About

The Department of Biophysics of Immune System (DBIS) is focused on the evaluation of molecular mechanisms responsible for the pathological deregulation of the immune system response, including inflammation, infection and tissue injury.

Deregulation of immune response is the underlying cause precipitating the development of a wide range of pathologies such as cardiovascular diseases, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and many others. Therefore, improving understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of these pathological processes and the effects of external factors that cause deregulation of these mechanisms will lead to development of new therapeutic strategies to treat these maladies.

In several closely interconnected groups we study mechanisms of the innate immune response; however, we are also specialized on selected parts of a specific immune response, such as T cell subset formation and functions.

In collaboration with medicinal chemists and pharmacological companies, we explore novel potential therapeutic possibilities of unique synthetic polymers and small organic molecules to improve the therapy in the context of human disease related to inflammation. Hand in hand with this we try to understand the toxic and immunomodulatory effects of natural compounds and potential drugs such as polysaccharides from medicinal herbs, alkaloids or toxins from fungi and cyanobacteria on the immune response.

Furthermore, we are interested in the regulatory functions of glycosaminoglycan hyaluronan, with the main goal of identifying new mechanisms and principles of hyaluronan actions in the course of healing and inflammatory processes that will be used for the development of hyaluronan-based pharmaceuticals and biomaterials.

Enabling us to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that regulate function, fate and the interaction of immune cells, we utilize all basic as well advanced methods of biochemistry, molecular and cell biology, biophysical methodological tools. We use state-of-the-art instrumentation such as flow cytometer, confocal microscope and intravital microscope. We rely heavily on proteomics and genomics. We use cell cultures and also primary immune cells isolated from healthy donors.

Whether alone or in collaboration, we are trying to take advantage of data validation in vivo, having incorporated mouse experimental models to our repertoire including DSS-induced colitis or peritonitis and mice colonies with target gene modification, housed in our on-site animal facility at Institute of Biophysics of the Czech Academy of Science (IBP CAS).

In our department we also collaborate with top international scientists and their teams. By combining state-of-the-art methods and collaborations, we obtain unique results that will advance current knowledge of medical applicability or to improve our understanding of the human health hazards of the toxins studied.