Immunologist Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer and vascular surgeon Angelos Karlas have received funding of 1.5 million euros each
Two researchers from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) have been awarded the coveted Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for their work improving immune therapies and for predicting the occurrence of chronic ulcers and their chances for healing in patients with diabetes. In his work, Prof. Dr. Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer investigates the role played by neutrophils, which are the most common cells of our innate immune system, in the treatment of inflammatory autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus or multiple sclerosis. PD Dr. Dr. Angelos Karlas is developing a robot-assisted and AI-based tool that uses optical and opto-acoustic methods to analyze the microcirculation and oxygen supply to tissue in the body in order to improve our understanding of how chronic ulcers in type 2 diabetes are formed and heal. The ERC Starting Grants each provide 1.5 million euros in funding spread over five years.
Restarts for autoimmune diseases – and why they don’t work for everyone
Huge progress has been made during the last few years in the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis or pemphigus vulgaris. A comparatively new strategy is deep B cell depletion, during which damaging or malfunctioning white blood cells are removed from the body. “We can achieve this by using what is known as T cell engagers,” says Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer, Professor of Clinical Systems Immunology at FAU. “These are artificial antibodies that activate the body’s own T cells and ensure that they destroy harmful B cells.”A successful immune reset in this way means that patients can live without long-term medication – a goal long considered impossible for serious autoimmune diseases.
However, the treatment currently has varying degrees of success. “In tissue niches in particular, B cells can hide from the immune system and especially from T cells, which makes permanent remission difficult,” says Grieshaber-Bouyer. He is therefore not only investigating B and T cells in his ERC-funded project NEUTRO-RESET, but also another group of white blood cells called neutrophils, which are the most common cells found in our innate immune system. “My hypothesis is that the varying states of neutrophils within tissue niches significantly affect the efficacy of T cell based therapies and are thus decisive for the quality of the immune system reset,” says Grieshaber-Bouyer.
In NEUTRO-RESET, immunologist Grieshaber-Bouyer hopes to investigate the interaction between neutrophils and lymphocytes, predict the response of T cell based therapies and validate how neutrophil states control T cell cytotoxicity and the survival of B cells. The research is based on model systems developed by Grieshaber-Bouyer and his team as well as tissue and blood samples from patients who are receiving T cell based therapies in various cohorts. “We are turning neutrophils from spectators into protagonists in order to develop new approaches for the treatment of immune mediated diseases,” says Grieshaber-Bouyer. “In five years’ time we would like to be able to say who will achieve complete remission or not before treatment begins.”
Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer studied medicine at Heidelberg University, conducted research at Harvard Medical School in Boston, USA, and completed a Master of Health Business Administration at FAU. He is a specialist physician for internal medicine, rheumatology and immunology. Since 2023, he has been Professor of Clinical Systems Immunology at FAU. In 2025, he initiated the world’s first clinical trial of a CD19 T cell engager for rheumatoid arthritis. He was added to the Forbes “30 under 30 – Europe – Science & Healthcare (2025)” list for his work at the interface between clinical medicine, science and biotechnology entrepreneurship.
Using light, robots and AI to fight chronic ulcers in diabetes
Patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus often develop chronic ulcers that do not heal, particularly on their legs. In the worst cases, limbs have to be amputated. The decision to do so is taken based not only on the condition of the ulcer itself, but also the patient’s blood vessels. “The focus often lies on correcting lesions in the macro vessels, while damage to small blood vessels is overlooked to a great extent”, explains PD Dr. Dr. Angelos Karlas. This diabetic microangiopathy, or DMA for short, disrupts the balance between the local blood supply and the energy requirements of the tissue and can contribute to the development of chronic ulcers. “This process has already been well researched in critical organs such as the kidneys, nerves and eyes. However, in this skin, fatty tissue and skeletal muscle mass, its significance has been the subject of much less research up to now”, says Karlas.
It is this gap that Karlas, who is a specialist in vascular surgery at Uniklinikum Erlangen, hopes to close with his ERC-funded project ARETEOS. “The aim is to build a robot and AI-assisted platform that maps the blood supply and oxygen kinetics in soft tissue using optical and optoacoustic methods,” says Karlas. Robot-assisted imaging is designed to examine various tissue layers – from the skin to the muscle – using standardized methods, providing information about microvessels, blood flow, and oxygen supply. This data is evaluated using artificial intelligence in order to better predict the risk of diabetic ulcers and how well they will heal in patients with diabetes. “In the future, we could develop a system – similar to CT or MRI – that allows various areas of the body to be examined and enables screening for diabetes even before non-healing ulcers appear,” explains Karlas. In addition, the platform could also be used for other cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
Angelos Karlas contributes an unusually wide range of expertise to his work at the interface between medicine and engineering: He was born in Greece and studied medicine and electrical engineering and information technology at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and medical robotics at Imperial College London. His scientific career has led him to Helmholtz Munich and the Technical University of Munich (TUM) where he carried out research and was head of a working group. At the same time, he worked in a clinical setting for several years in the department of vascular surgery at TUM University Hospital where he completed his specialty training. After gaining his doctoral degrees Dr. rer. nat. and Dr. med., he gained his habilitation at TUM in 2026. Since 2026, Karlas has been working as a specialist in vascular surgery at Uniklinikum Erlangen where he combines his clinical duties with translational research.
The ERC Starting Grant provides funding to excellent early career researchers with the transition to academic independence and with setting up their own research group. Funding is awarded to groundbreaking, visionary and risky projects in the field of basic research. There are no requirements for specific fields or topics and the sole criterion for awarding the grant is scientific excellence. The funding for Starting Grants is up to 1.5 million euros for a maximum period of 5 years and under certain conditions, additional funds of up to one million euros can be approved. The funds are awarded by the European Commission via the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the EU research framework program “Horizon Europe”.
Kontakt
Prof. Dr. Ricardo Grieshaber-Bouyer
ricardo.grieshaber@uk-erlangen.de
PD Dr. Dr. Angelos Karlas
angelos.karlas@uk-erlangen.de