Research Unit "Regeneration in aged"
The Research Unit aims to understand the basic mechanisms that hamper the otherwise effective healing process along the two pathways of early immune response and re-constitution of mechanical competence by means of aging.
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Understand and reshape the impact of “aged” adaptive immunity and type 2 diabetes/obesity on fracture healing
Immune cells are essential for the onset of regeneration and for the successful completion of the process. A balanced adaptive immune response is a deciding factor in the regenerative cascade and immune modulatory strategies represent a new therapeutic approach to enhance healing. Even though the osteo-immunological research has progressed remarkably, the adaptive immunity is often not considered. Here, we will study the influence of the adaptive immunity in regenerative processes of elderly compromised patients (obese/ diabetic), develop a strategy to distract unfavourable immune cells from partaking in the early inflammatory reaction of healing, and analyse the influence of T cells on the collagen 1 deposition and osteogenic progenitor cell distribution during callus formation in bone healing situations. In close cooperation with other projects of the Research Unit the influence of adaptive immune cells on cellular senescence, adipogenic stem cell differentiation, and revascularisation will also be analyzed.