Immunology
Team PMI
Pathogen-Mediated Modulation of Innate Immunity
Preliminary evidence suggests that pathogenic microorganisms can exploit functional innate immunity networks of the host to aid immune evasion, and that de-regulation of those same networks might contribute to pathology in chronic inflammatory diseases. The team is interested in identifying key molecular and cellular mechanisms at the pathogen-host interface which could be exploited as potential targets for the treatment of multiple chronic inflammatory diseases.
- Mentors
- Dr. Stefan Pflanz
Director Cancer Immunology and Immune Modulation at Boehringer Ingelheim, Biberach, Germany (Industry mentor) - Prof. Dr. Adelheid Cerwenka
Head of Clinical Immunomonitoring at Medical Faculty Mannheim, University of Heidelberg, Germany (Academic mentor)
- Dr. Stefan Pflanz
Our Team Members
Dr. Bachir El Debs
Group Leader
- Short Bio
- 2013-2017: Post-doc in pathogen-host interactions with Dr. Athanasios Typas at the EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany
- 2011-2013: Post-doc in single-cell analysis and microfluidics with Dr. Christoph Merten at the EMBL-Heidelberg, Germany
- 2008-2011: PhD in microfluidics with Dr.Christoph Merten in the Laboratory of Prof. Andrew Griffiths, University of Strasbourg, France
- Contact
Dr. Jamie Frankish
Postdoctoral Researcher
- Short Bio
- 2016-2017: PhD side project working on the characterisation of zika virus infection induced activation of innate immunity in human neuron progenitor cells, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2014-2017: PhD project in the German Cancer Research Center working on the characterisation of the regulation and dynamics of early viral infection and innate antiviral responses, DKFZ, Heidelberg, Germany
- 2013-2014: Masters in immunology, working on the development of phage display technology for the production of single chain antibodies (Nanobodies), TCD University, Dublin, Ireland
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Dr. Benjamin Mielich-Süß
Postdoctoral Researcher
- Short Bio
- 2012-2017: Ph.D. with Dr. Daniel Lopez at the Institute for Molecular Infection Biology, University of Würzburg, Germany
- 2015: Visiting Scientist at the Department of Bacteriology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA
- 2007-2012: Undergraduate Studies (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) at the University of Würzburg, Germany
Recipient of a PhD fellowship of the Graduate School of Life Science (University of Würzburg)
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Mathieu Gendarme
Research Associate
Anastasia Demshina
Research Assistant
- Short Bio
- 2017-2019: Master of Science in Biotechnology with focus on Biomedical Science and Technology, Mannheim University of Applied Sciences, Mannheim, Germany
- 2012-2016: Bachelor of Engineering in Biotechnology, Dmitry Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia, Moscow, Russia
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