TRR 84: Innate Immunity of the Lung: Mechanisms of Pathogen Attack and Host Defence in Pneumonia

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“The emergence of respiratory viruses with pandemic potential poses a rising medical threat” – We had made this statement in our SFB-TR84-proposal in 2017! In 2019, a new zoonotic, respiratory tract and lung infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 emerged in Wuhan, China, leading to a pandemic with unpredicted health and socio-economic impact worldwide. Since 2010, the SFB-TR84, which is now in its 3rd funding period, aims to decipher lungspecific mechanisms and cellular interactions during infection and inflammation, with the goal of developing new therapeutic concepts for the treatment of pneumonia. The SFB-TR84 has established a tightly woven scientific network of highly recognized research teams comprising four medical departments, several basic science institutes, the Robert-Kochinstitute and two Max-Planck institutes. The scientific objectives of the SFB, its staffing, its high methodological-analytical competence and a decade of collaboration provide an excellent basis for rapid and consistent research on COVID-19. Indeed, the SFB members already contributed publications analysing different aspects of SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19, including highimpact journals (with SFB-TR84 funding: e.g. published: 1 x Cell, 2 x Nature, 1 x Nat. Biotech., and 1 x Cell “accepted”) within the first 9 months after emergence of the disease. We therefore apply for funding of a “COVID-19 extra-year” of the SFB-TR84 to use our established research consortium to decipher fundamental aspects of COVID-19 thereby contributing to the global fight against COVID-19. We feel that this will significantly drive SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 research in Germany, as many key players currently managing this pandemic at the virological, clinical and epidemiological level are part of this SFB. The competence ranges from basic SARS-CoV-2 virology to molecular principles of human SARS-CoV-2 infection and host defense and to identification of new therapeutic targets. Funding this research within an “additional COVID-19 year” by the DFG will help rapidly to gain the urgently needed knowledge on virus-host interactions and pathomechanisms of disease, including the immune responses. This knowledge is crucial for developing vaccines and therapeutics against COVID-19 to limit further global spread of the virus ultimately.