Dr Marco Mannes, scientist from Ulm University Hospital, has been awarded a Graduate Prize from the Novartis Foundation for therapeutic research. The prize, endowed with 8,000 euros, is awarded for outstanding scientific work that builds a bridge to clinical therapy. Mannes conducts research into the regulation of the complement system, an important component of innate immune defence. His research aims to curb excessive immune reactions and thus protect the body's own cells and tissue from damage.
Accidents or other forms of massive violence to the human body often result in hazardous multiple injuries. The immune system then runs at full speed; healing processes must be set in motion and unusable biomaterial must be cleared away and disposed of. Special factors of the complement system, which are activated via complex enzyme cascades, take care of this. "However, if the complement system overreacts, it can attack its own body," explains Dr Marco Mannes, Novartis Prize winner and scientific employee at the Institute of Trauma Immunology. An uncontrolled immune response can cause massive damage to the body's own structures with life-threatening complications. "In such cases, we have to protect patients from their own defence system," says Dr Mannes, who is researching with his team how to prevent the immune response from overshooting.
To develop a promising new therapeutic approach, the young scientist is collaborating with pharmacologist Professor Christoph Schmidt from Ulm. His team has generated a specially designed fusion molecule that combines natural regulators of the complement system, which are able to specifically inhibit this part of the immune defence. Initial pilot studies are promising: "The new active ingredient can significantly reduce and in some cases even prevent cell damage caused by overreactions of the complement system," reveals Mannes. The project is intended to help initiate corresponding clinical studies in humans and lay the foundation stone for a new generation of immunotherapies. The Dean of the Medical Faculty, Professor Thomas Wirth, is confident that "this innovative research approach will lead to a better balance of the immune system and thus open up new therapeutic options".
"Dr Mannes and his team are building a bridge from basic/fundamental research to the clinic with their novel complement modulation. We can't wait to see when the first patients will benefit from this," says Professor Markus Huber-Lang, Head of the Institute for Clinical and Experimental Trauma Immunology. The Novartis Foundation for Therapeutic Research, substituted by its Chairman Dr Andreas Kreiss, is pleased to be able to support this important and outstanding research with a scholarship award.
Further information:
Dr Marco Mannes, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Trauma Immunology, Ulm University Hospital, e-mail: marco.mannes(at)uniklinik-ulm.de
Text and media contact: Andrea Weber-Tuckermann