Viral infections are still a leading threat to human health. Vaccines prevent a few selected infections, but we still lack treatments against the vast majority of viral diseases. An agent like antibiotics, which is effective against a wide range of different bacteria, is non-existent for viruses. Nevertheless, our immune system is skillfully fighting viral infections. Autophagy, a cellular process destroying viral components, is a crucial part of our immune defenses. Viruses, however, can counteract these defenses to infect the host. Boosting autophagy should therefore strengthen our own anti-viral immune defense barriers against a wide range of viruses.

Supported by the „Young Investigator Fund for Innovative Research Ideas“ of the Schering Stiftung and the Fritz Thyssen Foundation as well as the collaborative research center 1279 “Exploration of the human peptidome” at Ulm University, the young scientist Dr. Konstantin Sparrer from Ulm University aims to identify human-derived naturally occurring peptides that boost anti-viral autophagy. These peptides will be the basis for future development of effective, broadly active anti-viral drugs. Since autophagy is also involved in neurodegenerative diseases and cancer, Dr. Sparrer expects insights from this project to be applicable to those diseases.