Institute of Immunology

(Vienna, 15-07-2024) In this study recently published in the renowned journal "Allergy", it is shown that COVID-19 leads to considerable long-term changes in the immune system, even in mild cases. The findings could help to better understand the long-term consequences of an infection with SARS-CoV-2.

As part of the study, the team led by first authors Bernhard Kratzer and Pia Gattinger and principal investigators Rudolf Valenta and Winfried Pickl (all from MedUni Vienna's Center for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology) examined relevant immune parameters in 133 subjects who had recovered from COVID-19 and 98 subjects without the infection. The number and composition of various immune cells as well as cytokines and growth factors in the blood, which play a decisive role in the regulation of cell growth, were analysed in the recovered patients ten weeks and ten months after their initial infection . As no COVID-19 vaccines were available during the observational time period in 2020, all participants remained unvaccinated. This allowed the study authors to investigate the long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection without the influence of vaccines.

(Freiburg, Vienna, 15-01-2024) In an autoimmune disease, the immune system attacks not only pathogens but also the body's own cells. A research team led by Marta Rizzi (University of Freiburg, Medical University of Vienna) has now been able to show that defective signalling pathways in the body play a decisive role in the development of immune cells. This opens up new therapeutic approaches for autoimmune diseases such as autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome (ALPS). The study is currently published in the journal Science Immunology.

(Vienna, 18-09-2023) Autoimmune diseases are complex illnesses, the causes of which are diverse and have not yet been fully explained. The team led by Nicole Boucheron and Ruth Herbst (Centre for Pathophysiology, Infectiology and Immunology at MedUni Vienna) has now discovered an immunoregulatory protein that could be linked to the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis. The identified component of the immune system is called "Rinl", which could provide a new target for the development of immunomodulatory therapies. The study results were recently published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Monday, October 7, 2024, 3:00 pm

VCC seminar room, Lazarettgasse 19 (1st floor), 1090 Vienna,

Hosts: Rafael de Freitas e Silva and Wilfried Ellmeier

(Vienna, 27. 05. 2024) The Institute of Immunology (IFI) and the Institute of Hygiene and Applied Immunology (HAI) together joined the "Lange Nacht der Forschung" (the Long Night of the Research) held on the 24th of May. At our base, the Vienna Competence Center, we presented our research activities ranging from immunology and allergology to bioinformatics.

13. March 2024
Shinya Sakaguchi’s research project “Role of PATZ1 for memory CD8+ T cell differentiation” has been approved for funding by the Austrian Science Fund FWF.
In this new project, the Sakaguchi Group will elucidate transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms underlying T cell-mediated immunological memory, a cardinal feature of our immune system

Freitag, 20. Oktober 2023
11:00 bis 14:00 Uhr, Hörsaalzentrum der MedUni Wien im AKH Wien
To B or not to B: becoming in B cell research
Marta Rizzi, Professur für Klinisch Experimentelle Immunologie
Vorsteller: Hans-Hartmut Peter - Emeritierter Professor für Rheumatologie bei Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany

Freitag, 10. November 2023
13:00 bis 14:30 Uhr, Hörsaalzentrum der MedUni Wien im AKH Wien
Winfried Pickl, Professur für Translationale Immunologie

This year’s theme is “Immunity Through the Ages: Navigating the Science of Aging and Immunology.” Don't miss experts in immunology explore the dynamic relationship between aging and the immune system.