liver immunology | myeloid cells | immune (dys-)regulation | immunotherapy

The lab investigates the microbial, metabolic, molecular, and cellular mechanisms underlying immune dysregulation during acute and chronic liver injury. To achieve this, we study both human tissue samples and in vivo disease models, employing approaches such as cell culture, flow cytometry, multiplex tissue imaging, and transcriptomics. Throughout our work, we aim to advance the immunological understanding of liver disease pathogenesis and to identify targets for the development of immunomodulatory therapies.

One focus of our research is the dysregulated and often ineffective immune responses to infection in acute (paracetamol overdose) and chronic (fibrosis, MASLD) liver disease. Another major research area involves dissecting the mechanisms by which checkpoint pathways - such as the PD-(L)1, TIM-3, and TIGIT axes - regulate peripheral and hepatic immune responses, both at steady state and during liver inflammation, with the goal of leveraging these insights to develop novel immune-directed therapies.