Prof. Lothar Rink
Participant code: RWTH
Prof. Lothar Rink
Institute of Immunology, RWTH-Aachen Pauwelsstr.
30D-52074 Aachen, Germany.
Group experience:
Lothar Rink PhD in Immunology has been assistant professor for Immunology at the Institute of Immunology and Transfusion Medicine in Luebeck. Since 2001 he is Full Professor and Head of the Institute of Immunology at the Rhine-Westfalia-Technical University of Aachen. His main scientific topics are superantigens, neutrophil granulocytes and the immunobiology of zinc. In the field of zinc, he has an over 10 years expertise (more than 20 articles). During the last years he focussed on the Th1/Th2 balance by zinc . His group could show that zinc deficiency promotes Th2 and supra-physiological doses of zinc reduce Th2 reactions, whereas they do not affect Th1 reactions. On the other hand his group showed that elderly preferably showed Th2 reactions.
Personal involved:
1) Dr. Lothar Rink (M) with expertise in zinc, cytokines and immune functions
2) Dr. Klaus-Helge Ibs (M), expertise in pharmacy.
3) Dr. Claudia Mtez (F) MD, expertise in age-related diseases.
4) Postdoctoral fellowship to be appointed (molecular biology)
Relevant Recent pubblications:
1) Cakman I., Rohwer J., Schütz R-M., Kirchner H., and Rink L. (1996): Dysregulation between TH1 and TH2 T cell subpopulations in elderly persons, Mech. Ageing Dev., 87:197-209
2) Cakman I., Kirchner H. and Rink L. (1997): Zinc supplementation reconstitutes the production of interferon-gamma by leukocytes from elderly persons; J. Interferon Cytokine Res., 17:469-472
3) Wellinghausen N., Martin M. and Rink L. (1997): Zinc inhibits IL-1-dependent T cell stimulation; Eur. J. Immunol., 27:2529-2535
4) Scheffer C., Zawatzky R. and Rink L. (2000): Interferon-gamma levels finally become stable with increasing age as revealed by using an ELISA corresponding to the bioactivity; Mech. Ageing Dev., 121:47-58
5) Campo C., Wellinghausen N., Faber C., Fischer A. and Rink L. (2001): Zinc inhibits the mixed lymphocyte culture; Biol. Trace Elem. Res., 79:15-22.