Inflammation in barrier organs (skin, lungs, and intestines) constitutes a central medical problem of many lifestyle diseases such as asthma or inflammatory bowel disease. In addition to these immediate illnesses, it is increasingly obvious that problems in barrier organs play a role in numerous other inflammatory or malignant diseases such as coronary heart disease or colorectal cancer, respectively. The functional potential of barrier organs is subject to intense evolutionary pressure proportional to their importance for the organism, and it has influenced human genetic potentiality and formed gene variants. The cluster Inflammation at Interfaces has restructured research activities at five colleges of the universities of Kiel and Lübeck, at the Borstel Research Centre and at the Leibniz Centre for Medicine and Biosciences in order to improve interdisciplinary investigation of barrier diseases.
The cluster’s researchers have adopted a holistic approach to the study of inflammatory processes. Their goal is a comprehensive understanding that spans the entirety of the inflammatory process at an interface, from genetic variation through to various characteristics among individual humans. This pursuit incorporates the entire spectrum of expertise located in each of the participating research centres. Molecular biologists are investigating genetic predisposition, while structural biologists are shedding light on the relationship between the structure and function of molecules. Biologists and immunologists are studying the molecular mechanisms of inflammation in cell culture and in animal model systems.
At the same time, patients affected by chronic inflammation benefit from the highly specialized medical care afforded by the practical application of the cluster’s expertise at the “Excellence Centre for Inflammatory Disease” at the University Hospitals of Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel and Lübeck.
The life science research focus of Christian Albrecht University of Kiel takes its societal obligations seriously. It has undertaken an extraordinary project together with the Muthesius Kunsthochschule of Kiel to develop a visual communication system that enables complicated scientific information to be shared with the public.