We study how pathogens reshape tissue environments and how early host responses determine protection, injury, and recovery.
Bader Lab
Infection, innate immunity, and the mechanisms of long-term disease
The Bader Lab investigates how infection drives tissue injury, inflammatory responses, and long-term disease consequences. We combine mechanistic biology with disease-relevant models to understand how innate immune pathways shape host responses in infection and beyond.
Research focus
Immune sensing, inflammatory tissue injury, and persistent consequences of infection.
Approach
Mechanistic biology paired with translational thinking and disease-relevant experimental systems.
Base
Center for Integrative Infectious Disease Research (CIID), Heidelberg.
Research themes
Core questions shaping the lab’s work
The lab is interested in how infection leaves a biological imprint — in tissues, in inflammatory networks, and in disease trajectories that persist beyond the acute phase.
Our work focuses on the signalling pathways that connect infection sensing to inflammatory damage, immune control, and longer-term pathology.
We investigate how acute infectious insults can leave persistent biological consequences and contribute to chronic disease trajectories.
We combine mechanistic experiments with disease-relevant systems to identify findings that are robust, clinically meaningful, and actionable.
How we work
Focused, mechanism-driven, and clinically aware
Focused experimental work on pathways linking infection, inflammation, and tissue dysfunction.
Questions are anchored in clinically meaningful problems, especially where acute infection drives longer-term consequences.
The lab sits at the interface of infection biology, immunology, and translational disease research.
Support
Funding acknowledgement
We gratefully acknowledge support from CHS Stiftung and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC).
