Prof. Dr. Bodo Grimbacher participates in RESIST research project A2.

My Research Interest in RESIST

Currently, more than 350 genes are known to cause primary immunodeficiencies (PID). However, depending on the cohort studied, these 350 genes only explain about 15-60% of patients. Hence, other causative or contributing factors, such as epigenetic profiles, the regulation of gene expression, or the gut microbiome, need to be studied. Our main objectives in RESIST are: reducing the number of unsolved cases – since the majority of patients with immunodeficiency are currently undiagnosed -, improving our understanding on how the epigenome works and its role in primary immunodeficiency disease and understanding the relationship between the gut microbiome and disease severity and comorbidity in PID patients with malignancies, autoimmunity or inflammation.

Contact

Prof. Grimbacher about his scientific work

This Video was recorded in 2021.

Prof. Dr. Bodo Grimbacher – Curriculum Vitae

Current Position

  • Since 2011 Full (W3) Professor for Experimental Immunodeficiency, Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI)

  • Since 2019 Vice Director of the Institute for Immunodeficiency at the Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI), Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Training

  • 1988 – 1995 Medical School in Aachen, Freiburg and Hamburg, Germany

  • 1995 Dissertation in Medicine, Department of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, ALU Freiburg, Germany

  • 1995 – 1997 Clinical Internship (AiP), Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

  • 1997 – 2000 Postdoc, National Human Genome Institute, NIH, Bethesda, MD, USA

  • 2000 – 2006 Emmy Noether-Fellow of the DFG, Division of Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

  • 2006 Habilitation in Internal Medicine (Supervisor Prof. Dr. med. H.H. Peter), ALU Freiburg, Germany 

Academic and Research Posts

  • 2006 – 2011 Consultant and EU Marie-Curie Research Group Leader, Department of Immunology, Royal Free Hospital & University College London, UK 

  • 2011 – 2019 Scientific Director and consultant at the CCI, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

  • 2021 – 2022 Sabbatical at UCSD, Laboratory of Prof. Kees Murre, La Jolla, USA, Topic: Epigenetics of B cells 

  • Since 2019 Vice Director of the Institute for Immunodeficiency at the Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI), Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Germany

Other Scientific Roles

  • 2002 – 2006 Head of the ESID registry, set up of an internet-based patient and research database for over 200 different primary immunodeficiencies which was supported and sponsored by the European Commission under the 6th Framework Program

  • 2006 – 2010 Secretary of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID)

  • 2014 – 2023 Speaker of the Arbeitskreis Klinische Immunologie AKKI (DGfI)

  • 2019 – 2023 Co-Speaker of the E-Rare Disease Network iPAD (EU)

  • Since 2022 Speaker of the Translational Immunology School TIS (DGfI)

  • Since 2019 Speaker of the German Rare Disease Network GAIN (BMBF)

  • Since 2019 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the ACHSE e.V.

  • Since 2021 Member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the DADA2 Foundation

  • Since 2022 Board Member and Head of the Genetics Working Party of the European Society for Immunodeficiency (ESID)

  • Since 2022 Speaker of the Working Group Molecular Testing of the European Reference Network ERN-RITA

Awards and Prizes

  • 1999 Fellow of the Immunodeficiency Foundation (IDF)

  • 2002 Admission to the Emmy Nöther programme of the German research foundation

  • 2002 Election to host the Clinical Patient Registry of ESID

  • 2006 Georges Köhler Award 2006 of the German Immunology Society

  • 2006 Secretary of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID)

  • 2006 Marie-Curie Excellence Award of the European Commission for 4 years

  • 2007 Rudolf-Schoen Prize from the Medizinische Hochschule Hannover

  • 2008 Richard S. Farr Memorial Lecture at the AAAI

  • 2009 Thieme Research Prize of the Leopoldina, Halle

  • 2010 – 2011 Member of London Medical Research Club, UK

  • 2012 Watson Memorial Lecture, University of Newcastle, UK

  • 2017 Quo Vadis Lecture, AG Dermatologische Forschung, Göttingen, Germany

  • 2017 William T. Shearer Lectureship Grand Rounds, Houston, USA

  • 2019 Opening Lecture Immunology Department in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Recommended Links

For further information about Prof. Grimbacher’s scientific work please check the following links:

10 Selected Publications

Rauer S, Marks R, Urbach H, Warnatz K, Nath A, Holland S, Weiller C, Grimbacher B. Treatment of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy with Pembrolizumab. (Letter). N Engl J Med. 2019 Apr 10. [Letter, Epub ahead of print] 

Frey-Jakobs S, Hartberger JM, Fliegauf M, Bossen C, Wehmeyer ML, Neubauer JC, Bulashevska A, Proietti M, Fröbel P, Nöltner C, Yang L, Rojas-Restrepo J, Langer N, Winzer S, Engelhardt KR, Glocker C, Pfeifer D, Klein A, Schäffer AA, Lagovsky I, Lachover-Roth I, Béziat V, Puel A, Casanova JL, Fleckenstein B, Weidinger S, Kilic SS, Garty BZ, Etzioni A, Grimbacher B. ZNF341 controls STAT3 expression and thereby immunocompetence. Sci Immunol. 2018 Jun 15;3(24). 

Fliegauf M, Bryant VL, Frede N, Slade C, Woon ST, Lehnert K, Winzer S, Bulashevska A, Scerri T, Leung E, Jordan A, Keller B, de Vries E, Cao H, Yang F, Schäffer AA, Warnatz K, Browett P, Douglass J, Ameratunga RV, van der Meer JW, Grimbacher B. Haploinsufficiency of the NF-κB1 Subunit p50 in Common Variable Immunodeficiency. Am J Hum Genet. 2015 Sep 3;97(3):389-403. Epub 2015 Aug 13. 

Schubert D, Bode C, Kenefeck R, Hou TZ, Wing JB, Kennedy A, Bulashevska A, Petersen BS, Schäffer AA, Grüning BA, Unger S, Frede N, Baumann U, Witte T, Schmidt RE, Dueckers G, Niehues T, Seneviratne S, Kanariou M, Speckmann C, Ehl S, Rensing-Ehl A, Warnatz K, Rakhmanov M, Thimme R, Hasselblatt P, Emmerich F, Cathomen T, Backofen R, Fisch P, Seidl M, May A, Schmitt-Graeff A, Ikemizu S, Salzer U, Franke A, Sakaguchi S, Walker LS*, Sansom DM*, Grimbacher B*. Autosomal dominant immune dysregulation syndrome in humans with CTLA4 mutations. Nat Med. 2014 Dec;20(12):1410-6. *contributed equally 

Lanternier F, Pathan S, Vincent QB, Liu L, Cypowyj S, Prando C, Migaud M, Taibi L, Ammar-Khodja A, Boudghene Stambouli O, Guellil B, Jacobs F, Goffard JC, Schepers K, del Marmol V, Boussofara L, Denguezli M, Larif M, Bachelez H, Michel L, Lefranc G, Hay R, Jouvion G, Chretien F, Fraitag S, Bougnoux ME, Boudia M, Abel L, Lortholary O, Casanova JL*, Picard C*, Grimbacher B*, Puel A.* Deep dermatophytosis and inherited CARD9 deficiency. N Engl J Med. 2013 Oct 31;369(18):1704-14. *contributed equally 

Lopez-Herrera G, Tampella G, Pan-Hammarström Q, Herholz P, Trujillo-Vargas CM, Phadwal K, Simon AK, Moutschen M, Etzioni A, Mory A, Srugo I, Melamed D, Hultenby K, Liu C, Baronio M, Vitali M, Philippet P, Dideberg V, Aghamohammadi A, Rezaei N, Enright V, Du L, Salzer U, Eibel H, Pfeifer D, Veelken H, Stauss H, Lougaris V, Plebani A, Gertz EM, Schäffer AA, Hammarström L, Grimbacher B. Deleterious Mutations in LRBA Are Associated with a Syndrome of Immune Deficiency and Autoimmunity. Am J Hum Genet. 2012 Jun 8;90(6):986-1001 . Epub 2012 May 16. 

Glocker EO, Frede N, Perro M, Sebire N, Elawad M, Shah N, Grimbacher B. Infant colitis–it’s in the genes. Lancet. 2010 Oct 9;376(9748):1272. 

Glocker EO, Kotlarz D, Boztug K, Gertz EM, Schäffer AA, Noyan F, Perro M, Diestelhorst J, Allroth A, Murugan D, Hätscher N, Pfeifer D, Sykora KW, Sauer M, Kreipe H, Lacher M, Nustede R, Woellner C, Baumann U, Salzer U, Koletzko S, Shah N, Segal AW, Sauerbrey A, Buderus S, Snapper SB, Grimbacher B*, Klein C*. Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Mutations Affecting the Interleukin-10 Receptor. N Engl J Med. 2009 Nov 19;361(21):2033- 45. *contributed equally 

Glocker EO, Hennigs A, Nabavi M, Schäffer AA, Woellner C, Salzer U, Pfeifer D, Veelken H, Warnatz K, Tahami F, Jamal S, Manguiat A, Rezaei N, Amirzargar A, Plebani A, Hannesschläger N, Gross O, Ruland J, Grimbacher B. A homozygous CARD9 mutation in a family with susceptibility to fungal infections. N Engl J Med. 2009 Oct 29;361(18):1727-35. 

Holland SM, Deleo FR, Elloumi HZ, Hsu AP, Uzel G, Brodsky N, Freeman AF, Demidowich A, Davis J, Turner ML, Anderson VL, Darnell DN, Welch PA, Kuhns DB, Frucht DM, Malech HL, Gallin JI, Kobayashi SD, Whitney AR, Voyich JM, Musser JM, Woellner C, Schaffer A, Puck JM*, Grimbacher B*. STAT3 Mutations in the Hyper- IgE Syndrome. N Engl J Med. 2007 Oct 18;357(16):1608-19. *contributed equally 

Contact

  Prof. Dr. Bodo Grimbacher
  Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency
  Breisacher Straße 115
79106 Freiburg
  +49 761 270-77731
  Bodo.Grimbacher
@uniklinik-freiburg.de