Education
Markus Weigand is Head of Department of the Department of Anesthesiology at Heidelberg University Hospital and full professor for Anesthesiology at the Ruprecht Karls University of Heidelberg.
After studying human medicine in Ulm and Munich, he received his MD in 1993. He initially worked as a resident physician (Arzt in Weiterbildung) at the Department of Anesthesiology at Heidelberg University Hospital and in parallel as a visiting scientist at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in the Department of Immunogenetics. A research sojourn brought him to Basel in 2001 to the Basel Institute of Immunology. After his board certification “Anesthesiology”, he worked as a senior physician in the Department for Anesthesiology from 2002 onwards. In 2004, he received the Venia Legendi of the Medical Faculty of the Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg for the subject Anesthesiology. From 2008 to 2014, he was Head of Department of the Department for Anesthesiology, Operative Intensive Care Medicine and Pain Therapy at the University Hospital Gießen and Marburg, Gießen site, and full Professor of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine at the Justus Liebig University Giessen.
- Ventilation and hemodynamics
- Time controlled adaptive ventilation
- Lung immunology in sepsis and COVID-19
ARDS, Sepsis, Viral pneumonia, Intensive Care Medicine
- TREM-1 amplifies inflammation and is a crucial mediator of septic shock. Bouchon A, Facchetti F, Weigand MA, Colonna M. Nature. 2001 Apr 26;410(6832):1103-7. doi: 10.1038/35074114
- Increased prevalence of clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Schenz J, Rump K, Siegler BH, Hemmerling I, Rahmel T, Thon JN, Nowak H, Fischer D, Hafner A, Tichy L, Bomans K, Meggendorfer M, Koos B, von Groote T, Zarbock A, Fiedler MO, Zemva J, Larmann J, Merle U, Adamzik M, Müller-Tidow C, Haferlach T, Leuschner F, Weigand MA. Front Immunol. 2022 Oct 14;13:968778. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.968778. eCollection 2022.PMID: 36311800
- Profiling the dysregulated immune response in sepsis: overcoming challenges to achieve the goal of precision medicine. Cajander S, Kox M, Scicluna BP, Weigand MA, Mora RA, Flohé SB, Martin-Loeches I, Lachmann G, Girardis M, Garcia-Salido A, Brunkhorst FM, Bauer M, Torres A, Cossarizza A, Monneret G, Cavaillon JM, Shankar-Hari M, Giamarellos-Bourboulis EJ, Winkler MS, Skirecki T, Osuchowski M, Rubio I, Bermejo-Martin JF, Schefold JC, Venet F. Lancet Respir Med. 2024 Apr;12(4):305-322. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(23)00330-2. Epub 2023 Dec 21.PMID: 3814269
- Alteplase in COVID-19 severe hypoxemic respiratory failure: the TRISTARDS multicenter randomized trial. Landoni G, Chowdary P, Meziani F, Creteur J, De Schryver N, Motsch J, Henrichmoeller I, Pagès A, Peter N, Danays T, Weigand MA; TRISTARDS Investigators.Ann Intensive Care. 2024 Nov 10;14(1):170. doi: 10.1186/s13613-024-01386-z.PMID: 39522090
- AI-powered skin spectral imaging enables instant sepsis diagnosis and outcome prediction in critically ill patients. Seidlitz S, Hölzl K, von Garrel A, Sellner J, Katzenschlager S, Hölle T, Fischer D, von der Forst M, Schmitt FCF, Studier-Fischer A, Weigand MA*, Maier-Hein L*, Dietrich M* .Sci Adv. 2025 Jul 18;11(29):eadw1968. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adw1968. Epub 2025 Jul 18.PMID: 40680113
- *these authors contributed equally
Dr. med. Maximilian Dietrich | Resident physician | ||
Dr. med. univ. Stephan Katzenschlager | Resident physician | ||
Emre Kiratlar | Resident physician | ||
Dr. med. Patrick Rehn | Resident physician |
Lung Research - Projects
1. Ventilation in septic circulatory failure
Mechanical ventilation is often necessary in the course of sepsis. In septic shock, the inevitable changes in respiratory mechanics or thoracic pressure and associated (patho-) physiological changes in hemodynamics can lead to outcome-relevant complications, thus represent a major challenge in clinical practice.
We analyze treatment data of patients with septic circulatory failure. The focus is on the interaction of mechanical ventilation settings, circulatory stabilizing therapy and cardio-circulatory function parameters. In particular, the influence of ventilation pressures, PEEP level and mechanical power, a surrogate parameter for mechanical lung stress, will be investigated.
2. Sepsis-induced immunologic changes in the lungs
Early during sepsis, the initial excessive immune response that triggers an extreme systemic activation, is being counteracted by molecular programs aimed at limiting the immune response. The immunological tolerance acquired in this way stops the excessive immune response, yet deprives the organism of the possibility to fully eliminate pathogens at the same time. Apart from a more passive loss of function, actively suppressive functions of immune cells also play a role in the formation of septic immunosuppression. These mechanisms and their timing vary organ- and tissue-specific.
We are investigating different aspects of immune regulation in the course of sepsis in animal models. Special emphasis is placed on changes in the lung during abdominal sepsis because the lung is particularly stressed by the need for mechanical ventilation during treatment, even if it is not the primary focus of disease. Changes in the immunology of the lung play a role in the development of secondary infections during the disease.