Prof. Dr. Romana Gerner
Academic Career and Research Areas
Prof. Gerner’s research focuses on the microbiome and its functional and molecular interactions with the immune system. Her research aims to better understand how commensal and pathogenic microbes shape the immune system and the role they play in the development and progression of inflammatory and malignant diseases. By integrating basic and translational research, she and her team seek to enhance the clinical understanding of the microbiome and its significance in health and disease, as well as develop microbiome-based therapeutic approaches.
Romana Gerner studied human medicine at the Medical University of Innsbruck, where she began her PhD studies in Infectious Diseases and Immunology in 2012. Her research focused on the influence of the microbiome in chronic inflammatory bowel diseases and the development of new therapeutic options for the same. In parallel, she started her clinical training in internal medicine at the University Hospital Innsbruck. From 2018, she was a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Pediatrics, Division of Host-Microbe Systems, at the University of California San Diego. There she investigated the influence of commensal microbes on the mucosal immune system and developed a vaccination strategy for the eradication of pathogens associated with inflammatory bowel disease. Since November 2023, Romana Gerner has been Professor of Clinical Microbiome at TUM and clinically active at Klinikum rechts der Isar.
Awards
- Research fellowship Award, Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation New York (2020)
- Award for the best publication in 2017, Austrian Medical Association (2019)
- Erwin Wenzl Dissertation Award (2019)
- Wewalka Memorial Award for best publications relevant to Gastroenterology, ÖGGH (2018)
- Max Kade postdoctoral fellowship, Max Kade Foundation, New York (2018)
Key Publications (all publications)
Czech M, Schneider S, Peltokangas N, El Khawanky N, Ghimire S, Andrieux G, Hülsdünker J, Krausz M,…, Gerner RR, Grün D, Zeiser R. Lipocalin-2 expression identifies an intestinal regulatory neutrophil population during acute graft-versus-host disease. (Science Translational Medicine, 2024).
AbstractGerner RR, Hossain S, Sargun A, Siada K, Norton GJ, Zheng T, Neumann W, Nuccio SP, Nolan EM, Raffatellu M. Siderophore Immunization Restricted Colonization of Adherent-Invasive Escherichia coli and Ameliorated Experimental Colitis. (mBio, 2022).
AbstractGerner RR, Macheiner S, Reider S, Siegmund K, Grabherr F, Mayr L, Texler B, Moser P, Effenberger M, Schwaighofer H, Moschen AR, Kircher B, Oberacher H, Zeiser R, Tilg H, Nachbaur D. Targeting NAD immunometabolism limits severe graft-versus-host disease and has potent antileukemic activity. (Leukemia 2020).
AbstractGerner RR, Klepsch V, Macheiner S, Arnhard K, Adolph TE, Grander C, Wieser V, Pfister A, Moser P, Hermann-Kleiter N, Baier G, Oberacher H, Tilg H, Moschen AR. NAD metabolism fuels human and mouse intestinal inflammation. (Gut, 2018).
AbstractMoschen AR, Gerner RR, Wang J, Klepsch V, Adolph TE, Reider SJ, Hackl H, Pfister A, Schilling J, Moser PL, Kempster SL, Swidsinski A, Orth Höller D, Weiss G, Baines JF, Kaser A, Tilg H. Lipocalin 2 Protects from Inflammation and Tumorigenesis Associated with Gut Microbiota Alterations. (Cell Host Microbe, 2016).
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