Derzeit arbeitet seine Gruppe an der MedUni Wien an der Weiterentwicklung genetischer Werkzeuge zur Untersuchung grundlegender T-Zell-Funktionen und zur potenziellen Verbesserung von Zelltherapien. Das Schmidt-Labor ist besonders daran interessiert, den genetischen Code zu entschlüsseln, der die Reaktionen von T-Zellen steuert, und regulatorische Schaltkreise neu zu verdrahten, um ihr therapeutisches Potenzial bei Krebs, Autoimmunität und darüber hinaus zu verbessern.