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Prof. Dr. med. Achim Hörauf

Member, Steering-Committee Member

Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology

Medical Faculty, University of Bonn University Hospital of Bonn Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25 53127 Bonn

achim.hoerauf@ukbonn.de

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Prof. Hörauf is internationally renowned for his work in Tropical Medicine, in particular for pioneering new drug treatments against filariasis (a group of neglected tropical diseases). The new treatment exploits an endosymbiosis between worms and bacterial endosymbionts called Wolbachia, which are susceptible to some classes of antibiotics. Prof. Hörauf’s group was the first to characterize a TLR2 ligand from Wolbachia and established that blindness in onchocerciasis (or ‘river blindness’) is dependent on innate immune reactions against Wolbachia. They were the first to detect regulatory T cells in humans in an infection. Modulation of host’s immune responses is another focus of Prof. Hörauf’s group, demonstrating that filarial infection and filarial antigen treatment protects against type 1 diabetes onset and improves glucose tolerance during obesity. Using expression quantitative trait loci analysis, the role of genetic factors in modulating cellular responses (to filarial antigens) and eventually filariae-caused pathology devel-opment is currently investigated. Beyond immunology, Achim Hoerauf has preclinically developed 4 new drugs against human filariasis which are now in clinical phase 1 and 2 studies, together with DNDi and pharma partners such as Abbvie, Bayer, and Esai.

Achim Hörauf

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Recent publications

  • Efficacy of oxfendazole treatment against infective larvae of Litomosoides sigmodontis.

    PLoS neglected tropical diseases

    Authors: Frederic Risch, Lucas J Bergmann, Hannah R Wegner, Achim Hoerauf, Marc P Hübner

  • Breaking Down Barriers: CorA Effectively Targets Staphylococcal Biofilms in Vitro and in Vivo.

    ChemMedChem

    Authors: Stefania De Benedetti, Nikolay Krasimirov Kirilov, Haoxuan Zeng, Carolin Ade, Isabel Bodenstein, Maximilian Förster, Noran Abdel-Wadood, Ahmad Aljohmani, Gabriela Krasteva-Christ, Daniela Yildiz, Sabryna Junker, Syeda Javariya Khalid, Katharina Rox, Hedda Schrey, Miriam Große, Andrea Schiefer, Sören Leif Becker, Kenneth Pfarr, Achim Hoerauf, Markus Bischoff, Mathias Müsken, Tanja Schneider

  • Molecular characterization of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli among children and farm animals in Agogo, Ghana.

    BMC microbiology

    Authors: Charity Wiafe Akenten, Hagen Frickmann, Thorsten Thye, Neyaz Ahmed Khan, Ralf Krumkamp, Ellis Kobina Paintsil, Linda Aurelia Ofori, Anna Jaeger, Wibke Loag, Maike Lamshoeft, Ernst Molitor, Achim Hoerauf, Kwasi Obiri-Danso, Stefan Berg, Oumou Maiga Ascofare, Richard Odame Phillips, Jürgen May, Denise Dekker

All publications by Prof. Dr. med. Achim Hörauf