Immune cells in the spotlight

How do immune cells behave in the body? What happens during immunotherapy, which is designed to encourage the body's own immune system to attack a disease? To answer these questions, the European Union (EU) brings together leading experts from research and the pharmaceutical industry. The Europe-wide research project "Immune-Image", which is funded with 30 million euros over five years and in which scientists from the University of Münster are involved, started on 1 October. The researchers at Münster University will receive 1.9 million euros for their research in the field of biomedical imaging. They have been working for years on techniques that enable them to visualize the dynamics and interactions of immune cells in living organisms in the best possible way. For this purpose, the scientists and their international colleagues use for example positron emission tomography and optical imaging. A major goal of the new project is to develop suitable methods for monitoring immune cells before, during and after immune treatment. The researchers will initially look at the processes in animal models for different diseases - with the aim of translating the results and methods to patients mid-term enabling them to establish image-guided immunotherapies with improved efficacy in diseases such as cancer or inflammation.