ERC consolidator grant - Florian Schmidt
23.11.2023
Florian Schmidt is an ERC consolidator grant awardee
When pathogens invade the human body, the immune system responds with inflammation to fight them off. Autoinflammatory diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, however, are characterized by the immune system turning against the body itself, triggering inflammation without any apparent reason, which causes pain and long-term damage. “To treat such diseases, we need to understand how the body halts or prevents inflammation on its own accord,” says Florian Schmidt.
He will investigate the foundations of the immune system in his project DEFLAMMATION, which is funded by an ERC Consolidator Grant. “My hypothesis is that complex signaling networks interpret information which can prevent or regulate the inflammation response,” he elaborates. Understanding these elusive processes requires new cell biology tools, which Florian Schmidt intends to develop and utilize in the project. He commented that “The ERC Grant funding will allow me to explore an entirely new field of research and develop new methods that will have relevance in many other areas.”