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)