The Cell Death Signaling lab studies molecular biological stress responses which affect cell viability (autophagy, nucleophagy), cell death (apoptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis), or senescence. The research cluster combines advanced molecular biochemical pharmacology, (chemo)proteomic, peptidomic and epigenomic systems biology approaches to identify biomarkers and druggable receptor-signaling targets for the control and the monitoring of therapy responses (resistance-chemosensitisation) in chronic inflamm-aging diseases, several types of cancer (multiple myeloma, pancreatic cancer, melanoma, breast cancer, colon cancer, neuroblastoma), infectious diseases (virus, bacteria), inflammasome-autoimmune disease (mediterranean fever), neurological disorders (autism, alzheimer) and metabolic syndrome (NAFLD, obesity, malnutrition). The lab characterizes therapeutic extra- and intracellular mechanisms of action of medicinal (phyto)therapeutics, hormones, metal micronutrients (iron), lipid metabolites and non thermal plasma in different in different in vitro and in vivo disease models.
At a fundamental level, the lab investigates the precise molecular working mechanism of cell death & inflammasome signaling, biophotonic electrochemical signaling, as well redox sensitive kinase and metabolic regulation of the epigenome.