Research of the Cluster of Excellence PMI
Understanding and healing inflammation
At the Cluster of Excellence PMI, excellent scientists collaborate on an interdisciplinary basis across subject boundaries and spread across five locations. An important focus is on clinical research, in order to transfer new findings into clinic as quickly as possible.
Research areas
The research at the Cluster of Excellence PMI is organized into ten research and technology fields (RTFs), four preclinical research projects ("Target Innovation Projects", TIs) and five clinical research projects ("Clinical Demonstrators", CDs).
Clinical research
An important goal of PMI is to transfer the findings from fundamental research to the clinic, which is why the focus is on clinical studies. This applies in particular to Proof-of-Principle studies, which build on the work already done in PMI and its predecessor cluster "Inflammation at Interfaces"“.
Research infrastructure
The scientists in the cluster have access to state-of-the-art research infrastructure. Many of the facilities were established during the previous funding phase of the Excellence Initiative in the predecessor cluster "Inflammation at Interfaces", and some are still under construction. A key focus of the cluster is on sequencing technologies and large biobanks. But there are also state-of-the-art facilities for stem cell research and imaging.
The Comprehensive Center for Inflammation Medicine (CCIM) in Kiel.
CCIM – Lübeck and Kiel
The Comprehensive Centers for Inflammation Medicine (CCIM) are large outpatient clinics for inflammatory diseases at the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein in Kiel and Lübeck. Through close cooperation between different specialists, they enable the best possible patient care. The goal of the centers is to facilitate interdisciplinary treatment of patients with serious chronic inflammatory diseases as efficiently and quickly as possible. The CCIMs are also responsible for the creation and characterization of clinical cohorts for research purposes, and provide access to new treatments and diagnostic approaches, most of which have been developed in the predecessor cluster "Inflammation at Interfaces".
Schleswig-Holstein Excellence-Chairs
In 2015 Kiel University and the University of Lübeck called for nominations for eight Schleswig-Holstein Excellence Chairs in a joint competition. In the context of the new governance structure “Precision Health Schleswig-Holstein” (PHSH), the aim of this was to retain excellent researchers from both funding phases of the Cluster of Excellence „Inflammation at Interfaces“ at these locations for the long term. The SH Excellence Chairs selected from the first round stood out for their outstanding achievements in inflammation research. They will each receive funding for a maximum period of six years, provided that each Chair appoints an additional young researcher group leader in his/her working group.
