Hyun-Dong Chang

Hyun-Dong studied biology at the Free University Berlin and at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). During his PhD thesis at the German Rheumatism Research Center (DRFZ) Berlin, he studied the regulation of cytokine expression in T cells. His research focused on the establishment and maintenance of a functional memory in T cells, in particular the molecular basis and prerequisites of epigenetic and functional imprinting of T cells for cytokine expression and the molecular adaptations of T cells to chronic inflammation allowing them to function and persist in inflamed tissue. Currently, his lab, the Schwiete-Laboratory for Microbiota and Inflammation at the DRFZ, focuses on understanding the role of the intestinal microbiota in the prevention, triggering and maintenance of chronic inflammation.