Cell culture models

Coordinator

Translation studies for substances safety assessment in pregnant women are not possible due to the potential health risk for the mother and the baby. In that order, we are establishing 3D (organoid and spheroid) cell culture methods and complex co-culturing systems to resemble the physiological and barrier properties of the placenta. Moreover, within our cell culture platform we have access to several immortalized placental cell lines and primary trophoblast and fibroblast cells that will help us to resemble the placental compartment in a controlled and reliable system.

You can follow us on the platform X (twitter). There you will find interesting information about our working group, but also everything about our research activities and publications.

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Department News

We are looking for a scientist as part of the establishment of a new health center to investigate the influence of environmental and climate factors on children's health. We look forward to your applications!

The GIT laboratory journal by Wiley Analytical Science recently published an interview with Prof. Ana Zenclussen regarding the dangers of environmental chemicals. It highlighted our ENDOMIX project, which investigates the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Click here for the full interview.

You can now follow exciting news about project progress, publications, and upcoming events on the official ENDOMIX website. We look forward to your visit!

ENDOMIX - Understanding how endocrine disruptors and chemical mixtures of concern target the immune system to trigger or perpetuate disease. Photo: EIBIR

Last week, Ana Zenclussen and two of our medical PhD students attended the annual meeting of the Society for Reproductive Investigation (SRI) in Vancouver, Canada, and presented their recent research.

Elisabeth Krieger, Kristin Kraußer and Ana Zenclussen at the annual SRI meeting in Vancouver, Canada. Photo: private.

We warmly welcome our new project coordinator Thi Anh Mai Pham as well as our new PhD students Julia Canning Clode Castro-Neves and Verena Mailänder to the team!

The kick-off meeting for our EU-funded project ENDOMIX took place 30th/31st January in the Kubus. We look back on two amazing, motivating days full of productive discussions and a lot of commitment and look forward to working on it together!

ENDOMIX Kick-off meeting 30./31.01.2024 in the Kubus. Photo: private.

On January 18th, the 17th Research Festival for Life Sciences took place at the University of Leipzig. Dr. Tobias Kretschmer presented a poster about his research on endocrine-disrupting chemicals and their effects on fertility.

Dr. Tobias Kretschmer at the Research Festival for Life Sciences at the University of Leipzig. Photo: private.

We are happy to announce that our new research project ENDOMIX, initiated and coordinated by Prof. Ana Zenclussen, has officially started on 1st January 2024. Within the project, we aim to investigate the previously hidden dangers of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) and to decipher their effects on human health.

Read the official press release here.

On November 29th 2023, the international workshop "Environment, climate change and health", organized by Chiba University, Japan, the University of Leipzig and the Charité Berlin, took place in Leipzig. Also UFZ scientists presented their research and there was the opportunity for exciting discussions.

Prof. Tamoko Yamamoto from Chiba University, Japan, giving her talk. Photo: private.

We congratulate our guest scientist Prof. Dr. Stefan Fest on his appointment as a professor at the OVGU Magdeburg.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Dieterich, dean of the Medical Faculty, Otto von Guericke University of Madgeburg, and Prof. Dr. Stefan Fest. Photo: private.

We congratulate Prof. Ana Zenclussen on her appointment as a member of the BfR Commission on Contaminants in the Food Chain for the session period 2022 to 2025 and wish her every success!

We may present: the Helmholtz portrait of Prof. Ana Zenclussen.

Latest publications

2024

Index:

2024 (9)

You could use our publication index for further requests.

2024 (9)

Fischer, F., Ermer, M.R., Howanski, J., Yin, Z., Bauer, M., Wagner, M., Fink, B., Zenclussen, A.C., Schumacher, A. (2024):
Single and mixture effects of bisphenol A and benzophenone-3 on in vitro T helper cell differentiation
Chem.-Biol. Interact. , art. 111011 10.1016/j.cbi.2024.111011
Fischer, F., Kretschmer, T., Seifert, P., Howanski, J., Krieger, E., Rödiger, J., Fink, B., Yin, Z., Bauer, M., Zenclussen, M.L., Meyer, N., Schumacher, A., Zenclussen, A.C. (2024):
Single and combined exposures to bisphenol A and benzophenone-3 during early mouse pregnancy have differential effects on fetal and placental development
Sci. Total Environ. 922 , art. 171386 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171386
Krause, J.L., Engelmann, B., Schaepe, S.S., Rolle-Kampczyk, U., Jehmlich, N., Chang, H.-D., Slanina, U., Hoffmann, M., Lehmann, J., Zenclussen, A.C., Herberth, G., von Bergen, M., Haange, S.-B. (2024):
DSS treatment does not affect murine colonic microbiota in absence of the host
Gut Microbes 16 (1), art. 2297831 10.1080/19490976.2023.2297831
Li, S., Spitz, N., Ghantous, A., Abrishamcar, S., Reimann, B., Marques, I., Silver, M.J., Aguilar-Lacasaña, S., Kitaba, N., Rezwan, F.I., Röder, S., Sirignano, L., Tuhkanen, J., Mancano, G., Sharp, G.C., Metayer, C., Morimoto, L., Stein, D.J., Zar, H.J., Alfano, R., Nawrot, T., Wang, C., Kajantie, E., Keikkala, E., Mustaniemi, S., Ronkainen, J., Sebert, S., Silva, W., Vääräsmäki, M., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Bernstein, R.M., Prentice, A.M., Cosin-Tomas, M., Dwyer, T., Håberg, S.E., Herceg, Z., Magnus, M.C., Munthe-Kaas, M.C., Page, C.M., Völker, M., Gilles, M., Send, T., Witt, S., Zillich, L., Gagliardi, L., Richiardi, L., Czamara, D., Räikkönen, K., Chatzi, L., Vafeiadi, M., Arshad, S.H., Ewart, S,, Plusquin, M., Felix, J.F., Moore, S.E., Vrijheid, M., Holloway, J.W., Karmaus, W., Herberth, G., Zenclussen, A., Streit, F., Lahti, J., Hüls, A., Hoang, T.T., London, S.J., Wiemels, J.L. (2024):
A Pregnancy and Childhood Epigenetics Consortium (PACE) meta-analysis highlights potential relationships between birth order and neonatal blood DNA methylation
Commun. Biol. 7 , art. 66 10.1038/s42003-023-05698-x
Maddalon, A., Pierzchalski, A., Krause, J.L., Bauer, M., Finckh, S., Brack, W., Zenclussen, A.C., Marinovich, M., Corsini, E., Krauss, M., Herberth, G. (2024):
Impact of chemical mixtures from wastewater treatment plant effluents on human immune cell activation: An effect-based analysis
Sci. Total Environ. 906 , art. 167495 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167495
Pierzchalski, A., Zenclussen, A.C., Herberth, G. (2024):
A comprehensive battery of flow cytometric immunoassays for the in vitro testing of chemical effects in human blood cells
Front. Immunol. 14 , art. 1327960 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1327960
Schierano-Marotti, G., Altamirano, G.A., Oddie, S., Gomez, A.L., Meyer, N., Muñoz-de-Toro, M., Zenclussen, A.C., Rodríguez, H.A., Kass, L. (2024):
Branching morphogenesis of the mouse mammary gland after exposure to benzophenone-3
Toxicol. Appl. Pharmacol. 484 , art. 116868 10.1016/j.taap.2024.116868
Snapkow, I., Smith, N.M., Arnesdotter, E., Beekmann, K., Blanc, E.B., Braeuning, A., Corsini, E., Sollner Dolenc, M., Duivenvoorde, L.P.M., Eriksen, G.E., Franko, N., Galbiati, V., Gostner, J.M., Grova, N., Gutleb, A.C., Hargitai, R., Janssen, A.W.F., Krapf, S.A., Lindeman, B., Lumniczky, K., Maddalon, A., Mollerup, S., Parráková, L., Pierzchalski, A., Pieters, R.H.H., Silva, M.J., Solhaug, A., Staal, Y.C.M., Straumfors, A., Szatmári, T., Turner, J.D., Vandebriel, R.J., Zenclussen, A.C., Barouki, R. (2024):
New approach methodologies to enhance human health risk assessment of immunotoxic properties of chemicals - a PARC (Partnership for the Assessment of Risk from Chemicals) project
Front. Toxicol. 6 10.3389/ftox.2024.1339104
Zenclussen, M.L., Ulrich, S., Bauer, M., Fink, B., Zenclussen, A.C., Schumacher, A., Meyer, N. (2024):
Absence of heme oxygenase-1 affects trophoblastic spheroid implantation and provokes dysregulation of stress and angiogenesis gene expression in the uterus
Cells 13 (5), art. 376 10.3390/cells13050376

to index

2023

Index:

2023 (31)

You could use our publication index for further requests.

2023 (31)

Ayuk, H.S., Arnold, S., Bauer, M., Stadtmüller, M., Lindemann, D., Stojanovska, V., Zenclussen, A. (2023):
Entry points for SARS-CoV-2 in trophoblast cells and possible mechanisms of resistance
Placenta 140 , e53 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.07.176
Bauer, M. (2023):
Interplay between toxicants, natural toxins, and the immune system in animal models. Editorial
Front. Immunol. 14 , art. 1186300 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1186300
Buchenauer, L., Haange, S.-B., Bauer, M., Rolle-Kampczyk, U.E., Wagner, M., Stucke, J., Elter, E., Fink, B., Vass, M., von Bergen, M., Schulz, A., Zenclussen, A.C., Junge, K.M., Stangl, G.I., Polte, T. (2023):
Maternal exposure of mice to glyphosate induces depression- and anxiety-like behavior in the offspring via alterations of the gut-brain axis
Sci. Total Environ. 905 , art. 167034 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167034
Choudhary, P., Monasso, G.S., Karhunen, V., Ronkainen, J., Mancano, G., Howe, C.G., Niu, Z., Zeng, X., Guan, W., Dou, J., Feinberg, J.I., Mordaunt, C., Pesce, G., Baïz, N., Alfano, R., Martens, D.S., Wang, C., Isaevska, E., Keikkala, E., Mustaniemi, S., Thio, C.H.L., Fraszczyk, E., Tobi, E.W., Starling, A.P., Cosin-Tomas, M., Urquiza, J., Röder, S., Hoang, T.T., Page, C., Jima, D.D., House, J.S., Maguire, R.L., Ott, R., Pawlow, X., Sirignano, L., Zillich, L., Malmberg, A., Rauschert, S., Melton, P., Gong, T., Karlsson, R., Fore, R., Perng, W., Laubach, Z.M., Czamara, D., Sharp, G., Breton, C.V., Schisterman, E., Yeung, E., Mumford, S.L., Fallin, M.D., LaSalle, J.M., Schmidt, R.J., Bakulski, K.M., Annesi-Maesano, I., Heude, B., Nawrot, T.S., Plusquin, M., Ghantous, A., Herceg, Z., Nisticò, L., Vafeiadi, M., Kogevinas, M., Vääräsmäki, M., Kajantie, E., Snieder, H., Corpeleijn, E., Steegers-Theunissen, R.P.M., Yang, I.V., Dabelea, D., Fossati, S., Zenclussen, A.C., Herberth, G., Magnus, M., Håberg, S.E., London, S.J., Munthe-Kaas, M.C., Murphy, S.K., Hoyo, C., Ziegler, A.-G., Hummel, S., Witt, S.H., Streit, F., Frank, J., Räikkönen, K., Lahti, J., Huang, R.-C., Almqvist, C., Hivert, M.-F., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Järvelin, M.-R., Kantomaa, M., Felix, J.F., Sebert, S. (2023):
Maternal educational attainment in pregnancy and epigenome-wide DNA methylation changes in the offspring from birth until adolescence
Mol. Psychiatr. 10.1038/s41380-023-02331-5
Fischer, F., Ermer, M.R., Howanski, J., Zenclussen, A.C., Schumacher, A. (2023):
Bisphenol A and benzophenone-3, two ubiquitous endocrine disruptors, may interfere with tolerance pathways by disturbing the T cell equilibrium
Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 89 (S1), 83 - 83 10.1111/aji.13696
Fischer, F., Zenclussen, A.C., Meyer, N. (2023):
Gefährdung durch Alltagschemikalien: Ein Impuls für die Schwangerschaftsvorsorge. Hazards due to everyday chemicals: An impulse for prenatal care
Gynäkologie 56 (9), 633 - 640 10.1007/s00129-023-05125-6
Hofsink, N., Dijkstra, D.J., Stojanovska, V., Scherjon, S.A., Plösch, T. (2023):
Preeclampsia-induced alterations in brain and liver gene expression and DNA methylation patterns in fetal mice
J. Dev. Orig. Health Dis. 14 (1), 146 - 151 10.1017/S2040174422000344
Junge, K.M., Zenclussen, A.C., Desoye, G. (2023):
(Über‑)Ernährung und Einfluss auf die Funktion der Plazenta
Diabetologie 19 (6), 747 - 757 10.1007/s11428-023-01087-4
Kadalayil, L., Alam, M., White, C.H., Ghantous, A., Walton, E., Gruzieva, O., Merid, S.K., Kumar, A., Roy, R., Solomon, O., Huen, K., Eskenazi, B., Rzehak, P., Grote, V., Langhendries, J.-P., Verduci, E., Ferre, N., Gruszfeld, D., Gao, L., Guan, W., Zeng, X., Schisterman, E.F., Dou, J., Bakulski, K.M., Feinberg, J.I., Soomro, M.H., Pesce, G., Baiz, N., Isaevska, E., Plusquin, M., Vafeiadi, M., Roumeliotaki, T., Langie, S.A.S., Standaert, A., Allard, C., Perron, P., Bouchard, L., van Meel, E.R., Felix, J.F., Jaddoe, V.W.V., Yousefi, P.D., Ramlau‑Hansen, C.H., Relton, C.L., Tobi, E.W., Starling, A.P., Yang, I.V., Llambrich, M., Santorelli, G., Lepeule, J., Salas, L.A., Bustamante, M., Ewart, S.L., Zhang, H., Karmaus, W., Röder, S., Zenclussen, A.C., Jin, J., Nystad, W., Page, C.M., Magnus, M., Jima, D.D., Hoyo, C., Maguire, R.L., Kvist, T., Czamara, D., Räikkönen, K., Gong, T., Ullemar, V., Rifas‐Shiman, S.L., Oken, E., Almqvist, C., Karlsson, R., Lahti, J., Murphy, S.K., Håberg, S.E., London, S., Herberth, G., Arshad, H., Sunyer, J., Grazuleviciene, R., Dabelea, D., Steegers‑Theunissen, R.P.M., Nohr, E.A., Sørensen, T.I.A., Duijts, L., Hivert, M.-F., Nelen, V., Popovic, M., Kogevinas, M., Nawrot, T.S., Herceg, Z., Annesi‑Maesano, I., Fallin, M.D., Yeung, E., Breton, C.V., Koletzko, B., Holland, N., Melén, E., Sharp, G.C., Silver, M.J., Rezwan, F.I., Holloway, J.H. (2023):
Analysis of DNA methylation at birth and in childhood reveals changes associated with season of birth and latitude
Clin. Epigenetics 15 , art. 148 10.1186/s13148-023-01542-5
Kilanowski, A., Thiering, E., Wang, G., Kumar, A., Kress, S., Flexeder, C., Bauer, C.-P., Berdel, D., von Berg, A., Bergström, A., Gappa, M., Heinrich, J., Herberth, G., Koletzko, S., Kull, I., Melen, E., Schikowski, T., Peters, A., Standl, M. (2023):
Allergic disease trajectories up to adolescence: Characteristics, early-life, and genetic determinants
Allergy 78 (3), 836 - 850 10.1111/all.15511
Kotsakis Ruehlmann, A., Sammallahti, S., Cortés Hidalgo, A.P., Bakulski, K.M., Binder, E.B., Campbell, M.L., Caramaschi, D., Cecil, C., Colicino, E., Cruceanu, C., Czamara, D., Dieckmann, L., Dou, J., Felix, J.F., Frank, J., Håberg, S.E., Herberth, G., Hoang, T.T., Houtepen, L.C., Hüls, A., Koen, N., London, S.J., Magnus, M.C., Mancano, G., Mulder, R.H., Page, C.M., Räikkönen, K., Röder, S., Schmidt, R.J., Send, T.S., Sharp, G., Stein, D.J., Streit, F., Tuhkanen, J., Witt, S.H., Zar, H.J., Zenclussen, A.C., Zhang, Y., Zillich, L., Wright, R., Lahti, J., Brunst, K.J. (2023):
Epigenome-wide meta-analysis of prenatal maternal stressful life events and newborn DNA methylation
Mol. Psychiatr. 10.1038/s41380-023-02010-5
Krause, J.L., Pierzchalski, A., Chang, H.D., Zenclussen, A.C., Bauer, M., Herberth, G. (2023):
Bisphenols, but not phthalate esters, modulate gene expression in activated human MAIT cells in vitro
Toxicol. Rep. 10 , 348 - 356 10.1016/j.toxrep.2023.02.017
Kretschmer, T., Fischer, F., Seifert, P., Schumacher, A., Kass, L., Rodríguez, H.A., Zenclussen, M.L., Zenclussen, A.C. (2023):
Intrauterine exposure to bisphenol A and benzophenone-3 affects fetal growth and impacts on uterine innate immune cells supporting pregnancy
Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 89 (S1), 82 - 83 10.1111/aji.13696
Maddalon, A., Pierzchalski, A., Kretschmer, T., Bauer, M., Zenclussen, A.C., Marinovich, M., Corsini, E., Herberth, G. (2023):
Mixtures of per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) reduce the in vitro activation of human T cells and basophils
Chemosphere 336 , art. 139204 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2023.139204
Meyer, N., Hinz, N., Schumacher, A., Weißenborn, C., Fink, B., Bauer, M., von Lenthe, S., Ignatov, A., Fest, S., Zenclussen, A.C. (2023):
Mast cells retard tumor growth in ovarian cancer: insights from a mouse model
Cancers 15 (17), art. 4278 10.3390/cancers15174278
Musiol, S., Harris, C.P., Karlina, R., Gostner, J.M., Rathkolb, B., Schnautz, B., Schneider, E., Mair, L., Elorduy Vergara, E., Flexeder, C., Koletzko, S., Bauer, C.-P., Schikowski, T., Berdel, D., von Berg, A., Herberth, G., Rozman, J., Hrabe de Angelis, M., Standl, M., Schmidt-Weber, C.B.., Ussar, S., Alessandrini, F. (2023):
Dietary digestible carbohydrates are associated with higher prevalence of asthma in humans and with aggravated lung allergic inflammation in mice
Allergy 78 (5), 1218 - 1233 10.1111/all.15589
Pfannes, R., Pierzchalski, A., Maddalon, A., Simion, A., Zouboulis, C.C., Behre, G., Zenclussen, A.C., Westphal, S., Fest, S., Herberth, G. (2023):
Characterization of post-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 T cell subtypes in patients with different hematologic malignancies and treatments
Front. Immunol. 14 , art. 1087996 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1087996
Pierzchalski, A., Zenclussen, A.C., Herberth, G. (2023):
OMIP-94: Twenty-four-color (thirty-marker) panel for deep immunophenotyping of immune cells in human peripheral blood
Cytom. Part A 103 (9), 695 - 702 10.1002/cyto.a.24766
Polte, T. (2023):
Early-live exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals affects the development of asthma or overweight in the offspring: role of epigenetic alterations
Toxicol. Lett. 384 (Suppl. 1), S42 - S42 10.1016/S0378-4274(23)00371-5
Prokopciuk, N., Juskiene, I., Tarasiuk, N., Franck, U., Kostiuk, O., Valiulis, A., Taminskiene, V., Valiulis, A. (2023):
On the additional risk for human health in the use of sandblasting of building walls
Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 30 (19), 56558 - 56568 10.1007/s11356-023-26382-x
Raab, J., Fink, B., Bauer, M. (2023):
Appearance of ghost bands in gel electrophoresis depending on agarose concentration
Electrophoresis 44 (15-16), 1206 - 1209 10.1002/elps.202300041
Röder, S. (2023):
PatternMatchR: a tool for matching and visualiszation of omics patterns
Version: v0.2.3 Zenodo 10.5281/zenodo.8138916
Romanelli, F., Zenclussen, M.L., Zenclussen, A.C., Meyer, N. (2023):
Carbon monoxide exposure does not improve the in vitro fertilization rate of oocytes obtained from heterozygous Hmox1 knockout mice
Int. J. Fertil. Steril. 18 (1), 76 - 80 10.22074/ijfs.2023.1982726.1411
Schulz, J., Schilling, E., Fabian, C., Zenclussen, A.C., Stojanovska, V., Claus, C. (2023):
Dissecting rubella placental infection in an in vitro trophoblast model
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 24 (9), art. 7894 10.3390/ijms24097894
Thiering, E., Markevych, I., Kress, S., Astell-Burt, T., Feng, X., Altug, H., Koletzko, S., Bauer, C.-P., von Berg, A., Berdel, D., Herberth, G., Schikowski, T., Heinrich, J., Standl, M. (2023):
Gene-environment interaction in the association of residential greenness and 25(OH) vitamin D
Environ. Pollut. 327 , art. 121519 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121519
Thürmann, L., Bauer, M., Ferland, M., Messingschlager, M., Schikowski, T., von Berg, A., Heinrich, J., Herberth, G., Lehmann, I., Standl, M., Trump, S. (2023):
Undiagnosed pediatric elevated blood pressure is characterized by induction of proinflammatory and cytotoxic mediators
Hypertension 80 (11), 2425 - 2436 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.123.21489
Thürmann, L., Klös, M., Mackowiak, S.D., Bieg, M., Bauer, T., Ishaque, N., Messingschlager, M., Herrmann, C., Röder, S., Bauer, M., Schäuble, S., Faessler, E., Hahn, U., Weichenhan, D., Mücke, O., Plass, C., Borte, M., von Mutius, E., Stangl, G.I., Lauener, R., Karvonen, A.M., Divaret-Chauveau, A., Riedler, J., Heinrich, J., Standl, M., von Berg, A., Schaaf, B., Herberth, G., Kabesch, M., Eils, R., Trump, S., Lehmann, I. (2023):
Global hypomethylation in childhood asthma identified by genome-wide DNA-methylation sequencing preferentially affects enhancer regions
Allergy 78 (6), 1489 - 1506 10.1111/all.15658
Uehre, G.M., Tchaikovski, S., Ignatov, A., Zenclussen, A.C., Busse, M. (2023):
B cells induce early-onset maternal inflammation to protect against LPS-induced fetal rejection
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 24 (22), art. 16091 10.3390/ijms242216091
Wang, M., Flexeder, C., Kilanowski, A., Kress, S., Herberth, G., Schikowski, T., Peters, A., Standl, M. (2023):
Changes in sleep duration and sleep difficulties from adolescence to young adulthood and the risk of obesity: Bidirectional evidence in the GINIplus and LISA studies
Sleep Med. 101 , 401 - 410 10.1016/j.sleep.2022.11.031
Yin, Z., Schumacher, A., Zenclussen, A.C. (2023):
Sex-specific effect of bisphenol A, its substitutes and benzophenone-3 on T helper 1 cell differentiation
Am. J. Reprod. Immunol. 89 (S1), 83 - 84 10.1111/aji.13696
Zenclussen, A. (2023):
Understanding B cell-mediated immune mechanisms underlying pre-term birth (or pregnancy complications) and their relevance for intervention strategies
Placenta 140 , e20 - e21 10.1016/j.placenta.2023.07.080

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Projects

We participate in the joint research project SaxoChiLD.

@SaxoChiLD

We participate in the joint research project
CoViPa.

@CoViPa