New Institute for Allergy Research set up at Helmholtz Zentrum München under the direction of Prof. Carsten Schmidt-Weber

Neuherberg, 12.01.2012. Prof. Carsten Schmidt-Weber has taken up his position as Director of the new Institute for Allergy Research at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, with effect from 1 January 2012. Prior to his appointment, he led the “Allergy and Environment” clinical cooperation group, a joint undertaking between the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). He currently holds the chair of Molecular Allergology at the Medical Faculty of TUM. With this latest move, the Helmholtz Zentrum München is stepping up its research into the causes of allergies and the development of new treatments.

The Helmholtz Zentrum München is increasing its research activities in the field of allergic diseases. Prof. Carsten Schmidt-Weber has been appointed Director of the new Institute for Allergy Research at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, effective 1 January 2012. “In order to be able to offer better treatment for allergies we must understand how genetic predisposition, the immune system and environmental factors interact in the development of allergies,” says Prof. Günther Wess, CEO of the Helmholtz Zentrum München. “Carsten Schmidt-Weber has both excellent basic research experience and close ties to the clinical world. His institute will play a substantial role in expanding the longstanding cooperation with the Rechts der Isar university teaching hospital in the field of allergy research and in achieving rapid results in translational research.”

The Helmholtz Zentrum München aims to gain understanding of the mechanisms that trigger widespread diseases and to develop new approaches to their diagnosis, treatment and prevention.

Prof. Schmidt-Weber has recognized expertise in the mechanisms that underlie allergies and allergy tolerances and is experienced in the translation of his knowledge into medical practice.  He has previously held positions at a number of institutes, including the Royal Brompton Hospital & National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College in London, where he worked on the mechanisms of tolerance in special immunotherapies of the respiratory tract, the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research (SIAF) and the Harvard Medical School in Boston, where his work was dedicated to cellular and molecular mechanisms of allergic disease.

Further information

Allergies are one of the biggest challenges facing healthcare in most modern societies. The number of sufferers, particularly among children, has risen so sharply over the last 50 years that allergies are now considered one of the most common diseases affecting humans. In order to examine the causes and possible treatments more closely, the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) agreed to expand the longstanding, successful cooperation project ZAUM to form MARC, the Munich Allergy Research Center (www.marc-allergy.de). Its work focuses on translating new findings into medical practice. This association of allergy research groups creates a unique concentration of academics whose joint aim is to combat the allergy epidemic.

The Helmholtz Zentrum München, the German Research Center for Environmental Health, pursues the goal of developing personalized medical approaches for the prevention and therapy of major common diseases such as diabetes and lung diseases. To achieve this, it investigates the interaction of genetics, environmental factors and lifestyle. The Helmholtz Zentrum München has about 1,900 staff members and is headquartered in Neuherberg in the north of Munich. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association, a community of 18 scientific-technical and medical-biological research centers with a total of about 31,000 staff members. www.helmholtz-muenchen.de

The Center of Allergy & Environment (ZAUM) in Munich is a joint undertaking by the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technical University of Munich (TUM). This cooperation, which is the only one of its kind in the German research landscape, is dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research and forms a link between clinicians at the hospital and clinical research staff at the university. Thanks to this approach, findings about the mechanisms that lie behind allergies are translated into preventive and therapeutic measures. The development of effective, individually tailored treatments enables better care to be provided for allergy-sufferers. www.zaum-online.de

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Contact for media representives

Sven Winkler, Helmholtz Zentrum München – German Research Center for Environmental Health (GmbH), Ingolstädter Landstr. 1, 85764 Neuherberg . Phone: +49 89-3187-3946 . Fax +49 89-3187-3324. email: presse@helmholtz-muenchen.de

Scientific contact
Prof. Carsten B. Schmidt-Weber – Director of the Center of Allergy and Environment (ZAUM) - Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technical University of Munich (TUM), Biedersteiner Str. 29, 80802 Munich - Phone: +49 89-4140 3450 - Fax: +49 89-4140-3452 - email: zaum@tum.de