Detail

Keywords

Anaphylaxis; Biomarkers, Pharmacological; Drug Resistance, Microbial; Histamine

Research group(s)

• Haematology & Immunology
  Research Area: test newly developed drugs in the immunologic and coagulation field; combining in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo trials to obtain an integrated insight into pathophysiologic processes
  Members:
  Katarina Kovacevic
  Bernd Jilma
  Matthias Weiss-Tessbach

Research interests

My scientific work focuses on histamine, one of the main mediators in anaphylaxis, and diamine oxidase (DAO), an endogenous enzyme responsible for histamine degradation. We aim to elucidate the complex functions of histamine in vivo, influencing e.g. coagulation, vascular integrity, inflammation and immune cell functions and provide a new treatment option for life-threatening conditions with excess histamine.

Additionally I work on antibiotic resistance in Staphylococcus aureus and discovering new biomarkers in viral/bacterial pneumonia.

Techniques, methods & infrastructure

• In-Vivo/Biomodels: Knockout mouse models (Diamine oxidase knockout), surgical models in guinea pigs (anaphylactic shock model), pharmacokinetics in rats, Galleria mellonella (bacterial challenge), Phase-I Clinical trials
• In-Vitro: setup of enzymatic assays, NGS, expression analysis, microbiological techniques (micro-dilution, agar diffusion, …)

Selected publications

1. Weiss-Tessbach, M. et al. (2023) ‘Recombinant human diamine oxidase prevents hemodynamic effects of continuous histamine infusion in guinea pigs’, Inflammation Research, 72(10–11), pp. 2013–2022. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00011-023-01783-3.
2. Karer, M. et al. (2022) ‘Diamine oxidase knockout mice are not hypersensitive to orally or subcutaneously administered histamine’, Inflammation Research, 71(4), pp. 497–511. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00011-022-01558-2.
3. Weiss-Tessbach, M. et al. (2025) ‘Osmotic laxatives do not alter dabigatran plasma concentration in healthy volunteers – a randomized, controlled, cross-over trial’, Frontiers in Pharmacology, 16. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2025.1579014.
4. Weiss-Tessbach, M. et al. (2025) ‘COVID-19 mRNA-1273 vaccination induced mast cell activation with strongly elevated Th2 cytokines in a systemic mastocytosis patient’, Inflammation Research, 74(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00011-025-02032-5.
5. ‘Remibrutinib in Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria’ (2025) New England Journal of Medicine, 392(20), pp. 2075–2078. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmc2504726.