Sex
Defining female–male differences in immune states, responses and molecular phenotypes.
FEMMUNITYX · BONN
Mapping
Female Immunity
Across hormonal states, metabolism, environment and time.
We use human systems immunology to understand how sex and female physiology shape immune variation — from population-level differences to hormonal dynamics within individuals and tissue-resolved immunity.
Explore our research ↓
MAPPING
FEMALE IMMUNITY
Hormones
Metabolism
Environment
Time
Tissue
OUR VISION
Understanding the architecture of female immunity.
Female immunity emerges at the intersection of sex, hormones, metabolism, environment and time.
We use systems immunology to understand how these dimensions shape immune states across individuals and physiological contexts — connecting population-level sex differences with longitudinal variation within women and, ultimately, tissue-resolved immunity.
INTEGRATED RESEARCH PROGRAM
Female immunity within
human immune variation.
Immune sex differences are not fixed. We investigate how endocrine, metabolic and environmental contexts interact with sex to shape immune phenotypes — and how these relationships change across female physiology.
Hormones
Understanding how changing endocrine environments intersect with immune-cell states and function.
Metabolism
Mapping interactions between metabolic state, nutrition and immune regulation.
Environment
Studying immune variation across nutritional, microbiome and population contexts.
Female physiology
Following immune variation across hormonal states, time and biological compartments.
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
From population variation to immune mechanism.
Our projects approach immune variation at complementary scales — from population and metabolic diversity, through longitudinal female physiology, to controlled experimental systems and computational integration.
TransMic / TransInf
Metabolism, environment and population context
TransMic and TransInf investigate how nutrition, microbiome composition and metabolic state shape human immune function across populations and metabolic contexts.
Within FemmunityX, we extend these questions to immune sex differences — asking whether diet, obesity, insulin resistance, microbiome composition and food-derived metabolites influence immune function differently in females and males.
Partners: KCMC (Tanzania), Radboud UMC (The Netherlands), INSERM & Sorbonne Université (France), University of Florence & Meyer Children’s Hospital (Italy), RSS-URCN (Burkina Faso)
Funding: JPI-HDHL · BMFTR
Femmunity
Female immunity across hormonal states and tissues
Femmunity investigates how hormonal rhythms shape immune variation across female physiology. We use the natural menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use as models of changing endocrine environments and follow immune variation longitudinally.
The program is expanding from peripheral immunity toward the reproductive tissue environment, allowing us to ask which immune features remain stable, which are hormonally dynamic, and how immune states differ across biological compartments.
Partner: Jr. Prof. Marie-Christine Simon, University of Bonn
Explore the Femmunity Study →HormoneX
Hormone–immune interactions ex vivo
We are developing experimental approaches to investigate how human immune cells respond directly to changing hormonal environments ex vivo.
This emerging work complements our human studies by moving toward controlled investigation of hormone–immune interactions.
InformatYX
Integrating the dimensions
InformatYX is our developing computational framework for analysing immune data through a sex-aware and physiology-aware lens.
We develop analytical workflows and resources that integrate sex, hormonal state, metabolism, population context and physiology into the interpretation of high-dimensional immune data.
FLAGSHIP STUDY
Following female immunity from circulation to tissue.
The Femmunity Study explores how the immune system is shaped by hormonal rhythms in female physiology. Using the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use as models of changing endocrine environments, we follow immune variation over time and across biological compartments.
Our goal is to move beyond the idea of a single female immune baseline and instead understand which immune features remain stable, which are hormonally dynamic, and how these dynamics extend from peripheral blood toward the reproductive tissue environment.
Partner: Jr. Prof. Marie-Christine Simon, University of Bonn
Join the Femmunity Study →Prefer to call? +49 228 4330 2707
CIRCULATION
REPRODUCTIVE TISSUE
01 · NATURAL CYCLE
Peripheral immunity across the menstrual cycle.
Longitudinal immune profiling alongside natural hormonal and metabolic variation.
02 · HORMONAL MODULATION
Immune dynamics under hormonal contraception.
Investigating how exogenous hormonal states intersect with immune and metabolic trajectories.
03 · TISSUE INTERFACE
Into the endometrial immune landscape.
Using menstrual fluid and single-cell omics to investigate immune biology at the reproductive tissue interface.
INTEGRATE
WHERE THIS LEADS
Towards a systems-level map of female immunity.
Connecting immune states across physiology, time and tissue creates a path toward identifying coordinated patterns — and ultimately the drivers — of female immune variation.
HOW WE WORK
Human studies. Deep profiling. Integrated analysis.
Longitudinal cohorts
Immune profiling
Single-cell & multi-omics
Computational integration
SELECTED SCIENCE
Publications
The essential integration of sex and gender in immunological research
Marcus Altfeld, Camila Consiglio, Darragh Duffy, Molly Ingersoll, Cliona O'Farrelly, Tal Pecht✉, Tal Shay & Helena Soares
Calling for sex and gender to become integral dimensions of immunological research — a central step toward understanding immune variation and developing more precise and equitable medicine.
Read paper ↗Immune and metabolic effects of African heritage diets versus Western diets in men: a randomized controlled trial
Godfrey S. Temba*, Tal Pecht*, Vesla I. Kullaya, Nadira Vadaq, Mary V. Mosha, Thomas Ulas, Sneha Kanungo, Liesbeth van Emst, Lorenzo Bonaguro, Jonas Schulte-Schrepping, Elias Mafuru, Paolo Lionetti, Musa M. Mhlanga, Andre J. van der Ven, Duccio Cavalieri, Leo A. B. Joosten, Reginald A. Kavishe, Blandina T. Mmbaga, Joachim L. Schultze, Mihai G. Netea & Quirijn de Mast
Revealing how profoundly diet can reshape human immune and metabolic states, and providing a foundation for asking how these responses intersect with sex and female physiology.
Read paper ↗Impact of Physiological Fluctuations of Sex Hormones During the Menstrual Cycle on Glucose Metabolism and the Gut Microbiota
Alina Schieren, Sandra Koch, Tal Pecht & Marie-Christine Simon
Exploring how physiological hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle interact with glucose metabolism and the gut microbiome — key biological dimensions of dynamic female physiology.
Read paper ↗Differences in the inflammatory proteome of East African and Western European adults and associations with sex, age, environmental and dietary factors
Godfrey S. Temba, Nadira Vadaq, Vesla Kullaya, Tal Pecht, Paolo Lionetti, Duccio Cavalieri, Joachim L. Schultze, Reginald Kavishe, Leo A. B. Joosten, Andre J. van der Ven, Blandina T. Mmbaga, Mihai G. Netea & Quirijn de Mast
Demonstrating how environment, diet and population context contribute to variation in the human inflammatory system — reinforcing the need to understand immunity as a dynamic, context-dependent phenotype.
Read paper ↗Urban living in healthy Tanzanians is associated with an inflammatory status driven by dietary and metabolic changes
Godfrey S. Temba*, Vesla I. Kullaya*, Tal Pecht*, et al.
Showing how lifestyle, nutrition and metabolism shape systemic inflammation in healthy individuals — highlighting the remarkable plasticity of the human immune system across environments.
Read paper ↗Modeling population heterogeneity from microbial communities to immune response in cells
Tal Pecht, Anna C. Aschenbrenner, Thomas Ulas & Antonella Succurro
Examining computational approaches for understanding biological heterogeneity across populations and individual cells — a conceptual foundation for studying complex and dynamic immune variation.
Read paper ↗PEOPLE
FemmunityX
We are an interdisciplinary team within the Systems Medicine Department at DZNE, bringing together human immunology, female physiology, molecular biology and computational approaches. Together, we study immune variation across scales — from human cohorts and longitudinal physiology to molecular and systems-level analysis.
Tal Pecht, PhD
Principal Investigator ✉Sex differences · female immunity · systems immunology
Sneha Kanungo, M.Sc.
PhD Student ✉Sex differences · immunometabolism · systems immunology
Rania Engelman
MD Thesis StudentEstrogen signaling · immune regulation
Leonie Eichholz, M.Sc.
Researcher ✉Reproductive immunology · systems immunology
JOIN FEMMUNITYX
Work with us.
We welcome researchers and students interested in human immunology, female physiology, immunometabolism, single-cell biology and computational systems approaches.