Cardiovascular Physiology and Pathophysiology
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Walzog Group

Human neutrophils are well known to play an important role in host defense and inflammation. Adhesion molecules of the ß2 integrin (CD11/CD18) family are critically involved in the recruitment and activation of neutrophils during inflammation by mediating e.g. firm adhesion, intraluminal crawling and phagocytosis of opsonized particles. Ligand binding of the ß2 integrins activates the non-receptor tyrosine kinase Syk which plays an important role for neutrophil activation in inflammatory settings. Our group focusses on Syk-mediated signalling events required for leukocyte activation at the molecular level using different techniques including real-time analysis of live cells. By integrating studies on the molecular and cellular level as well as animal studies, this project is intended to improve the understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of neutrophil activation in a (patho-) physiological context which may lead to the identification of new molecular targets for therapeutic intervention.