RCI Regensburg – Top-notch research from East Bavaria

The Regensburg Center for Interventional Immunology (RCI) was founded in 2010 as a central institution at the University of Regensburg to bring together all the University research fields working on the development of new immunotherapies. Until completion of the new research building, the BioPark Regensburg GmbH, an enterprise of the City of Regensburg, is supporting the expansion the RCI with floor space at the BioPark. The goal of the RCI is the research, development and rapid implementation of improved therapeutic interventions for cancer, infectious diseases, autoimmune disease as well as in organ and stem cell transplantation. “Interventional” describes the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures which can penetrate tissue in a targeted manner. Under the management of Prof. Dr. Philipp Beckhove at the Regensburg location, the RCI is succeeding in forming a close new network between the University and the University Hospital to facilitate more efficient research. Within six to eight years the RCI is to be expanded into an external university institute at the Leibniz Association.

 

The immune system is responsible for the defense against pathogens but also for fighting cancer cells. Together with the nervous system it is the most complicated system in the human body. Today there are already a multitude of interventions to the human body: they protect against disease (e.g. vaccinations), make incurable disease more tolerable (e.g. rheumatological disease) or increase the efficacy of other treatments (e.g. transplantations or chemotherapy). This has made it possible in recent years for example to significantly increase the cure rate of lymphatic cancer with the additional use of antibody therapy and improved survival following organ transplantation.

 

The development of new immunotherapy is however lengthy (at least ten years), expensive and is subjected to strict regulations (legislation for clinical studies, clean room laboratories for manufacturing etc.). To adhere to these regulations the University of Regensburg has built up a high degree of scientific and medical competency in interventional immunology: internationally recognized experts have been called to Regensburg, new scientific working groups founded, infrastructure expanded (e.g. the José-Carreras-Center for Somatic Cell Therapy). The RCI is researching with which mechanism immune cell tumors, autoimmune diseases and transplantation rejections can be healed. To this purpose the functions and interactions of various immune cells and their messengers are tested. This knowledge is to be used for the development of modern medicines for these diseases. A particular point of specialty is in the manufacture of cell therapeutics and their testing in early clinical trials. With the completion of the new research building (D5) at the University Hospital the working groups and institutions of the RCI will be managed together under one roof.