Veit Hornung

Professor Veit Hornung is Chair of Immunobiochemistry at the Gene Center and Department of Biochemistry within the Faculty of Medicine at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. His laboratory focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of innate immune recognition, particularly in the context of nucleic acid sensing and inflammasome biology. Hornung leads a large research group investigating how the immune system distinguishes between self and non-self, with implications for infectious diseases, autoinflammatory disorders, and cancer immunotherapy.

Hornung's research spans three primary areas: nucleic acid sensors, inflammasomes, and genome engineering. His work on nucleic acid sensors has elucidated how Toll-like receptors (particularly TLR7 and TLR8) recognize RNA degradation products within endolysosomes, and how the cGAS-STING pathway detects cytosolic DNA. In inflammasome research, his laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding NLRP3, AIM2, and NLRP1 activation mechanisms. His group has also pioneered CRISPR-based genome engineering approaches, developing techniques like SPARCS for spatial cellular phenotype screening.

Professor Hornung has received numerous prestigious awards including the Louis-Jeantet Prize (2025), ERC Advanced Grant (2021), William B. Coley Award (2020), Liliane Bettencourt Prize (2018), and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2018). He is an EMBO Member and Leopoldina Member, and has been consistently recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in Immunology.

Hornung currently leads multiple major research projects including the ERC Advanced Grant 'ENGINES' focusing on molecular and functional characterization of emerging inflammasomes, and several Collaborative Research Centers including TRR 338 'Lymphocyte Engineering for Therapeutic Synthetic Immunity', TRR 237 'Nucleic Acid Immunity', and SFB 1054 'Control and Plasticity of Cell-Fate Decisions in the Immune System'. His laboratory maintains strong collaborations with other research groups at LMU and internationally.