Research Projects
The clinical-scientific interface of tissue repair and regeneration
Intermittent increases in skin inflammation are critical for development and postnatal survival, e.g., during wound healing after tissue damage, infection or carcinogenesis. Our group is interested to understand how the immune response evolves during the physiological repair response and to untangle the mechanisms that abrogate tissue repair and regeneration leading to pathological healing conditions in patients. Chronic skin ulceration and excessive scarring as well as tissue fibrosis associated with diabetes mellitus, auto-inflammation, carcinogenesis and ageing are major causes of global disease burden. The development of innovate strategies to improve tissue repair and regeneration is therefore important. As one of the most challenging task in the future of wound repair we envision the transfer of novel findings in basic research into the clinical settings. Therefore, we study impaired healing conditions in patients to identify surrogate markers to assess prognosis and healing progression of impaired healing conditions. To achieve our goal we are searching to strengthen the close cooperation among clinicians, scientists and industrial partners.
Currently the group performs research as Principal Investigator in the following research programs:
Please visit also the homepage of our Wound Healing Clinic and Wound Care Center for further information on treatment regimes offered for patients suffering from wound healing disorders.
Collaborative Research Center 1403 Cell Death in Immunity, Inflammation and Disease
SFB 1403
Collaborative Research Center 1218 Mitochondrial regulation of Cellular Function
SFB 1218
Research Unit FOR 2599 Tissue type 2 immunity: Mechanisms of induction and regulation
Forschergruppe 2599
The Cologne Cluster of Excellence on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-associated Diseases
CECAD
Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne
CMMC
Fernandes SA, Pan J, Terziyska DS, Koyuncu S, Ding X, Németh IB, Wilhelm S, Nüchel J, Al-Gburi S, Gonidas C, Pasparakis M, Mosialos G, Széll M, Teleman AA, Eming SA, Vilchez D, Demetriades C. (2025). The tumor suppressor CYLD acts as a deubiquitinase for mTOR to constrain its activity. bioRxiv 2025.09.01.673523; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2025.09.01.673523
Küçükaylak I, Martínez Morcillo FJ, Halwas K, Reiche N, Metzger M, Comelli P, Brinckmann J, Eming S, Hammerschmidt M (2025). Exploring mechanisms of scar-free skin wound healing in adult zebrafish in comparison to mouse. bioRxiv 2025.09.09.675222; doi: 10.1101/2025.09.09.675222
Johannes L, Rübsam M, Löhr J, Ding X, Eming S, Niessen CM, Schwarz G. (2024). Novel, postnatal manifestation of an epidermal barrier defect in a mouse model of isolated sulfite oxidase deficiency. bioRxiv 2024.03.14.584870; doi: doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.14.584870
Willenborg S, Schönborn K, Sawant M, Bornikoel A, Yamane T, Zeinert I, Eckes B, Eming SA, Krieg T. Fibroblast-Derived TGFβ1 Regulates Skin Repair and Fibrosis. Wound Repair Regen. 2025 Jul-Aug;33(4):e70065. doi: 10.1111/wrr.70065.
Reiter L, Niehoff N, Weiland D, Helbig D, Eming SA, Krieg T, Etich J, Brachvogel B, Wiesner RJ, Knuever J. Mitochondrial DNA mutations attenuate Bleomycin-induced dermal fibrosis by inhibiting differentiation into myofibroblasts. Matrix Biol. 2024 Sep;132:72-86. doi: 10.1016/j.matbio.2024.07.002
Willenborg S, Satzinger S, Eming SA. Skin fibrosis: Novel insights in pathophysiology and treatment. Dermatologie (Heidelb). 2024 Mar;75(3):218-224. doi: 10.1007/s00105-024-05299-7.
Injarabian L, Willenborg S, Welcker D, Sanin DE, Pasparakis M, Kashkar H, Eming SA. FADD- and RIPK3-Mediated Cell Death Ensures Clearance of Ly6Chigh Wound Macrophages from Damaged Tissue. J Invest Dermatol. 2024 Jan;144(1):152-164.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2023.06.203. Epub 2023 Jul 27.
Satzinger S, Willenborg S, Ding X, Klose CSN, Radtke D, Voehringer D, Eming SA. Type 2 immunity regulates dermal white adipose tissue function. 2023. J Invest Dermatol. S0022-202X(23)02141-3. doi: 10.1016/j.jid.2023.05.017.
Willenborg S, Injarabian L, Eming SA. Role of Macrophages in Wound Healing. 2022. Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biola041216.
Sanin DE, Ge Y, Marinkovic E, Kabat AM, Castoldi A, Caputa G, Grzes KM, Curtis JD, Thompson EA, Willenborg S, Dichtl S, Reinhardt S, Dahl A, Pearce EL, Eming SA, Gerbaulet A, Roers A, Murray PJ, Pearce EJ. A common framework of monocyte-derived macrophage activation. 2022. Sci Immunol 7(70):eabl7482.
Willenborg S, Sanin DE, Jais A, Ding X, Ulas T, Nüchel J, Popović M, MacVicar T, Langer T, Schultze JL, Gerbaulet A, Roers A, Pearce EJ, Brüning JC, Trifunovic A, Eming SA. Mitochondrial metabolism coordinates stage-specific repair processes in macrophages during wound healing. 2021. Cell Metab 33(12):2398-2414.e9.