Group Leader: Balázs Enyedi MD, PhD
In his HCEMM project (entitled as “Mechanisms of tissue damage induced inflammation”), his junior group aims to comprehensively study the cellular and molecular mechanisms mediating inflammation during tissue damage. More specifically, using the larval zebrafish as a model system, they will decipher the subcellular and cellular sources of tissue damage signals by investigating the spatiotemporal dynamics of cellular and nuclear swelling in different cell types including epithelial cells, fibroblasts and tissue-resident macrophages during tissue injury. Using biosensor imaging and high throughput sequencing, they aim to study the interplay between Ca2+ signaling and early wound signals such as ATP release, ROS and eicosanoid production. Finally, they intend to determine how tissue-damage signals are transmitted in the tissue and how they are sensed by distant immune and vascular cells to induce inflammation. A better understanding of the tissue-level signaling pathways and the wound response may pave the way for novel therapeutic interventions in inflammatory and fibrotic diseases.