In vivo models
The platform “In vivo models” allows us to address complex scientific questions to identify and characterize risk factors for disease development. We are particularly interested in environmental influences that affect the organism during the perinatal phase and contribute to the development of certain clinical pictures across generations. Experiments on the intact organism serve to understand the interactions between different cell populations or organ systems and to elucidate molecular mechanisms. Furthermore, we are using the disease models to verify findings from our epidemiological studies and to establish causal relationships between environmental factors and the disease risk. They also offer the opportunity to test preventive and therapeutic approaches in a physiological context. In addition, the platform “In vivo models” itself can be a hypothesis generator for further in vitro /ex vivo analyses but also an instrument for confirming hypotheses that have been generated in vitro/ex vivo.
Experimental disease models:
- Endocrine disruptors in pregnancy (Santamaria et al. Arch Toxicol 2020, Meyer et al. Environ Pollut 2019, Müller et al. Sci Rep 2018)
- Genes in placentation and fetal growth (Meyer et al. Cells 2020, Meyer et al. Biol Reprod 2020, Zenclussen ML et al. Front Pharmacol 2015, Zenclussen ML et al. J Pathol 2011)
- Inflammation-driven fetal death (Busse et al. Sci Rep 2019)
- Immune dysregulation in spontaneous abortion (Schumacher et al. Am J Reprod Immunol 2017, Dauven et al. Front Endocrinol 2016, Woidacki et al. Sci Rep 2015, Schumacher et al. J Immunol 2013)
- Ovalbumin or house dust mite-induced asthma (Jahreis et al., JACI 2018; Polte et al. Nat Commun 2015)
- Collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis (Jahreis et al. Food Chem Toxicol 2017, Elter et al., Front Immunol 2020)
- Assessment of metabolic parameters (Junge et al. Clin Epigenetics 2018, Leppert et al. Nat Commun 2020)
- Behavioral measurements (Buchenauer et al. Sci Total Environ 2023)