Together with the coagulation and contact system, the complement system forms the intravascular fluid-phase innate immunity. These three cascades are primarily involved in sensing and elimination of pathogens (e.g., bacteria). However, research in the last years revealed that this proposed “C3-defence” contributes significantly to multiple processes such as organ development or tissue regeneration. Therefore, a strict regulation at different levels is necessary. This self-control can be disturbed in acute diseases or by genetic alterations and requires therapeutic modulation. Thus, development of numerous inhibitors acting at different levels of the highly interacting cascades are of great interest.

Our research group focuses on the mechanistic basis of the coagulation, complement and contact cascade and its therapeutic modulation. We apply sophisticated methods for the evaluation of complement/coagulation/contact functions and develop novel detection methods, which allow investigation of interactions with further humoral/cellular systems and their translation to disease-relevant models.