1) Name – Title of the research project in CCHD
Sylvia Knapp – Innate immunity and bacterial infection
2) Coordinates of the Faculty Member
Center for Molecular Medicine (CeMM) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences
& Department of Medicine 1, Div. of Infectious Diseases & Tropical Medicine
Medical University Vienna; Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090 Vienna
Phone: ++43-1-40400-5139; Fax: ++43-1-40400-5167
E-mail: sylvia.knapp@meduniwien.ac.at and sknapp@cemm.oeaw.ac.at
3) Keywords
Bacterial infection, macrophage biology, pattern recognition receptors, innate immunity
4) Research interest of the Faculty Member
Dr. Knapp is interested in the innate immune response to clinically relevant bacterial infections such as pneumonia induced by Streptococcus pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa or septic infections like peritonitis. In doing so, she at first focused on the role of pattern recognition receptors and was the first to show the in vivo role of TLR2, TLR4, CD14 and LBP during specific bacterial infection and inflammation models (Knapp, 2003; Knapp, 2004; Branger, 2004; Knapp 2006a; Knapp, 2006b; Dessing, 2007; Knapp, 2008). Ongoing studies are aimed at a better understanding of the biological role of co-receptors such as those of the TREM-family (Lagler, 2009) and selected scavenger receptors. Furthermore, Dr. Knapp aims at understanding the impact of pre-existing tissue damage on the course of infection. This question specifically addresses clinically important situations observed in hospitalized patients and is based on the concept that tissue alterations result in the release and/or modification of endogenous molecules that in turn impact the function of immune effector cells. In accordance with this idea she was the first to demonstrate that oxidized phospholipids negatively impact host defense against E. coli in vivo (Knapp, 2007). It is the aim of current projects to explore the generation of these lipid products in humans and to better characterize elicited effects in vitro and in vivo. In addition, Dr. Knapp is interested in understanding the molecular mechanism by which selected bacterial toxins attack host cells in order to identify novel targets for therapeutic interventions.
