Dr. rer. nat. Marion Frankenberger, Dipl. Biol.
Head of Clinical Sample and Data Acquisition / Deputy Head CPCbioArchive, Institute of Lung Health and ImmunityRegarding the worldwide ranking list for causes of death, lung diseases are since years amongst the five most frequent reasons. For many of them (e.g. COPD, interstitial lung disease like IPF or ILD) there are not enough options to cure these diseases, but they can only be treated symptomatically without knowing the exact way these disorders develop. Since for my personal sensation having to live with constantly less breathing capacity is a real hard to bear burden, the challenge for my work is to be part of a research community, that aims to find treatment options and improve daily life for the concerned patients. I would be grateful to add my little pieces to the puzzle.
Regarding the worldwide ranking list for causes of death, lung diseases are since years amongst the five most frequent reasons. For many of them (e.g. COPD, interstitial lung disease like IPF or ILD) there are not enough options to cure these diseases, but they can only be treated symptomatically without knowing the exact way these disorders develop. Since for my personal sensation having to live with constantly less breathing capacity is a real hard to bear burden, the challenge for my work is to be part of a research community, that aims to find treatment options and improve daily life for the concerned patients. I would be grateful to add my little pieces to the puzzle.
Academic career and research areas
Marion Frankenberger started her course of studies at the Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich with the degree of a diploma in biology and began early during her final year project to work close on translational aspects combining basic and medical research at the Institute of Immunology. The research aims in the upcoming years during her doctoral thesis (Dr. rer. nat) and later during her post-doc time constantly had a main focus on human monocytes and macrophages, regarding their role in inflammatory processes in diseased and healthy conditions.
In 1997 Marion Frankenberger joined the Helmholtz Center Munich (at this time point GSF-Forschungszentrum) as a young investigator to the first established “Clinical Cooperation Group – Aerosols in Medicine” in Gauting – a close cooperation between the Asklepios Fachkliniken München-Gauting (specialized on lung diseases) and HMGU. When in 2003 Marion Frankenberger became head of this lab, the group was re-named in “Clinical cooperation group of inflammatory lung diseases” to emphasize more on the research focus lying on patients with COPD and other inflammatory lung diseases. Since the second evaluation of the group had a positive feedback of the reviewers, the idea of the now existing CPC Comprehensive Pneumology Center was brought up. When in 2010 the CPC in Großhadern opened, the clinical cooperation group of Gauting became part of it. Over the years the CPC-M bioArchive was established, to provide the samples to a wider range of researchers.
The following close cooperation with the hospital in Großhadern and the start of the DZL, where Munich became part of, resulted in numerous projects and studies that all required biomaterial from lung patients. Marion Frankenberger took over the coordination of these DZL-funded clinical trials.
Skills
Immunology Flow cytometry Clinical data management Study coordination Clinical Trials