New junior research group "Translational Immunology

Clinician scientist Theresa Graalmann starts her own group at TWINCORE

In May 2021, TWINCORE got a second junior research group with close ties to the clinic. Dr. rer. nat. Dr. med Theresa Graalmann will conduct her own research projects in the "Translational Immunology" group within the Institute for Experimental Infection Research (Director Prof. Dr. Ulrich Kalinke). 


One focus will be on studies on immunomonitoring. What cellular processes take place in human organs and tissues during inflammation? Graalmann will investigate such questions in the future. She will do this in close cooperation with the Department of Rheumatology and Immunology at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) headed by Prof. Dr. Torsten Witte, where she also works as an assistant physician. 


Graalmann joined TWINCORE back in 2010 as a postdoctoral researcher. She was so fascinated by the clinical correlations of infectious diseases that she continued her scientific career part-time to study human medicine at the MHH from 2012 to 2018. Since then, she has been active as a clinician scientist in basic research and medical practice. This gives her the ideal qualifications to bridge the gap between these two worlds. 


The clinical junior research group "Translational Immunology" is thus the second group of its kind at TWINCORE. Dr. med. Patrick Behrendt has already established his "Translational Virology" group at the Institute for Experimental Virology in 2019. Behrendt is an assistant physician at the MHH Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology and researches molecular mechanisms and therapeutic options of the hepatitis E virus.