Erika von Mutius, Director of the DZL site Munich, and her team receive an Advanced ERC Grant for their research on prevention strategies to curb asthma and allergies in children. ERC Advanced Grants are endowed with up to 2.5 million euros for a period of 5 years.
Asthma and allergies are illnesses, which are largely environmentally determined. This is where Erika von Mutius and her team conduct research:
„In the unique farm studies, we pioneered, my team and I discovered the relevant microbiome-derived functional agents conferring protection. These epidemiological findings while being scientifically cutting edge, cannot be back translated to children and their families´ benefit. My vision is thus to move the fields of microbiome research forward towards in depth characterization of microbe-derived metabolites to better understand their associated asthma- and allergy protective properties by advancing both the experimental and the human population-based studies.”
With the interdisciplinary project APROSUS, Erika von Mutius and her colleagues from the Helmholtz Environmental Health Center, Michael Sattler, Ali Önder Yildirim and Philippe Schmidt-Kopplin will lay the ground for translation into innovative and effective prevention strategies.