The Lanzer lab from left to right:

Upper row: Gabriel Liu (PhD student, alumnus), Cecilia Sanchez (Senior Scientist), Alessia Valdarno (secretary), Michael Lanzer (group leader), Marina Müller (technician), Sebastiano Bellanca (PhD student), Maximilian Nick (trainee), Marek Cyrklaff (senior scientist), Anurag Dave (Postdoc, alumnus)

First row: Carolin Geiger (PhD student), Ines Petersen (Postdoc, alumna), Stefan Prior (technician), Katharina Ehrhardt (PhD student), Hani Kartini Agustar (PhD student), Sophia Deil (PhD student), Carine Djuika (PhD student)

Not on the photo: Martin Dittmer (PhD student), Miriam Griesheimer (secretary), Thomas Jänisch (senior scientist), Nicole Kilian (PhD student), Eike Pfefferkorn (med. PhD student), Harden Rieger (PhD student)

                                                                      

                 

The pathogenicity of human malaria parasites

The pioneering work of Sir Ronald Ross, demonstrating that malaria is a vector-borne disease, celebrated its centennial anniversary in 1997. More than one-hundred years later, malaria still remains a major threat to mankind, responsible for an estimated 300-500 million clinical cases and 1-3 million deaths annually. The malaria situation is expected to get worse as once effective weapons against this infectious disease have lost their edge. Chemotherapeutics now frequently fail due to wide spread resistance mechanisms, and insecticides, once widely used to eradicate the malaria vectors, are now disqualified because of environmental considerations. New and affordable drugs, suitable for mass application in developing countries, are not on the horizon, neither is a widely effective malaria vaccine. In order to develop sustainable means to control malaria, a better understanding of the etiological agents that cause malaria, their biology, virulence and pathogenicity is imperative.

 

Our objectives are to provide a better understanding of the biology, virulence and pathogenicity of malaria parasites, in an effort to develop new regimens for the treatment of this important disease. In particular, we are investigating:

• the molecular mechanisms of immune evasion and cytoadhesion and how these pathogenetic mechanisms affect the pathogenesis of the disease;
• the genesis of chloroquine drug resistance;
• mechanisms of ion homeostasis;
• the application of ionic exchangers as novel targets for rational drug development programs.

 

Contact:

AG Lanzer
Ms Griesheimer
Dept. für Infektiologie, Parasitologie
Universitätsklinikum Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 324
69120 Heidelberg
Germany
Phone:   ++49 6221 567845
Fax:        ++49 6221 564643
Email: miriam.griesheimer(at)med.uni-heidelberg.de

             

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Publications

 

Most recent

                  

Cyrklaff M, Sanchez CP, Kilian N, Bisseye C, Simpore J, Frischknecht F, Lanzer M (2011) Hemoglobins S and C Interfere with Actin Remodeling in Plasmodium falciparum–Infected Erythrocytes Science, published online 10 November 2011 [DOI:10.1126/science.1213775]

        

Sanchez CP, Mayer S, Nurhasanah A, Stein WD, Lanzer M. (2011) Genetic linkage analyses redefine the roles of PfCRT and PfMDR1 in drug accumulation and susceptibility in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Microbiol. Oct 14. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2011.07855.x. [Epub ahead of print]

            

Müller T, Johann L, Jannack B, Brückner M, Lanfranchi DA, Bauer H, Sanchez C, Yardley V, Deregnaucourt C, Schrével J, Lanzer M, Schirmer RH, Davioud-Charvet E. (2011) Glutathione reductase-catalyzed cascade of redox reactions to bioactivate potent antimalarial 1,4-naphthoquinones--a new strategy to combat malarial parasites. J Am Chem Soc. Aug 3;133(30):11557-71. Epub 2011 Jul 12.

            

Petersen I, Eastman R, Lanzer M. (2011) Drug-resistant malaria: molecular mechanisms and implications for public health. FEBS Lett. Jun 6;585(11):1551-62. Epub 2011 Apr 23. Review.

             

Heinrich S, Altenkämper M, Bechem B, Perruchon J, Ortmann R , Dahse HM, Wang Y, Lanzer M, Schlitzer M. (2011) 2-Acylamino-5-chlorobenzophenones with enhanced selectivity towards malaria parasites. Eur J Med Chem. 46(4):1331-42.

              

Beez D, Sanchez CP, Stein WD, Lanzer M. (2011) Genetic predisposition favors the acquisition of stable artemisinin resistance in malaria parasites. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 55(1):50-5.

                     

Boulton, I.C., Nwaka, S., Bathurst, I., Lanzer, M., Taramelli, D., Vial, H., Doerig, C., Chibale, K., and Ward, S.A. (2010) CRIMALDDI: a co-ordinated, rational, and integrated effort to set logical priorities in anti-malarial drug discovery initiatives. Malar J 9: 202.

                                       

Kruger, T., Sanchez, C.P., and Lanzer, M. (2010) Complementation of Saccharomyces cerevisiaepik1(ts) by a phosphatidylinositol 4-kinase from Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Biochem Parasitol.

          

Kuhn, Y., Sanchez, C.P., Ayoub, D., Saridaki, T., van Dorsselaer, A., and Lanzer, M. (2010) Trafficking of the phosphoprotein PfCRT to the digestive vacuolar membrane in Plasmodium falciparum. Traffic 11: 236-249.

           

Oster, N., Rohrbach, P., Sanchez, C.P., Andrews, K.T., Kammer, J., Coulibaly, B., Stieglbauer, G., Becher, H., and Lanzer, M. (2010) Apparent bias for P. falciparum parasites carrying the wild-type pfcrt allele in the placenta. Parasitol Res 106: 1065-1070.

              

Raabe, C.A., Sanchez, C.P., Randau, G., Robeck, T., Skryabin, B.V., Chinni, S.V., Kube, M., Reinhardt, R., Ng, G.H., Manickam, R., Kuryshev, V.Y., Lanzer, M., Brosius, J., Tang, T.H., and Rozhdestvensky, T.S. (2010) A global view of the nonprotein-coding transcriptome in Plasmodium falciparum. Nucleic Acids Res 38: 608-617.

             

Rotmann, A., Sanchez, C., Guiguemde, A., Rohrbach, P., Dave, A., Bakouh, N., Planelles, G., and Lanzer, M. (2010) PfCHA is a mitochondrial divalent cation/H+ antiporter in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Microbiol 76: 1591-1606.

          

Sanchez, C.P., Dave, A., Stein, W.D., and Lanzer, M. (2010) Transporters as mediators of drug resistance in Plasmodium falciparum. Int J Parasitol 40: 1109-1118.

          

Saridaki, T., Frohlich, K.S., Braun-Breton, C., and Lanzer, M. (2009) Export of PfSBP1 to the Plasmodium falciparum Maurer's clefts. Traffic 10: 137-152.

                

Stein, W.D., Sanchez, C.P., and Lanzer, M. (2009) Virulence and drug resistance in malaria parasites. Trends Parasitol 25: 441-443.

           

Henrich, P., Kilian, N., Lanzer, M., and Cyrklaff, M. (2009) 3-D analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum Maurer's clefts using different electron tomographic approaches. Biotechnol J 4: 888-894.

      

Saridaki, T., Sanchez, C.P., Pfahler, J., and Lanzer, M. (2008) A conditional export system provides new insights into protein export in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. Cell Microbiol 10: 2483-2495.

                          

Sanchez, C.P., Stein, W.D., and Lanzer, M. (2008b) Dissecting the components of quinine accumulation in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Microbiol 67: 1081-1093.

                         

Sanchez, C.P., Rotmann, A., Stein, W.D., and Lanzer, M. (2008a) Polymorphisms within PfMDR1 alter the substrate specificity for anti-malarial drugs in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Microbiol 70: 786-798.

                                

Friebolin, W., Jannack, B., Wenzel, N., Furrer, J., Oeser, T., Sanchez, C.P., Lanzer, M., Yardley, V., Becker, K., and Davioud-Charvet, E. (2008) Antimalarial dual drugs based on potent inhibitors of glutathione reductase from plasmodium falciparum. J Med Chem 51: 1260-1277.

                           

Frischknecht, F., and Lanzer, M. (2008) The Plasmodium falciparum Maurer's clefts in 3D. Mol Microbiol 67: 687-691.

                              

Kuhn, Y., Rohrbach, P. & Lanzer, M. (2007) Quantitative pH measurements in Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes using pHluorin. Cell Microbiol 9, 1004-13.

 

Schieck, E., Pfahler, J.M., Sanchez, C.P. & Lanzer, M. (2007) Nuclear run-on analysis of var gene expression in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Biochem Parasitol 153, 207-12.

 

Sanchez, C.P., Rohrbach, P., McLean, J.E., Fidock, D.A., Stein, W.D., and Lanzer, M (2007). Differences in trans-stimulated chloroquine efflux kinetics are linked to PfCRT in Plasmodium falciparum. Mol Microbiol 64, 407-20.

 

Sanchez, C.P., Stein, W.D. & Lanzer, M. (2007) Is PfCRT a channel or a carrier? Two competing models explaining chloroquine resistance in Plasmodium falciparum. Trends Parasitol 23, 332-9.

 

Lanzer, M., Wickert, H., Krohne, G., Vincensini, L. & Braun Breton, C. (2006) Maurer's clefts: a novel multi-functional organelle in the cytoplasm of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes. Int J Parasitol 36, 23-36.

 

Stich A, Oster N, Abdel-Aziz IZ, Stieglbauer G, Coulibaly B, Wickert H, McLean J, Kouyate BA, Becher H, Lanzer M (2006) Malaria in a holoendemic area of Burkina Faso: a cross-sectional study. Parasitol. Res. 1-4.

 

Oster N, Gehrig-Feistel H, Jung H, Kammer J, McLean JE, Lanzer M (2006) Evaluation of the immunochromatographic CORIS Giardia-Strip test for rapid diagnosis of Giardia lamblia. Eur. J. Clin. Microbiol. Infect. Dis. 1-4.

 

Dormeyer M, Adams Y, Kramer B, Chakravorty S, Tse MT, Pegoraro S, Whittaker L, Lanzer M, Craig A (2006) Rational design of anticytoadherence inhibitors for Plasmodium falciparum based on the crystal structure of human intercellular adhesion molecule 1. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 50: 724-730.

 

 

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Complete List of Publications (pdf)