Veit Hornung
Research Group "Molecular Mechanisms of Inflammation"
Immunology, Inflammation, Innate Immunity
The physical integrity of every living organism is at constant risk of being attacked by microorganisms of its environment or pathologically transformed cells of its own body. The main function of the cells, molecules and mechanisms that we refer to as the ‘immune system’ is to maintain the individual integrity of our body against these threats. In this context, the innate branch of the immune system serves as the first line of defense that has the intricate task to detect molecules and organisms that are of danger to the organism. The central question of our research is to understand how the innate immune system senses the presence of non-self or dangerous self and how this translates into effector functions, such as inflammation.
