From Niche to Breakthrough: DFG Extends Funding for Retina Immunology Project

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has granted a significant funding extension of €500,000 over the next three years to support the groundbreaking research project “Immune Memory”, led by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Thomas Langmann, Chair of Experimental Immunology of the Eye at the Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Cologne.

This project investigates the role of lifelong immune memory in age-related chronic eye diseases, such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. Emerging findings suggest that systemic infections or metabolic disorders may trigger specific damage to the retina, possibly mediated by long-lasting immune responses.

Supported by the DFG in recent years, Prof. Langmann’s team has already published pioneering results in Science, a leading scientific journal. The newly extended project builds upon these findings and is now being conducted in close collaboration with international partners at University College London (UK) and Université de Montréal (Canada).

“I’m especially pleased that the DFG is funding our now international project—conducted in collaboration with University College London and the Université de Montréal—for another three years, and with a remarkably high amount for an individual grant,” says Prof. Langmann. “What once started as a ‘bold idea’ and a ‘niche project’ has become a central element in fundamental immunological research on the retina and the eye.”

The research is closely integrated with the efforts of SFB 1607. In the medium term, the goal is to identify novel pharmacological targets and immune memory modulators to slow or even halt the progression of degenerative eye diseases—offering new hope for blindness prevention.