Research topics

Laboratory research

• • • FWF-Projekt (P25338) TLR und angeborene Immunität bei Spondyloarthritis: Tiermodell und Pathogenese / TLRs and innate immunity in spondyloarthritis: animal model and pathogenesis

• • The Innsbruck abdominal aortic aneurysm trial

    • together with Department of Vascular Surgery and others, Innsbruck Medical University (Head: Prof. G. Fraedrich, MD)

    • Alternative co-stimulatory pathways of pro-inflammatory T-cells in giant cell arteritis and aortic aneurysms

• • SpA-Antibodies and early aging in spondyloarthritis/ankylosing spondylitis

Clinical research

• • Development of a web-based documentation system for chronic diseases and controls

    • in cooperation with seantis and other clinical centers and international groups (DANBIO, Denmark):

      • • 2012/02 seantis: "New medication form"

        • 2011/05 seantis: "Our Clinical Quality Management System is growing."

• • • • 2011/03 seantis: "With OCQM we are working on an Open Source Clinical Quality Management System."

• • • in cooperation with Swiss researchers and iterata AG, Switzerland

    • in cooperation with Management Partners, Graz, Austria: since 10/2017 SolutionX (clinical project with >300 patients until 3/2018 - for formation of cohorts with immune-mediated rheumatic and rare diseases, approved by the ethical committee of the Medizinische Universität Innsbruck)

  • Austrian national investigator for the ASAS-health index project

  • Austrian national investigator of the Belimumab pregnancy registry in SLE patients

  • Projects of the international polymyalgia rheumatica study group

• • • • "2012 provisional classification criteria for polymyalgia rheumatica: a European League Against Rheumatism/American College of Rheumatology collaborative initiative", a multicentric cooperation with Dasgupta B, Cimmino MA, Maradit-Kremers H, Schmidt WA, Schirmer M, Salvarani C, et al., results jointly published in Ann Rheum Dis. 2012;71:484-492 and Arthritis Rheum. 2012;64:943-954.

• • • Details on "Patient-reported Outcomes in Polymyalgia Rheumatica" in J Rheumatol 2012;39:795-803

  • Projects on rare diseases

    • Adamantiades Behcet's disease

• • • • Co-initiator of the world's largest cooperative trial in Adamantiades Behcet's Disease (at meeting in Kühtai, Austria)

      • "The International Criteria for Behçet's Disease (ICBD): a collaborative study of 27 countries on the sensitivity and specificity of the new criteria", a multi centric cooperation with an International Team for the Revision of the International Criteria for Behçet's Disease (ITR-ICBD), published in JEADV 2013

      • Program award of the Austrian Academy of Science: JESH – Joint Excellence in Science and Humanities for "Epidemiological Analysis of An International Clinical Dataset in Behcet’s Disease" by Dr. B. Sadeghi, 2-5/2017, manuscript in preparation

      • Diploma wirk of Th. Moosmann, manuscript submitted with major revisions

• • • RS3PE-syndrome: Technique and new findings using sonography for diagnosis

    • TRAPS-syndrome: Patients' characteristics and specification of a new Austrian mutant with cellular studies

  • Cooperative studies on ultrasound projects