Carsten Schmidt-Weber

Carsten Schmidt-Weber is a Professor and Head of the Institute of Allergy Research (IAF) at Helmholtz Zentrum München, leading the Airway Immunology group. His research focuses on understanding how environmental triggers (allergens, viruses, pollutants) interact with airway epithelial cells and immune systems (T cells, macrophages) to cause diseases like allergic rhinitis, asthma, and food allergies. The group investigates epithelial-immune cross-talk, biomarker identification, allergen-specific immunotherapy, and gut barrier dynamics in allergic inflammation.

The Airway Immunology group is funded by the German Lung Research Center (DZL), the ZAUM-led EIT Health EU consortium ADAPT, and the BMBF consortium ABROGATE. Key research areas include:

• Environmental allergen interactions with airway epithelium
• Role of Th1/Th2 mediators in asthma pathogenesis
• Biomarker discovery for allergic inflammation
• Allergen-specific immunotherapy mechanisms
• Food allergy and gut barrier studies
• Impact of biological aging on asthma profiles

His team includes PhD and MD students studying airway immunology, with recent publications focusing on ferroptosis in respiratory disease, allergen-specific immune responses, and epigenetic asthma profiles.