DZL Researcher Honored at ERS Lung Science Conference 2014

ARCN Researcher Sina Webering received the Young Investigator Award at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) Lung Science Conference 2014.

Sina Webering was awarded the Young Investigator Award at the European Respiratory Society Lung Science Conference 2014 in Estoril, Portugal. Together with four other young scientists she was chosen from a field of more than 200 applicants. All awardees were given the opportunity to present their work in a separate session of the conference in front of world-leading lung scientists, which convened to discuss “Lung inflammation and immunity”. Webering is a PhD student in the group of Heinz Fehrenbach in Borstel (DZL site ARCN).  She works on inflammatory processes in asthma, focusing on the transcription factor RORγt. She found that a cell-specific knock-down of this transcription factor in TH17 cells leads to a decreased expression of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-17 and TNF- α. In a mouse model she applied the same technique which lead to decreased airway inflammation and improved lung function.