Welcome to the Parasitology Unit at the Centre for Infectious Diseases
Parasitology is a science at the heart of clinical medicine, epidemiology, immunology, molecular biology and biochemistry.
It deals with some of the most important infectious diseases of mankind.
Parasitology has the potential to help us understand questions regarding the complexity of life and the interactions between different species.
Parasitology may provide the tools to alleviate the suffering of millions of people stricken by parasites.
Prof. Michael Lanzer, Ph. D.
Current Highlights (for further info see our News section)
ERC Grant for F. Hentzschel
(5 September 2024)
We are delighted to announce that our research group leader Dr Franziska Hentzschel has been awarded one of the prestigious and highly endowed Starting Grants from the European Research Council (ERC). This makes her the only scientist in Heidelberg to have achieved this in the current funding round. The 5-year grant of approximately 1.5 Mio Euros will be used to explore new strategies against malaria. We wish our research group leader every success in this endeavour!
New article by Frischknecht lab
(5 August 2024)
Very slow malaria pathogens could be suitable as a vaccine
Team members of the Frischknecht lab together with collaborators from the German Center for Infection Research have successfully tested a new approach for a malaria vaccine in animal experiments: As a vaccine, they used genetically modified malaria parasites that developed normally in the mosquito but at a significantly slower rate in the mouse. When later infected with unmodified pathogens, the rodents were protected from severe illnesses and typical malaria symptoms did not occur. The results have been published online in the journal EMBO Molecular Medicine.
Prize for exellent teaching
(22 July 2024)
The Prize for Excellent Teaching at the Faculty of Medicine (PaLMe) is awarded by the Heidelberg Medical Student Council to honour and reward excellent teaching by students.
We are extremely pleased to announce that this semester one of our group leaders, Markus Ganter, was honoured with the award, together with 2 colleagues from the Clinics of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery (Katrin Meisenbacher) and the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Centre (Sebastian Schuck). We have always known that Markus is an excellent lecturer! Congratulations to all the PalMe winners and may the prize inspire other lecturers to bring the same passion and dedication to their teaching.