The Immune Alliance - a German-Japanese Cooperation in Immunology Bilateral Cooperation

Dr. Shinichiro Sawa has long investigated the mechanisms underlying immune organ development, with a particular focus on RORγt+ Lymphoid Tissue inducer (LTi) cells. He initiated this line of research as a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute Pasteur, where he studied RORγt+ cells under the mentorship of Prof. Gérard Eberl. In 2012, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Hiroshi Takayanagi at The University of Tokyo, where he investigated osteo-immune interactions, including RANKL-dependent immune organogenesis.

In 2016, he established his independent laboratory at Hokkaido University, and in 2019, he relocated to Medical Institute of Bioregulation at Kyushu University. His current research focuses the development of secondary lymphoid organs with particular emphasis on the transcriptional regulation of RORγt in innate immune cells.

Prof. Dr. med. Anne Krug is a Professor of Experimental Immunology at the Institute of Immunology within the Biomedical Center (BMC) at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich. Since 2014, she has led the “Dendritic Cell Biology” research group there, which focuses on the development, plasticity, and functional specialization of dendritic cell populations. A particular focus of her research lies in the role of dendritic cells in antiviral immune defense as well as in vaccine responses.

Following her medical studies and clinical practice at LMU Munich, Anne Krug worked as a postdoctoral researcher at both LMU and Washington University in St. Louis (USA). From 2004 to 2014, she led a research group and worked as a physician at the Department of Internal Medicine II at the Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technical University of Munich. Subsequently, she was appointed to her professorship at LMU.

Krug’s scientific work has contributed significantly to the understanding of the function of dendritic cells in viral infections, vaccine responses, and immunological diseases. Her research bridges fundamental immunological mechanisms with translational questions, providing key insights for the development of future vaccines and immune-based therapies.