Research focus

All organs in our body depend on the sufficient amount of oxygen to survive. That’s why the maintenance of oxygen homeostasis at the cellular level is very important and has been the topic of many studies for the past decade. In addition, an inadequate oxygen supply, also called hypoxia, is a prominent feature in various inflamed and/or diseased tissues, including rapidly growing tumors, healing wounds and sites of bacterial infection.

The central mediator during hypoxia is the transcription factor HIF (hypoxia inducible factor) whose function is to directly regulate genes involved in fundamental processes like growth, death and survival. Recently, it was demonstrated that this process is strictly regulated at the post-translational level by a class of oxygen sensitive enzymes, called HIF-prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs) that initiate the breakdown of HIF by hydroxylating it. To date little is known about the exact function of these enzymes in vivo, and therefore our group is investigating their role during local inflammation and tumor development in mice, with a clear focus on the cross-talk between inflammatory cells and the surrounding tissue (e.g. skin or tumor).

Future Projects and Goals

We want to gain a better understanding of the interplay between the different cell types and their relation to oxygen homeostasis under physiological as well as pathological conditions in mice. In more detail, we will study the function of the PHDs using several established disease models (e.g. wound healing, local infection, chemically/genetically induced tumor development) in inbred, conditional deficient or transgenic mice.

Contact Information

Dr. Ben Wielockx
Department of Pathology
University Hospital / Faculty of Medicine Carl Gustav Carus
Technische Universität Dresden

Schubertstr. 15
01307 Dresden, Germany

Email: Ben.Wielockx(at)uniklinikum-dresden(dot)de

Phone:  +49 (0)351 458-3038/3005
Fax:      +49 (0)351 458-5814