Research on asthma and allergic diseases is performed by the institutes in the Departments of Pediatric and General Respiratory Medicine at the MHH working closely with the Fraunhofer ITEM. Experience is gained for example from ongoing clinical cohorts and clinical studies on pediatric and adult asthma patients. Genetic epidemiology and functional genomics are well established in Hannover and a further strength is the investigation of early immune events due to asthma, as well as ex-vivo studies in which human lung tissue is used.