Irma Schabussova | MedUni Vienna

Research Topic

Main areas of research

The main goal of our research is to understand the principles and players of the relationship between host, parasites and microbiota, with a particular focus on the development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases such as allergy or IBD. Our group has shown that oral administration of probiotic bacteria prevents acute ulcerative colitis in mice in a strictly strain-specific manner. In addition, we have shown that the microbiota induces the maturation and homing of mast cells in the gut, which is crucial for the development of the experimental symptoms of food allergy. We have also shown that intranasal administration of probiotic bacteria or extracts of Toxoplasma gondii suppresses experimental allergic airway inflammation. Our ongoing projects focus on the interaction of Schistosoma mansonii proteases with host cells and on the outer membrane vesicles of probiotic bacteria as a platform for the development of new vaccines.