• DFG Priority Program – SPP 1656

    The German Research Foundation (DFG) announced in 2012 the initiation of a new Priority Program (SPP 1656) entitled “Intestinal Microbiota – a Microbial Ecosystem at the Edge between Immune Homeostasis and Inflammation”. A competitive application process in 2013 identified a consortium of 22 research groups across Germany.

  • Functions beyond metagenomic analysis

    While progress has been accomplished in the description of the intestinal microbiota based on compositional and metagenomic analyses, SPP 1656 implemented an interdisciplinary research program that addresses fundamental principles of microbe-host interactions in the intestine.

  • Microbes and immune homeostasis

    SPP 1656 aims at understanding the bi-directional cross-talk between the intestinal microbiota and the cellular components of mucosal immune system under physiologic conditions and to define influencing factors such as diet and host genotypes.

  • Microbes and chronic inflammation

    SPP 1656 aims at understanding microbe-host interactions in the pathologic transition from immune homeostasis to chronic inflammatory disorders. Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis serve as hallmark pathologies to define the role of the intestinal microbiota in the disease susceptible host.

  • Microbes and infectious inflammation

    SPP 1656 aims at understanding the role of the intestinal microbiota in creating a disease-conditioning milieu for enteric infections. Establishing colonization resistance and regulating virulence of infectious organisms are key questions to define health-related functions of the microbial ecosystem in the intestine.

Intestinal Microbiota – a Microbial Ecosystem at the Edge between Immune Homeostasis and Inflammation

The German Research Foundation (DFG) initiated a new Priority Program (SPP 1656) entitled “Intestinal Microbiota – a Microbial Ecosystem at the Edge between Immune Homeostasis and Inflammation” to establish an interdisciplinary network of scientists and infrastructures. The goal is to achieve a functional understanding of microbe-host interactions in health and diseases, beyond rapidly emerging knowledge of largely descriptive compositional and metagenomic analyses. This DFG Priority Program will support the German research community on this important topic over the next six years.

Members

DFG Priority Programs support collaborative research networks based on thematically coherent and scientifically novel concepts. SPP 1656 includes 22 research groups from 17 different German institutions. The portfolio of knowledge within this research network covers a range of scientific disciplines including immunology, microbiology, gastroenterology, nutrition science and gnotobiology.

Projects

The gut provides an explicitly large and dynamic interface towards the luminal microbiota and tissue homeostasis is achieved by a compartimentalized immune system. Research projects of SPP 1656 are focused on microbe-host interactions related to the regulation of the mucosal immune system as well as infectious and chronic inflammatory disorders in the intestine.

Coordinator

Prof. Dr. Dirk Haller
Technische Universität München

News

NEW TEXTBOOK: The Gut Microbiome in Health and Disease
The book provides an overview on how the gut microbiome contributes to human health. The readers will get profound knowledge on the connection between intestinal microbiota and immune defensive systems.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-319-90545-7