MHH coordinates: The MoReHealth project is being launched in Lower Saxony to improve personalised medicine.
Prof. Illig and Dr. Haag (from left) in the biobank rooms at the Clinical Research Centre (CRC) in Hanover. In the background you can see a tank in which biosamples are stored. Copyright: Karin Kaiser / MHH
More and more health data is available. However, analysing this data in order to extract and interpret meaningful information from it is not yet fully developed. This is also the case with so-called multi-omics data, which includes, for example, all of a person's genes and proteins. This data can help to diagnose diseases, develop personalised therapies and monitor treatment success. They need to be standardised and generated, processed and managed in a quality-controlled manner so that they can be used more efficiently and sustainably.
This is where the MoReHealth project comes in, which is being funded by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Science and the Volkswagen Foundation with three million euros as part of the zukunft.niedersachsen programme. Prof. Dr. Thomas Illig and Dr. Sara Haag at the MHH are coordinating this joint project between the Hannover Medical School (MHH), University Medical Center Göttingen (UMG), Braunschweig University of Technology (TU BS) and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Lower Saxony. It will start on 1 September 2025 for a period of four years.
Why are older people more susceptible to infections?
MoReHealth was initiated by the Translational Alliance in Lower Saxony (TRAIN) and the Cluster of Excellence RESIST. Researchers want to analyse the age-related susceptibility to infection of older people – essentially building on an existing collection of health data in the Cluster of Excellence RESIST, which is stored in the SHaReD database. To this end, further data is to be collected, including from patients who have fallen ill, and the database is to be further developed into a multi-omics database for the whole of Lower Saxony.
"The methodological approach that we are developing in MoReHealth will make a significant contribution to the successful implementation of future large multi-omics studies at various locations in Lower Saxony," says Professor Illig. The project team is using a practical example to better standardise multi-omics approaches: The aim of this is to identify biomarkers that predict the risk and severity of a herpes virus infection in older people. The aim is to develop new approaches in prevention, diagnostics and therapy. The investigations are essentially based on data obtained as part of the Cluster of Excellence RESIST – In a study with 650 citizens from the Hannover region (Senior Individuals Cohort) and a cohort with people in whom an infection with herpes viruses has led to shingles (Varicella Zoster Cohort). The aim is to transfer the methodological approach of the practical example to other diseases at a later date.
The aim: to prevent, diagnose and treat infections
TRAIN is a network for translational health research consisting of university and non-university research institutions in Hannover-Braunschweig-Göttingen. RESIST consists of around 60 research groups working together to better understand individual susceptibility to infections in order to prevent, diagnose and treat infections on a "customised" basis.
Text: Bettina Bandel