Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen- Nuremberg

Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen- Nuremberg (UERL) hosts the Department of Medicine 3 and the Deutsches Zentrum für Immuntherapie (DZI). Arthritis Research is a long-standing focus at the Department of Medicine 3, which is reflected by its label as an Excellence Center of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) based on the publication record since the year 2006. Research at UERL is characterized by a strongly pathophysiology-orientated approach combining basic and clinical research to better understand human disease. In line with these activities, the department coordinated/is coordinating various programs funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) (e.g. DFG-funded programs SPP1486, CRC1181, FOR2886, BMBF-funded programs ANKYLOSS, METARTHROS, MASCARA). Furthermore, the department participated/is participating in European research programs in arthritis such as MASTERSWITCH (FP7-Health-F2-2008), Euro-TEAM (FP7-Health-2007-Innovation), OSTEOIMMUNE (FP7-People-2011-INT) and the IMI funded projects BTCure and RTCure.

Role within HIPPOCRATES

As one of the work package leads, the Department of Medicine 3 is one of the coordinating institutions in the HIPPOCRATES project. One goal of the UERL, as the lead of Workpackage 3 (Damage Progression), is to define valid biomarkers and predictors of damage progression in psoriatic arthritis patients and to develop innovative imaging strategies that can sensitively detect joint damage.