Department of Clinical Medicine

The work of exploring the secrets of the immune system has begun

The faculty’s latest basic research centre, the Centre for Immunology of Viral infections (CiViA) – is now open.

Group leaders at CiViA
There is a lack of understanding of the basic principles that govern the immune response to viral infections. Professor Søren Riis Paludan hopes that over the next ten years, CiViA will become a pioneer that contributes to better treatment of the diseases created by acute and chronic viral infections. Photo: Simon Fischel, AU Health

MEET CiViA

Join the launch event for CiViA 23 May.
Everyone is welcome.

You can participate in both a morning symposium and the official launch with reception.
Registration is required.

READ MORE AND SIGN UP

Over the next ten years, a group of first-class brains are going to make the world more aware of why viruses make us ill.

The CiViA Basic Research Centre is now operational, and the affiliated researchers have made a start on some ambitious pioneering work. They aim to investigate how the immune system detects and fights infections – and how the immune response sometimes exacerbates inflammations and makes diseases worse.

CiViA is based at the Department of Biomedicine, and collaborates with the Technical University of Munich.

Pleased with the long timeframe

Professor Søren Riis Paludan, the head of the centre, believes that the centre will exert an influence on the future treatment of viral infections through the development of new antiviral and immunomodulatory treatments.

He is particularly pleased with the long timeframe that allows the researchers to be extra ambitious:

“Establishing a centre with a ten-year timeframe provides us with the best possible opportunities to solve some of the most challenging questions within the field of infectious immunology,” says Prof. Paludan.

He encourages anyone who might be interested in the new basic research centre to read more at: biomed.au.dk/civia

FACTS ABOUT CiViA

  • The Centre for Immunology of Viral infections (CiViA) is financed by the Danish National Research Foundation through the Centre of Excellence programme. The research also includes projects financed by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Lundbeck Foundation, Independent Research Fund Denmark and the EU.
  • The overall objective of the centre is to uncover new immune mechanisms that contribute to early defence against infections, and to examine the delicate balance between protective and pathological immune responses.
  • CiViA is based at the Department of Biomedicine at Aarhus University (AU) and consists of research groups from AU and the Technical University of Munich.

GROUP LEADERS AT THE CENTRE

The Centre also aims to approach science from a more conceptual-philosophical viewpoint, and collaborates in that connection with K. Brad Wray of the Department of Mathematics – Science Studies at Aarhus University.

Contact

Professor Søren Riis Paludan
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
E-mail: srp@biomed.au.dk
Mobile: +45 2899 2066

Revised 24.04.2024
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