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
BioMalPar XIX
(23-25 May 2023, EMBL, Heidelberg)
The conference series brings malaria researchers from around the world to present and share recent ground-breaking findings on fundamental malaria research in an integrated and highly collaborative environment. BioMalPar XIX, co-organized by our group leader Markus Ganter, showcased the multidisciplinary nature of malaria research with a programme that welcomed clinical malaria, epidemiological studies, immunology, and evolution and ecology alongside core BioMalPar topics. The programme focused on early-mid career researchers to help mitigate the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which have been particularly acute for these stages.
Funding for V. Ingham
(April 2023)
Our group leader Victoria Ingham has gained prestigious funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for the investigation of a potential dual effect of a new insecticide for mosquito nets. The active agent chlorfenapyr could help control vector mosquitoes and malaria parasites at the same time and prevent resistance.
Mosquito nets treated with insecticides are currently the most important method of combating malaria. Experts estimate that the decrease in malaria infections over the last 20 years is largely due to these bed nets. However, mosquitoes are becoming increasingly resistant to the insecticides used in the nets. "Mosquito nets treated with chlorfenapyr are a new tool that can significantly improve the global fight against malaria", says our group leader.
DGP Conference 2023
(15-17 March 2023, Gießen)
From 15-17 March 2023 the world of parasitology was guest in Gießen where this year's annual meeting of the German Society for Parasitology (DGP) took place.
It was a quite successful meeting for our staff members: our PhD student Monami Roy Chowdhury (Frischknecht lab) won the 1st poster prize, the former Ganter lab PhD student Severina Klaus was awarded the Piekarski Award for her dissertation in 2022 and our department head Michael Lanzer was honored with the Rudolf-Leuckart Medal for his outstanding services to the advancement of parasitology.