Thinking of doing your PhD in the Life Sciences? The International PhD Programme (IPP) Mainz is offering talented scientists the chance to work on cutting edge research projects within the open call on “Molecular Biomedicine & Ageing”. As an IPP PhD student, you will join a community of exceptional scientists working on diverse topics ranging from how organisms age or how our DNA is repaired, to how epigenetics regulates cellular identity or neural memory. The research group of Johannes Mayer offers the following PhD project: Type 2 immunity is a specialized branch of the immune response primarily orchestrated to combat extracellular particles, by removing or encapsulating them. Main orchestrators are T helper 2 (Th2) and innate Lymphoid cells, which secreting cytokines including IL-4, IL-5, IL-9, and IL-13. These cytokines promote the recruitment and/or activation of eosinophils, basophils, mast cells, and alternatively activated macrophages. While essential for host defense against parasitic infections, dysregulated type 2 immune responses also contribute to the pathogenesis of allergic diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis. Damages of the epithelium, alarmin responses and Dendritic cell activation have all been implicated in the induction of type 2 immunity and potential differences between helminth induced and allergy associated type 2 immunity. However, the detailed interactions between involved vs bystander cells and the resulting activation and induction of type 2 immune responses are incompletely understood. Thus, treatment approaches to stop the development of type 2 immunity are lacking, as are pathways that specifically regulate the development of allergies, while retaining anti-parasite and wound healing responses. PhD Project: Mapping the immune cell interactome in type 2 immunity In this PhD project we aim to study the immune cell interactome in type 2 immunity. Our previous work has identified unique dendritic cell populations that seem specialized to induce type 2 immunity towards parasite products. If these dendritic cells also mediate type 2 immunity against other antigens, such as allergens or environmental triggers, and if those responses result in a uniform or distinct quality of Th2 cell are important questions to be addressed. Our previous work could also show that interactions between antigen-presenting and bystander dendritic cells can be associated with distinct gene expression patterns and immunological outcomes. However, current interactome analyses have so far been limited to inferred interactions based on cellular receptor-ligand expression patterns. New technological advances now allow us to study physically interacting cells to define a temporal interactome. In this PhD project, developing these tools in in vitro explants, in vivo models and patient samples of type 2 immune disease will be critical to map and characterize key events that lead to different qualities of type 2 immunity and experimentally validate these interactions as potential therapeutic targets. Critical interactions and signaling pathways will then be extrapolated to existing single-cell RNAseq libraries of type 2 immune patients. This PhD requires a strong background in immunology, previous experience with complex phenotyping of immune cells and wet-lab, as well as dry-lab skills. If you are interested in this project, please select Mayer (Interactome) as your group preference in the IPP application platform. Are you an ambitious scientist looking to push the boundaries of research while interacting with colleagues from multiple disciplines and cultures? Then joining the IPP is your opportunity to give your scientific career a flying start! All you need is: Master or equivalent Interactive personality & good command of English 2 letters of reference We offer Exciting, interdisciplinary projects in a lively international environment, with English as our working language Advanced training in scientific techniques and professional skills Access to our state-of-the-art Core Facilities and their technical expertise Fully funded positions with financing until the completion of your thesis A lively community of more than 200 PhD students from 44 different countries