Projects / Studies
Please find below a full list of projects and studies in our main fields of research:
Our work focuses on research in East-Africa, namely in Tanzania. We recently established the Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Disease in Ifakara as a centre of excellence in Heart and Lung disease in the central Kilombero region of Tanzania. In a following project, we build infrastructure to reach rural and remote communities to provide basic NCD care locally, and to build a chain of care and referral up to the Center for Heart and Lung Disease in Ifakara: the CARECHAIN-NCD project.
We also aim to describe epidemiology and risk factors for chronic lung disease in the region, eventually aiming to desing and implement effective healthcare interventions.
Moreover, the group is interested to harness the potential of eHealth and mHealth solutions to provide efficient healthcare to underpriviledged populations.
Clinical studies / projects
- CARECHAIN-NCD: building a chain of care for non-communicable diseases in rural Tanzania (May 2023 – April 2028, PI)
- Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Disease in Ifakara, central Tanzania (2020-2023, PI). Project page of Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, Basel.
- Health telematics for improving TB- and HIV-care in rural Tanzania (TB-HIV-Telematics, 2020 – 2022), see project page (PI)
- TB-TRIAGE (2020-2024, participation as medical advisor)
- Tanzanian Lung Health Study (2015-2016, PI)
- NC-005 TB clinical trial (2014-2016, participation as medical advisor)
- NC-006 TB clinical trial (2014-2016, participation as medical advisor)
The group contributes actively to the cohort studies Pa-COVID-19 (Charité) as well as to NAPKON-HAP and NAPKON-POP studies (link to NAPKON); both are multi-centre observational cohort studies investigating the clinical course and long-term outcomes of COVID-19. The group designed the follow-up study programme for the NAPKON-HAP cohort of patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19 and coordinates the clinical research for the Berlin site of NAPKON-POP, the population-based COVID-19 study. The groups main interest is the analysis of respiratory sequelae of COVID-19.
Clinical studies / projects (contribution as described above):
- Pa-COVID-19 (2020-2021)
- NAPKON-HAP (2020-ongoing)
- NAPKON-POP (2020-ongoing)
Chagas disease is a parasitic infection endemic in most countries in Latin America and belongs to the group of „Neglected Tropical Diseases“. Due to international migration, many people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi live now in Europe and in Germany. The project addresses the problems of missing epidemiological data and poor capacity for attending complex medical problems of patients affected in the German healthcare system.
Clinical studies / projects:
- „Erkennung und Lenkung von Chagas Patienten in Deutschland – ELCiD“. More information on the project website: www.chagas.info (2015-ongoing, PI)
- AUTOS-CHAGAS (2023-2024, PI): a study to examine the role of auto-antibodies against beta-adrenergic receptors and nutritional selenium status in Chagas disease in patients in Bolivia (see also: https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00020935).
Severe malaria is life-threatening infection. New, safe and effective drugs are needed to treat this infection. The group focuses on improving treatment of severe malaria with intravenously applied artemisinin drugs. Artemisinin drugs are the key drugs in the WHO global strategy to roll back malaria, but is now well established that they can cause delayed haemolytic reactions two to six weeks after treatment. „Post-Artemisinin Delayed Haemolysis“ – now a widely known adverse drug reaction – was first described by our group. Up to 25% of patients have recurring and severe anaemia after being discharged from hospital. Data from our centre led to a major improvement in patient safety of artemisinin treatment worldwide.
Artemisinin combination drugs (ACT´s) are the WHO – defined standard of treatment also for uncomplicated malaria since the year 2000. After more than 15 years in clinical use worldwide, the group again demonstrated that late haemolytic reactions also occur in patients treated with oral ACT´s for uncomplicated malaria. Ongoing research aims to collect better data on risk factors and pathophysiology of late haemolytic reactions after antimalarial treatment.
Clinical studies / projects:
- MAL-RISK study part I (PI, 2018-2021)
- SMPS (severe malaria pharmacovigilance system for intravenous artesunate, PI, 2014-2020)
- HAEMO-ART study (2014-2020, PI)
- TropNet Severe Malaria Study (2008-2015, PI)
- Study site: Proof of Concept Study of Eurartesim® in Patients with Imported Uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax Malaria (2014-2016, local PI)
The group is actively involved in research projects on the epidemiology of travel-related infections imported to Europe. We aim to raise the standards in diagnostic methods and clinical and therapeutic options. This knowledge also improves pre-travel risk assessment and efficacy of disease prevention.
Clinical studies / projects
- Epidemiology and clinical features of imported Schistosomiasis in European travellers (PI, 2017, PI)
- Epidemiology and clinical features of Dengue fever in German travellers (2015, PI)
- Partner of „DENGUE TOOLS“ consortium (2014-2016, participation)
Other projects / studies
- EU-PEARL (2019-2023, scientific contribution): EU-PEARL is a strategic partnership between the public and private sectors formed in 2019 to shape the future of clinical trials. Under the umbrella of the Innovative Medicines Initiative, the Consortium developed a generic framework and a set of tools to conduct patient-centric collaborative platform trials, Integrated Research Platforms (IRPs).
Find all publications from our work on this page.