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IMEX

Researchers

Susanne Schaller MMSc.
Prof.(FH) PD DI Dr. Stephan Winkler


Duration

2014 - 2018

Research Areas

Genomics

Partners

University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Hagenberg Campus, RG Bioinformatics
Blutzentrale Linz


Researchfocus

Software technology and application

The adaptive immune system (primarily represented by B and T cells) plays a vital role in the detection of potential pathogens, such as pathogenic microorganisms and parasites. However, it also generates unintended immune reactions against allografts (same species, different individual) and xenografts (different species) transplants or allergens. In rare cases, the immune system may also attack the body's own tissues or cells, a condition referred to as autoimmune diseases. Therefore, understanding the composition of immune cell populations is as crucial in diagnosing autoimmune diseases as it is in monitoring post-transplantation or in treating infections.

The current problem is that there is so far no way to describe the immune system or its "current state". In particular, there are currently no algorithmic approaches worldwide that enable biomedical research to process the existing data. Therefore, the aim of this basic funding project is to develop - akin to what has already been shown quite successfully in protein identification algorithms - completely new algorithmic principles that can capture, represent, and analyze the B and T cell spectrum of humans in detail. This will lay another important foundation for future research collaborations and for the sustainable establishment of the Hagenberg Bioinformatics research group in the international biomedical research community.

Specifically, this funding allows for the first crucial step, in collaboration with researchers from the OÖ RK blood center in Linz, to examine the immune systems of healthy and ill subjects, to develop metrics for the characterization of immune systems, and to implement initial methods for identifying abnormalities and relevant similarities of immune systems. In addition to approaches from bioinformatics, descriptive statistics, and machine learning, the samples used will also be analyzed at the Linz Faculty using fluorescence microscopy for differences in receptor expression levels.