I studied Biology in Hohenheim and Tübingen, Germany, and worked during my PhD on the immunomodulation of the rodent filarial nematode Litomosoides sigmodontis.
After receiving my PhD in 2006, I joined Prof. Mitre’s lab at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, MD, USA, and demonstrated that infections with L. sigmodontis prevent the onset of type 1 diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. In 2010, I moved to the University Hospital Bonn as group leader in Prof. Hoerauf’s institute (IMMIP). Here, I continued to work with the L. sigmodontis rodent model and investigated the protective effects on non-communicable diseases such as diet-induced insulin resistance, which was recently also investigated in human filarial infections in Cameroon.
Another focus of my group is the identification of protective immune responses with special emphasis on the role of eosinophils. Finally, my group is performing preclinical and clinical studies to identify and test novel macrofilaricidal, adult-worm killing, drug candidates in close collaboration with partners from industry and non-profit organizations such as DNDi. I am the coordinator of the eWHORM EDCTP3 project to provide the proof of concept in an adaptive phase 2 clinical trial with oxfendazole as pan-nematode drug candidate for the filarial diseases onchocerciasis, loiasis and mansonellosis as well as the soil-transmitted, intestinal helminth disease trichuriasis.
This study takes place in Gabon, Cameroon, DRC and Tanzania. Since 2020, I am the head of diagnostics in parasitology at the IMMIP and W2 professor for translational microbiology. Among my professional functions are the work as INSTAND QA scheme consultant, steering committee member of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP) and board member of the German Society of Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine and Global Health (DTG).
