The CRONIC-PPF Faculty

	Eva BÖHM (former STURM) Assoc. Prof. Dr. rer. nat. (PhD) Neutrophil heterogeneity and functional plasticity in progressive pulmonary fibrosis
Head of Research Unit "Cell signaling pathways in inflammatory lung diseases" Division of Pharmacology, Otto Loewi Research Centre, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6, 8010 Graz Phone: +43-316-385 74103, ✉ e-mail WWW: Forschungsportal Med Uni Graz ORCID: 0000-0003-4898-884X PubMed: PubMed (nih.gov)
• Profile      • Curriculum vitae     • Publications

Eva Böhm is an immunopharmacologist with a special focus on the pathophysiology of CLD. Using a translational approach combining clinical and experimental research, she has identified several novel therapeutic targets to alleviate inflammatory processes in the lung. To the consortium she will contribute her expertise on leukocyte biology and dysregulated signaling pathways in chronic pulmonary diseases.

Project

Research interests

1. Signaling pathways associated with the pathogenesis of pulmonary diseases. Recently we observed an inflammation-driven downregulation of molecular circadian clock in asthmatic patients which reflects the phenotype and severity of the disease. Therapeutic targeting of ROR resets the molecular circadian clock and promotes anti-inflammatory and lung-protective effects. (Teppan et al., 2024 [↗]; Teppan et al., 2025 [↗]). We also investigate if targeting the IL-23/IL-17A axis with JAK1/TYK2 inhibitors is beneficial in neutrophilic lung inflammation and corticosteroid resistance (Nayak et al., 2026 [↗]).
2. Eosinophils effector function in Th2-driven immune responses associated with allergic and airway inflammation. We described several mechanisms inhibiting eosinophil effector function and therefore representing promising therapeutic targets for allergic and pulmonary diseases. (Luschnig et al., 2021 [↗]; Knuplez et al., 2021 [↗]; Roula et al., 2020 [↗]; Theiler et al., 2019 [↗]; Frei et al., 2016 [↗])
3. Characterization of prostaglandin receptors (PGD₂: DP₂/DP₁; PGE₂: EP₂/EP₄) as novel targets in inflammatory diseases. Using selective agonists and antagonists we characterized several mechanisms to prevent inflammation in experimental models and samples of patients with allergic diseases, inflammatory bowel disease and eosinophilic esophagitis. (Schratl et al., 2007 [↗]; Sturm et al., 2008 [↗]; Sturm et al., 2014 [↗]; Radnai et al., 2016 [↗]; Durchschein et al., 2019 [↗])
4. Development of novel diagnostic tools and strategies in type-I allergy. (Sturm et al., 2004 [↗]; Sturm et al., 2009 [↗]; Bokanovic et al., 2013 [↗]; Sturm et al., 2014 [↗]; Koch et al., 2020 [↗])

   03.04.2026 CRONIC-PPF · Doctoral Programme “Clinical & Research Oriented Network for Innovative Classification of Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis”