Kurth
Team
Team
Florian Kurth
PI
Lara Bardtke
PhD-Student
Claudia Conrad
Technical Assistant
After successfully completing my technical school training as a medical-technical laboratory assistant, I earned a diploma in food chemistry at the Humboldt University Berlin. Afterwards, I completed the second state examination as a state-certified food chemist.
Since 2012, I have been employed as a technical assistant in the Medical Department, Division of Infectiology and Pneumonology, at the Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and since 2018 I have been working in the Sander lab.
Clemens Dierks
Scientific Employee
Christoph Gerlach
Study Assistance
Trained MFA, experience as CRA and study nurse.
David Hillus
Clinician Scientist
David studied medicine at Charité Berlin and completed all United States Medical Licensure Examinations (USMLE). He worked at the medical start-up AMBOSS Inc. in the US team and as a resident in infectious diseases before joining the Sander lab in 2020. Driven by his fascination with the potential of AI tools in advancing medicine, David specialized with a Master’s degree in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. He is especially interested in interpretable machine learning, causal inference, and immunological modeling.
For the vaccination studies, he is involved with data acquisition, processing, analysis, and modeling of clinical as well as immunological variables.
Leu Huang
Clinician Scientist
Leu studied medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and is completing her bachelor’s degree in business administration at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Before joining the Sander Lab, she worked for multiple start-ups and gained experience in building interdisciplinary collaborations for a pharmaceutical company. Currently, she is part of the clinical research physicians team and focuses on the SEMVAc study.
Beyond her professional life, Leu is passionate about afro-latin dances, running and good food.
Karolina Kneller
Master Student
Paolo Kroneberg
Master Student
Vanessa Kuphal
Study Assistance
I was born and raised in Berlin. In January 2017, I successfully completed my training as a medical assistant. Since then I have been working at the Charité Berlin and have already been able to gain experience in various areas. My career so far I have been able to complete in the areas of radiation oncology & radiotherapy, anyway on the pediatric oncology ward with a focus on KMT. Since the field of infectious diseases particularly appeals to me, I will now actively support the Sander team as a study nurse. Outside of work, I find my balance in yoga and am also a trained yoga instructor.
Han Le
Clinician Scientist
Han works as a study physician for our clinical studies on COVID-19 and Monkeypox vaccines. As an MD, she loves acting at the intersection of research and clinical practice, bringing together the best of these two fields. She studied medicine and economics in Heidelberg/Mannheim with stops in Denmark, Switzerland, Luxembourg, China, USA, and Egypt and was supported by several scholarships. Her special interest concerns global health and politics, having had the opportunity to gain experience at the MoH and industry. In that spirit, Han has initiated several humanitarian and social projects – the latest contribution being a transport of medical supplies to Ukraine with the Fachschaft Medizin Charité.
Florentina Leitner
Clinician Scientist
Florentina joined our team as a physician and researcher after obtaining her MD degree from the Medical University of Vienna in 2022. Florentina’s interest in research was ignited early on during her medical studies in Vienna, where she focused on the effects of iron deficiency on thromboembolism as a long-term research fellow at the Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology. Furthermore, her curiosity in science took her to Brazil (Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre) and Australia (Australian National University & University of Sydney). During her time in Australia, she specifically acquired knowledge on various cytometry techniques in the field of infectious diseases and autoimmunity, and was particularly captivated by the novel techniques of deep immunoprofiling. As a clinician scientist at Charité, Florentina now continues to focus on clinical translational research, where she specializes on the integration of both, deep clinical and immunological phenotyping in the context of COVID-19. Apart from science & medicine, Florentina is also passionate about music, traveling and all kinds of outdoor activities.
Tilman Lingscheid
Clinician Scientist
Paula Stubbemann
MD-Student
Nicole Stobäus
Project Coordination
Pinkus Tober-Lau
Clinician Scientist
Pinkus is a physician and clinical investigator, graduating from Charité in 2020. Having spent time in Togo, Oman, and Gabon, he is currently working on clinical and proteomic studies related to malaria, NTDs, COVID-19, monkeypox, as well as vaccines against the latter two diseases.
Saskia Schwalgun
Project Coordination
Cäcilie von Wedel
Clinician Scientist
Publications
Publications
Find all our publications on PubMed
Selected key publications:
- Kurth F, Tober-Lau P, Lingscheid T, Bardtke L, Kim J, Angheben A, Gobbi FG, Mbavu L, Stegemann MS, Heim KM, Pfäfflin F, Menner N, Schürmann M, Mikolajewska A, Witzenrath M, Sander LE, Mayer B, Zoller T. Post-treatment haemolysis is common following oral artemisinin combination therapy of uncomplicated malaria in travellers. J Travel Med. 2023 May 18;30(3):taad001. doi: 10.1093/jtm/taad001. PMID: 36611010; PMCID: PMC10198431.
- Global Burden of Disease Long COVID Collaborators; Wulf Hanson S, Abbafati C, Aerts JG, Al-Aly Z, Ashbaugh C, Ballouz T, Blyuss O, Bobkova P, Bonsel G, Borzakova S, Buonsenso D, Butnaru D, Carter A, Chu H, De Rose C, Diab MM, Ekbom E, El Tantawi M, Fomin V, Frithiof R, Gamirova A, Glybochko PV, Haagsma JA, Haghjooy Javanmard S, Hamilton EB, Harris G, Heijenbrok-Kal MH, Helbok R, Hellemons ME, Hillus D, Huijts SM, Hultström M, Jassat W, Kurth F, Larsson IM, Lipcsey M, Liu C, Loflin CD, Malinovschi A, Mao W, Mazankova L, McCulloch D, Menges D, Mohammadifard N, Munblit D, Nekliudov NA, Ogbuoji O, Osmanov IM, Peñalvo JL, Petersen MS, Puhan MA, Rahman M, Rass V, Reinig N, Ribbers GM, Ricchiuto A, Rubertsson S, Samitova E, Sarrafzadegan N, Shikhaleva A, Simpson KE, Sinatti D, Soriano JB, Spiridonova E, Steinbeis F, Svistunov AA, Valentini P, van de Water BJ, van den Berg-Emons R, Wallin E, Witzenrath M, Wu Y, Xu H, Zoller T, Adolph C, Albright J, Amlag JO, Aravkin AY, Bang-Jensen BL, Bisignano C, Castellano R, Castro E, Chakrabarti S, Collins JK, Dai X, Daoud F, Dapper C, Deen A, Duncan BB, Erickson M, Ewald SB, Ferrari AJ, Flaxman AD, Fullman N, Gamkrelidze A, Giles JR, Guo G, Hay SI, He J, Helak M, Hulland EN, Kereselidze M, Krohn KJ, Lazzar-Atwood A, Lindstrom A, Lozano R, Malta DC, Månsson J, Mantilla Herrera AM, Mokdad AH, Monasta L, Nomura S, Pasovic M, Pigott DM, Reiner RC Jr, Reinke G, Ribeiro ALP, Santomauro DF, Sholokhov A, Spurlock EE, Walcott R, Walker A, Wiysonge CS, Zheng P, Bettger JP, Murray CJL, Vos T. Estimated Global Proportions of Individuals With Persistent Fatigue, Cognitive, and Respiratory Symptom Clusters Following Symptomatic COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021. JAMA. 2022 Oct 25;328(16):1604-1615. doi: 10.1001/jama.2022.18931. PMID: 36215063; PMCID: PMC9552043.
- Wang Z, Tober-Lau P, Farztdinov V, Lemke O, Schwecke T, Steinbrecher S, Muenzner J, Kriedemann H, Sander LE, Hartl J, Mülleder M, Ralser M, Kurth F. The human host response to monkeypox infection: a proteomic case series study. EMBO Mol Med. 2022 Nov 8;14(11):e16643. doi: 10.15252/emmm.202216643. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36169042; PMCID: PMC9641420.
- Tober-Lau P, Gruell H, Vanshylla K, Koch WM, Hillus D, Schommers P, Suárez I, Suttorp N, Sander LE, Klein F, Kurth F. Cross-Variant Neutralizing Serum Activity after SARS-CoV-2 Breakthrough Infections. Emerg Infect Dis. 2022 May;28(5):1050-1052. doi: 10.3201/eid2805.220271. Epub 2022 Mar 8. PMID: 35259088; PMCID: PMC9045428.
- Gruell H, Vanshylla K, Tober-Lau P, Hillus D, Schommers P, Lehmann C, Kurth F, Sander LE, Klein F. mRNA booster immunization elicits potent neutralizing serum activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant. Nat Med. 2022 Mar;28(3):477-480. doi: 10.1038/s41591-021-01676-0. Epub 2022 Jan 19. PMID: 35046572; PMCID: PMC8767537.
- Georg P, Astaburuaga-García R, Bonaguro L, Brumhard S, Michalick L, Lippert LJ, Kostevc T, Gäbel C, Schneider M, Streitz M, Demichev V, Gemünd I, Barone M, Tober-Lau P, Helbig ET, Hillus D, Petrov L, Stein J, Dey HP, Paclik D, Iwert C, Mülleder M, Aulakh SK, Djudjaj S, Bülow RD, Mei HE, Schulz AR, Thiel A, Hippenstiel S, Saliba AE, Eils R, Lehmann I, Mall MA, Stricker S, Röhmel J, Corman VM, Beule D, Wyler E, Landthaler M, Obermayer B, von Stillfried S, Boor P, Demir M, Wesselmann H, Suttorp N, Uhrig A, Müller-Redetzky H, Nattermann J, Kuebler WM, Meisel C, Ralser M, Schultze JL, Aschenbrenner AC, Thibeault C, Kurth F, Sander LE, Blüthgen N, Sawitzki B; Complement activation induces excessive T cell cytotoxicity in severe COVID-19. Cell. 2022 Feb 3;185(3):493-512.e25. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.12.040. Epub 2021 Dec 28. PMID: 35032429; PMCID: PMC8712270.
- Hillus D, Schwarz T, Tober-Lau P, Vanshylla K, Hastor H, Thibeault C, Jentzsch S, Helbig ET, Lippert LJ, Tscheak P, Schmidt ML, Riege J, Solarek A, von Kalle C, Dang-Heine C, Gruell H, Kopankiewicz P, Suttorp N, Drosten C, Bias H, Seybold J; EICOV/COVIM Study Group; Klein F, Kurth F, Corman VM, Sander LE. Safety, reactogenicity, and immunogenicity of homologous and heterologous prime-boost immunisation with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 and BNT162b2: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Respir Med. 2021 Nov;9(11):1255-1265. doi: 10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00357-X. Epub 2021 Aug 13. PMID: 34391547; PMCID: PMC8360702.
- Demichev V, Tober-Lau P, Lemke O, Nazarenko T, Thibeault C, Whitwell H, Röhl A, Freiwald A, Szyrwiel L, Ludwig D, Correia-Melo C, Aulakh SK, Helbig ET, Stubbemann P, Lippert LJ, Grüning NM, Blyuss O, Vernardis S, White M, Messner CB, Joannidis M, Sonnweber T, Klein SJ, Pizzini A, Wohlfarter Y, Sahanic S, Hilbe R, Schaefer B, Wagner S, Mittermaier M, Machleidt F, Garcia C, Ruwwe-Glösenkamp C, Lingscheid T, Bosquillon de Jarcy L, Stegemann MS, Pfeiffer M, Jürgens L, Denker S, Zickler D, Enghard P, Zelezniak A, Campbell A, Hayward C, Porteous DJ, Marioni RE, Uhrig A, Müller-Redetzky H, Zoller H, Löffler-Ragg J, Keller MA, Tancevski I, Timms JF, Zaikin A, Hippenstiel S, Ramharter M, Witzenrath M, Suttorp N, Lilley K, Mülleder M, Sander LE; PA-COVID-19 Study group; Ralser M, Kurth F. A time-resolved proteomic and prognostic map of COVID-19. Cell Syst. 2021 Aug 18;12(8):780-794.e7. doi: 10.1016/j.cels.2021.05.005. Epub 2021 Jun 14. PMID: 34139154; PMCID: PMC8201874.
- COVID-19 Host Genetics Initiative. Mapping the human genetic architecture of COVID-19. Nature. 2021 Dec;600(7889):472-477. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03767-x. Epub 2021 Jul 8. PMID: 34237774; PMCID: PMC8674144.
- Schulte-Schrepping J, Reusch N, Paclik D, Baßler K, Schlickeiser S, Zhang B, Krämer B, Krammer T, Brumhard S, Bonaguro L, De Domenico E, Wendisch D, Grasshoff M, Kapellos TS, Beckstette M, Pecht T, Saglam A, Dietrich O, Mei HE, Schulz AR, Conrad C, Kunkel D, Vafadarnejad E, Xu CJ, Horne A, Herbert M, Drews A, Thibeault C, Pfeiffer M, Hippenstiel S, Hocke A, Müller-Redetzky H, Heim KM, Machleidt F, Uhrig A, Bosquillon de Jarcy L, Jürgens L, Stegemann M, Glösenkamp CR, Volk HD, Goffinet C, Landthaler M, Wyler E, Georg P, Schneider M, Dang-Heine C, Neuwinger N, Kappert K, Tauber R, Corman V, Raabe J, Kaiser KM, Vinh MT, Rieke G, Meisel C, Ulas T, Becker M, Geffers R, Witzenrath M, Drosten C, Suttorp N, von Kalle C, Kurth F, Händler K, Schultze JL, Aschenbrenner AC, Li Y, Nattermann J, Sawitzki B, Saliba AE, Sander LE; Deutsche COVID-19 OMICS Initiative (DeCOI). Severe COVID-19 Is Marked by a Dysregulated Myeloid Cell Compartment. Cell. 2020 Sep 17;182(6):1419-1440.e23. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.08.001. Epub 2020 Aug 5. PMID: 32810438; PMCID: PMC7405822.
- Kurth F, Develoux M, Mechain M, Malvy D, Clerinx J, Antinori S, Gjørup IE, Gascon J, Mørch K, Nicastri E, Ramharter M, Bartoloni A, Visser L, Rolling T, Zanger P, Calleri G, Salas-Coronas J, Nielsen H, Just-Nübling G, Neumayr A, Hachfeld A, Schmid ML, Antonini P, Lingscheid T, Kern P, Kapaun A, da Cunha JS, Pongratz P, Soriano-Arandes A, Schunk M, Suttorp N, Hatz C, Zoller T. Severe malaria in Europe: an 8-year multi-centre observational study. Malar J. 2017 Jan 31;16(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s12936-016-1673-z. PMID: 28143519; PMCID: PMC5286792.
- Kurth F, Develoux M, Mechain M, Clerinx J, Antinori S, Gjørup IE, Gascon J, Mørch K, Nicastri E, Ramharter M, Bartoloni A, Visser L, Rolling T, Zanger P, Calleri G, Salas-Coronas J, Nielsen H, Just-Nübling G, Neumayr A, Hachfeld A, Schmid ML, Antonini P, Pongratz P, Kern P, Saraiva da Cunha J, Soriano-Arandes A, Schunk M, Suttorp N, Hatz C, Zoller T; TropNet Severe Malaria Investigator Group. Intravenous Artesunate Reduces Parasite Clearance Time, Duration of Intensive Care, and Hospital Treatment in Patients With Severe Malaria in Europe: The TropNet Severe Malaria Study. Clin Infect Dis. 2015 Nov 1;61(9):1441-4. doi: 10.1093/cid/civ575. Epub 2015 Jul 17. PMID: 26187021.
Partners and Funding
Research
Research
Find more about our research at the Kurth Group!
Determinants of Malaria Immunity and Tolerance (DEMIT)
Malaria kills 500,000 to 1 million people per year. Whereas some patients rapidly progress to a live-threatening clinical condition with organ dysfunction, other infected individuals show hardly any symptoms. The clinical picture and prognosis is thereby heavily influenced by the history of previous infections. DEMIT is a prospective observational study in patients with malaria. The aim of the study is to identify and characterize factors that underlie and influence semi-immunity and disease tolerance, with a focus on immunological factors. For this purpose, malaria patients with different previous exposure to Plasmodium spp. are recruited in a highly endemic region at Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL), Gabon, as well as in Berlin (travelers, migrants). In an exploratory approach, determinants of disease tolerance and semi-immunity will be identified using various multi-omics methods (e.g. CyTOF, plasma proteome, single cell RNA-seq) and subsequently further characterized.
Tropnet severe malaria study
Collaboration
Centre de Recherches Médicales de Lambaréné (CERMEL)
Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research
Australian National University – The Cockburn Group – Malaria Immunology
Recent technical advances in MS-based proteomics allow for rapid and cost-efficient analysis of large clinical cohorts, providing extensive insight into the molecular phenotype and physiology of individuals and potentially facilitating the prediction of future disease outcomes as well as high-resolution monitoring of (experimental) treatments. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the urgent need for rapid identification of pathophysiological mechanisms to identify potential therapies and guide treatment decisions. In a close collaboration with the Ralser Group and High Throughput Mass Spectrometry Core Facility at Charité, we analyzed more than a thousand plasma proteomes of patients with COVID-19, identified key markers of disease severity and prognosis, and developed a peptide-based MRM-panel that is currently being validated for routine clinical use. During the rapid spread of mpox outside of endemic regions in 2022, we were able to apply the panel to this completely different disease, identifiying similarities but also key differences to COVID-19. Currently, we are extending our analyses to a variety of different diseases including bacterial pneumonia, malaria and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).
Collaboration
Institute of Biochemistry – Ralser Group
SEMVAc
In its recommendation of June 2022, the German Standing Committee on Vaccination (STIKO) recommended the use of the smallpox vaccine MVA-BN as an indication vaccination for persons with an increased risk of exposure and/or infection. The aim of the SEMVAC study is to survey the safety and effectiveness of MVA-BN in the context of the national vaccination campaign and to make a contribution to the epidemiological management of MPOX. In addition, information on the immune response will be investigated by means of t cell and antibody determinations.
Further Information
Project Presentation at the WHO
European Network of Centres for Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacovigilance
Pa-COVID-19
Pa-COVID-19 is the central collaborative platform for translational research on COVID-19 of Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin. The aim of Pa-COVID-19: Harmonized deep clinical, molecular and immunological phenotyping in patients with COVID-19 to (i) elucidate the pathophysiology of the disease (ii) identify diagnostic and prognostic scores and biomarkers for improved clinical management, (iii) identify putative therapeutic targets, (iv) produce evidence regarding short- and long-term clinical outcomes and (v) identify correlates of protective immunity. Longitudinal data- and bio-sampling as well as post-mortem analysis will enable for characterization of clinical features of distinct disease courses and identify determinants of severity and transmission.
NAPKON
NAPKON-HAP, a platform for deep phenotyping of patients with COVID-19 (based on Pa-COVID-19) and future pathogens with pandemic potential is being established in collaboration with 9 other university hospitals within the University Medicine NUM network. This involves extensive and highly structured biospecimen collection with functional and imaging medical characterization including structured follow-up of long-term damage.
Further Information
Network University Medicine (NUM)
COVIMAC
COVIMAC is a prospective longitudinal cohort study to perform harmonized deep clinical, molecular and immunological phenotyping in patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 and risk factor for a severe course of COVID-19 and a recommendation for preventive treatment (antivirals and/or mABs). These patients are either treated in ambulatory care or hospitalized for another underlying medical condition other than COVID-19. The study objective is to provide real-world data on high-risk patients with mild to moderate COVID-19 with the recommendation of preventive treatment (mABs or antivirals) with the focus on demographic and social data, clinical data, virological data and immunological data.
COVID-VACCINATION
Collaboration
Prof. Dr. Florian Klein (Laboratory of Experimental Immunology at the UK Köln)
Prof. Dr. Joachim L. Schultze (Clinical Single Cell Omics (CSCO) /Systems Medicine, DZNE)
Prof. Dr. Julia Polansky (Immuno-Epigenetics at the Deutsches Rheuma-Forschungszentrum Berlin)
Prof. Dr. Birgit Sawitzki (Translational Immunology at the Berlin Institute of Health)
Kurth
Infectious diseases at the interface between clinical research and basic science
Despite impressive advances in diagnostics, treatment and prevention during the last century, infectious diseases are still a leading cause of death worldwide. Increased global travel, aging societies and the yet unknown consequences of rapidly changing environments due to climate change are reasons for the high complexity of tackling infectious diseases in the 21st century. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the MPOX outbreak impressively demonstrated that a disease outbreak on another continent is just a short plane ride away. Moreover, vectors of infections formerly confined to tropical regions expand to more moderate climate zones.
Our group employs bedside-to-bench approaches by taking clinical and epidemiological observations as a starting point for mechanistic studies, employing state-of-the-art molecular technologies through a tightly woven network of interdisciplinary, national and international collaborators. Our main clinical and scientific interest is centered on the understanding of host responses to infections and their role in clinical outcomes and design of future therapeutic and preventive strategies. We particularly focus on pathogens and diseases with high prevalence in tropical regions of the world, such as malaria. Another important area of our work is the improvement and new development of vaccines, again with a focus on tropical diseases.
It is a fundamental philosophy of our group to integrate well established research structures and cutting-edge technologies in the northern hemisphere with clinical samples and patient populations from low-resource settings in order to generate new knowledge and establish research protocols and methods that can be validated in and translated to Africa.
