About us

Research strategy and unique research position of the BARICADE consortium

The consortium BActerial Renal InfeCtions And DEfense (BARICADE) proposes to investigate bacterial virulence factors, the intrarenal innate immune defense, host-pathogen interactions and environmental modulating factors as well as pharmacological aspects of antiinfective treatment in pyelonephritis.

We will design new and specific diagnostic tools and new strategies for acute treatment and prevention. Progress in this field requires an interdisciplinary approach.

Our consortium consists of experts from different disciplines including urology, nephrology, microbiology and immunology, which have assembled to jointly tackle these important open questions using state-of the art technologies including intravital 2-photon imaging, matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI-MSI), 3D whole organ light sheet microscopy, dual RNA-seq, Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), transgenic mouse strains, gene-modified UPEC and hollow-fiber pharmacological systems. All consortium members will have access to deep phenotyped patient cohorts, well-established murine pyelonephritis models, advanced imaging techniques, mass spectrometry, and dual RNA-seq. Hence, the consortium generates added value for the individual projects by allowing them to address scientific questions beyond their own research scope.

The combination of interventional experimental data in a pyelonephritis model with immune profiling of defined patient populations will enable us to unravel crosstalk of immune cells, host cells and pathogens and the pathophysiology of pyelonephritis. Given the great prevalence of UTI and the impact of pyelonephritis on morbidity and mortality, we perceive that understanding UTI urgently needs to be advanced on a molecular level.