M. (Martina) Schmidt, Prof

The translational research focuses on the molecular pharmacological aspects of the development and course of chronic inflammatory diseases. Our motivation for this research focus is very personal, we truly believe that research in the field of translational pharmacology is clustered around molecular partners in defined subcellular compartments (signalosomes) that enables cells to exert highly specialized tasks. Devastating diseases, e.g. cancer, type-II diabetes mellitus, Alzheimers’s dementia, heart failure, asthma, COPD, and infection diseases are associated with defective or derailed signaling processes, and research into the control of these processes clearly is of great public and social importance as well. Currently our research focus lies on chronic inflammatory disorders, and I focus nowadays on experimental models of COPD and related lung disorders, Alzheimer, Parkinson and microbial infections. We successfully undertaken the effort to link the themes to defined subcellular compartments (signalosomes). We linked  novel signaling pathways from membrane receptors towards the recently identified PLC-e isoform, the cAMP sensor Epac. I defined novel and exciting functions of the cytoskeleton driver cofilin, a signal node clearly linked to microbe invasion. I linked this novel clusters to inflammation, remodeling next to the repair of the epithelial barrier and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition as a mechanism driving fibrosis.

Head Molecular Pharmacology
Member Aquilo Bv
Editor Frontiers in Pharmacology
Honory Fellow British Pharmacological Society
Member FIGON Scientific Committee
Member FIGON Board