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The work described in this thesis dissertation demonstrates that complement is involved in the pathology of chronic multiple sclerosis. The early complement components C1q and C3 mediate the phagocytosis of synapses or partly myelinated axons in the brains of patients with chronic multiple sclerosis. In addition, the membrane attack complex, the terminal complex of complement activation, is linked to neuroinflammation and neuroaxonal damage in the chronic relapsing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model of chronic neuroinflammation.

Open Innovation (OI) supports companies in systematically collaborating with external partners, offering various advantages. However, companies still face several challenges when applyingOI, e.g., identifying relevantOI partners, collaborationmethods, and project risks. Often, insufficient planning is the reason for subsequent deficits in OI projects. The analysis of relevant context factors ('situation') is important, which affect and constrain OI. To date, a general approach for analyzing (open) innovation situations or guidelines for developing one do not exist. Usually researchers develop their own situation analysis, including extensive literature reviews and experiencing similar challenges. This publication sets the basis for successfully planning OI projects. It focuses on developing an analysis approach for OI situations and supports other researchers in developing their own analysis approaches. The resultant objectives of the publication are to: (1) provide a list of potential situation analysis criteria; (2) provide a guideline for developing a situation analysis; (3) provide initial indications of relevant OI-specific situation criteria. The criteria were derived from the literature and qualitatively evaluated by three industry partners to assess their usability. Although this work is exploratory, and the results are not automatically generalizable, it is an important contribution for ensuring the success of OI, and for analyzing enablers and barriers to knowledge transfer from academia to industry.

In fruit and berry production the biggest problem farmers face year after year is the attack of fungus diseases. Up to 95% of an apple production can be infected in a year by the scab disease. Conventional farmers use great amounts of pesticides to reduce this number, while organic farmers have no defense. A new research conducted by Marianne G. Bertelsen, senior researcher in the Department of Food Science at Aarhus University, shows that sheltering the apple trees from the rain can reduce the infection rate to near 0%. By sheltering the trees, the leaves are able to dry faster, preventing the scab from spreading. At the same time the implementation of large fields of solar panels for electricity production faces some ethical issues. Occupying land that could have been used for food production can result in rising food and land prices and can, in extreme situations, lead to famine in poor parts of the world. The idea of this product was to combine these two issues. By covering orchards with shelters containing solar panels, the farmers could reduce their use of pesticides, while producing solar energy.

Modern car interiors are often overloaded and not self-explanatory. We supported running development projects within car industry and observed the following reasons: Similar functions are developed in different departments without a sufficient coordination and integration into the car. Functions are arranged according to technologies. Engineers have trouble with putting themselves in a user’s position. Therefore, we present a motive-oriented approach: It supports engineers in taking the user’s perspective by tools for investigating users’ motives, clustering them in use scenarios, matching them with functions, illustrating them in an understandable way and running real-user tests.

Aicardi–Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a monogenic inflammatory encephalopathy caused by mutations in TREX1, RNASEH2A, RNASEH2B, RNASEH2C, SAMHD1, ADAR1, or MDA5. Mutations in those genes affect normal RNA/DNA intracellular metabolism and detection, triggering an autoimmune response with an increase in cerebral IFN-α production by astrocytes. Microangiopathy and vascular disease also contribute to the neuropathology in AGS. In this study, we report that AGS gene silencing of TREX1, SAMHD1, RNASEH2A, and ADAR1 by short hairpin RNAs in human neural stem cell–derived astrocytes, human primary astrocytes, and brain-derived endothelial cells leads to an antiviral status of these cells compared with nontarget short hairpin RNA–treated cells. We observed a distinct activation of the IFN-stimulated gene signature with a substantial increase in the release of proinflammatory cytokines (IL-6) and chemokines (CXCL10 and CCL5). A differential impact of AGS gene silencing was noted; silencing TREX1 gave rise to the most dramatic in both cell types. Our findings fit well with the observation that patients carrying mutations in TREX1 experience an earlier onset and fatal outcome. We provide in the present study, to our knowledge for the first time, insight into how astrocytic and endothelial activation of antiviral status may differentially lead to cerebral pathology, suggesting a rational link between proinflammatory mediators and disease severity in AGS.