Adenovirus Research Group funded by the DFG

LIV participates with two projects

The nationwide adenovirus Research Group FOR 5898 “AdBHealth: Raising Knowledge & Boosting Technology – Advancing Adenovirus Biology for a Healthy Future” is being funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) with 5.7 million Euros. The Leibniz Institute of Virology (LIV) Hamburg is participating in the network with two projects. Altogether, AdBHealth brings together twelve projects led by researchers in Freiburg, Witten, Leipzig, Essen, Hannover, Hamburg, Lübeck, and Greifswald. The aim is to investigate the mechanisms of adenovirus infections and to lay the groundwork for safe medical applications such as vaccines, gene therapies, and oncolytic tumor therapies. Spokesperson of the Research Group is Prof. Dr. Sabrina Schreiner from the University of Freiburg, who conducted research at the HPI (now LIV) in Hamburg from 2006 to 2014 in Prof. Dr. Thomas Dobner’s department “Viral Transformation”. Co-spokesperson is Prof. Dr. Anja Ehrhardt from the University of Witten/Herdecke.

Adenoviruses, known as “cold viruses”, can cause a broad spectrum of diseases in humans and can be particularly dangerous for children and immunocompromised patients. At the same time, they serve as efficient tools in modern medicine for delivering DNA into cells, for example in vaccines or gene therapy.

The projects based at the Leibniz Institute of Virology address different aspects of adenovirus infection: Dr. Wing Hang Ip and Prof. Dr. Thomas Dobner (both LIV) study the long-term effects of abortive adenovirus infections and the persistence of viral DNA. In their project “Long-term effects of abortive HAdV infection and DNA persistence in cell culture” they investigate how integration and transformation processes influence the safety and efficiency of adenovirus-based vectors, and how different virus types and vector constructs control the risk of long-term side effects.

In parallel, Prof. Dr. Kay Grünewald (LIV and Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB)) and Prof. Dr. Harald Wodrich (Université de Bordeaux) have the lead to explore how different viral genotypes affect the sorting of adenovirus capsids during late stages of viral cell entry. Their project “Understanding genotype impact on post-entry sorting of AdV capsids” aim to elucidate – comparatively across different adenoviruses – the molecular and structural mechanisms of endosomal penetration of adenoviruses, capsid interactions with motor complexes, and host cell responses .

The DFG Research Group aims not only to advance the development of safer vectors but also to improve understanding of the persistence of adenoviral DNA, which can lead to reactivation with high mortality in immunocompromised patients, particularly children.

Supported by the DFG one of the most comprehensive European initiatives in adenovirus research is being established, with the goal of improving the understanding of the biologically diversity of human adenoviruses and developing safe and innovative medical applications.