Curriculum vitae Prof. Gabriele Pradel
Born April 8, 1970, in Bocholt, Germany, married, two children *2002, *2008
Education
19/12/2012: Venia Legendi in Microbiology and Molecular Biotechnology
RWTH Aachen University, Germany
12/11/2008: Habilitation in Cell and Microbiology
Julius Maximilians University Würzburg, Germany
• Thesis: Transmission stage proteins of the malaria parasite Plasmodium sp. and their roles for intervention strategies.
26/01/1999: Dr. phil. nat.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany
• Thesis: Neural cell adhesion molecules in long-term memory formation after active avoidance conditioning in zebrafish.
14/07/1994: Diploma in Biology
Justus Liebig University Gießen, Germany
• Thesis: Ultrastructural examinations of the fine structure of Plasmodium chabaudi during Artemisinin treatment in vitro.
Professional Experience
Since 04/2019: University Professor (W2)
Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
04/2014-03/2019: Heisenberg Professor
Division of Cellular and Applied Infection Biology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
04/2012-06/2018: Project Group Leader
Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology Aachen, Germany
01/2012-03/2014: Group Leader
Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
01/2005-12/2011: Emmy Noether Group Leader
Research Center for Infectious Diseases, Julius Maximilians University Würzburg, Germany
08/2003-02/2005: Instructor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
09/2001-07/2003: Postdoctoral Associate
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA
03/1999-08/2001: Postdoctoral Fellow
Department of Medical and Molecular Parasitology, NYU School of Medicine, New York, USA
Awards and Fellowships
07/2019: Recipient of the PAULA award (category “best lecture”) of the RWTH Aachen University medical student union for excellent teaching
02/2018: Recipient of the “Hauptpreis”, German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)
07/2017: Recipient of the PAULA award (category “best organization”) of the RWTH Aachen University medical student union for excellent teaching
11/2012: Awarded by the Heisenberg Programme of the DFG
06/2010: Selected for AcademiaNet by the Robert-Bosch-Foundation
03/2010: Recipient of the Karl Asmund Rudolphi Medal, German Society for Parasitology (DGP)
01/2005: Awarded by the Emmy Noether Programme of the DFG
09/2000-08/2001: Recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Karl-Enigk-Foundation
03/1999-08/2000: Recipient of a Postdoctoral Fellowship of the DAAD
Third Party Funding
Total funding volume: 6.2 million EUR
2022-2025 Projekt “Infect-Net: Verband deutscher Infektionsforscherinnen – eine Netzwerkinitiative“; BMBF
2022-2025 Project “Deciphering the molecular machinery of translational control in Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes”; Co-applicant with S. Bennink, DFG
2021-2024: Project “Histone methylation during the sexual differentiation of Plasmodium falciparum”, DFG
2021-2024. coordination fund of the speaker of SPP 2225/1 “Exit strategies of intracellular pathogens”, DFG
2021-2024: Project “Vesicle dynamics during the egress of malaria gametocytes from the red blood cell”, SPP 2225/1 “Exit strategies of intracellular pathogens”, DFG
2020/2021: Dean´s Seed Fund “Untersuchungen zum Einfluss der Faktor H-Komplementfamilie auf das Replikationsverhalten des Malariaerregers Plasmodium falciparum”, RWTH Aachen University
2019-2022: Project "The role of the scaffolding protein WLP1 in maintaining multiprotein complexes of malaria gametocytes", DFG.
2017-2020: Project “Factor H-mediated complement evasion by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum”, DFG.
2017-2019: Heisenberg grant “Proteins of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum as targets for malaria therapy”, DFG.
2017: Dean´s Seed Fund “Design of an easy-to-use impregnating agent based on organic compounds to prevent mosquito bites from the Malaria vector Anopheles”, RWTH Aachen University.
2015-2017: Project “The egress of malaria gametocytes from the red blood cell following parasite transmission to the mosquito”, priority programme SPP1580/2 “Intracellular compartments as places of pathogen-host-interaction”, DFG.
2014-2016: Project “GC-GENES: Gene correlation studies in the gametocytes of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum”, BMBF.
2014: Dean´s Seed Fund “Relocation of the transmembrane protein PfGAP50 during complement evasion by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum” RWTH Aachen University.
2014-2017: Heisenberg grant “Sexual stage-specific proteins of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum and their role for transmission blocking proteins”, DFG.
2014-2017: Project “The epigenetic control of gene expression in malaria gametocytes during transmission from the human to the mosquito“; DFG.
2012-2015: Project “The assembly of multimeric protein complexes in the sexual stages of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum”, DFG.
2012-2014: Project “The egress of malaria gametocytes from the red blood cell following parasite transmission to the mosquito”, priority programme SPP1580/1 “Intracellular compartments as places of pathogen-host-interaction”, DFG.
2010-2014: Project “Functional evaluation of vaccine candidates against the sexual stages of Plasmodium parasites“, Fraunhofer Future Foundation Malaria Project.
2009-2012: Member of the MALSIG consortium “Signalling in life cycle stages of malaria parasites”, EU 7th Framework Programme.
2008-2012: Project 9 “Generation and characterization of candidates for malaria/HIV combination therapy”, International Research Training Group IRTG 1522 “HIV/AIDS and associated infectious diseases in South Africa”, DFG.
2007-2011: Associated member of BioMedTec International Graduate School of Science „Lead structures of cell function”, Elite Network Bayern.
2007-2011: Associated member of the SFB 630 „Recognition, preparation and functional analysis of agents against infectious diseases”, DFG.
2007-2009: Project B8 “Identification of molecular interactions during fertilization in the malaria pathogen Plasmodium falciparum“, SFB 479 “Pathogen Variation and Host Response in Infectious Diseases“, DFG.
2005-2011: Emmy Noether grant “Characterization of a novel multi-adhesion protein family expressed in the sexual stages of the human malaria pathogen Plasmodium falciparum”, DFG.
Additional Scientific Activities
- Speaker of the BMBF collaboration project "Infect-Net - Verband deutscher Infektionsforscherinnen: Eine Netzwerkinitiative" (sicne 2022)
- Speaker of the DFG Priority Programme SPP 2225 "Exit strategies of intracellular pathogens" (since 2020)
- Head of the field of specialization "Medical Life Sciences" of the master programme "Biology" of RWTH Aachen University (since 2019)
- Board member of the Biomedical Graduate Schoon Aachen (BMGS) of RWTH Aachen University (since 2017)
- Board member of the German Society for Parasitology (2014-2018)
- Vice Speaker of the Eukaryotic Pathogens Section of the German Society of Hygiene and Microbiology (2015-2017)
- Chair (2021-2023) and Member (since 2016) of the Examinations board of the Department of Biology of RWTH Aachen University
- Equal opportunity officer of Faculty 1 of RWTH Aachen University (since 2020)
- Member of the DAAD Selection Committee for Eastern Europe, incl. the Euler programme (since 2015)
- Mentor (2015-2020) and Preselection Commissioner (since 2021) of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes for students of RWTH Aachen University
- Mentor within the RWTH Aachen University Tandem Programme (2014-2016)
- Patron of the RWTH Aachen University UNICEF student group (since 2023)
- Board member of the Aachen Center of Young Researchers of RWTH Aachen University (2012-2014)
- Speaker of the class “Infection and Immunity”, Graduate School of Life Science, University of Würzburg (2008-2011)
- Officer for Biological Safety at Research Center for Infectious Diseases, University of Würzburg (2007-2011)
- Organizer of the following meetings: Malaria Meeting Aachen (2013), Gametocyte Meeting Aachen (2014), DGHM-Workshop “Eukaryotic Pathogens“ Aachen (2016), DGP-Meeting Göttingen (2016), BioMalPar Heidelberg (2017), EXIT Status Workhop Aachen (2022), EXIT Symposium 2023 Brühl (2023), Infect-Net Meeting Aachen (2023)
- Member of the following societies: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Parasitologie (German Society for Parasitology), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie (German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology), Deutscher Hochschulverband
- Peer reviewer for funding agencies including Wellcome Trust (GBR), MRC (GBR), DFG (DEU), DAAD (DEU), ERC (EU), AvH (DEU), BMBF (DEU), ANR (FRA), SNF (CHE)
- Editor of Frontiers Cellular and Infection Microbiology (since 2019) and Molecular Microbiology (since 2020), guest editor of PLoS Pathogens (since 2012)
- Columnist of Rheinische Post (since 2021)
- Peer reviewer for journals including Nature Communication, Cell Host and Microbe, eLife, EMBO Journal, EMBO Reports, PNAS, Molecular Microbiology, Cellular Microbiology, Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, PLoS One, PLoS Pathogens, Trends in Parasitology, Future Microbiology, Biochemistry Journal, Biological Chemistry, Scientific Report, International Journal for Parasitology, Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Malaria Journal, Experimental Parasitology and International Journal for Medical Microbiology
Publications
H-Index: 43 (May 2023, Google Scholar)
80 peer-reviewed original publications, 22 reviews, 5 book chapters, 2 proceedings, 2 patents
10 selected Publications
Bennink, S., von Bohl, A., Ngwa, C.J., Henschel, L., Kuehn, A., Pilch, N., Weißbach, T., Rosinski, A.N., Scheuermayer, M., Repnik, U., Przyborski, J.M., Minns, A.M., Orchard, L.M., Griffiths, G., Lindner, S.E., Llinás, M., Pradel, G. (2018). A seven-helix protein constitutes stress granules crucial for regulating translation during human-to-mosquito transmission of Plasmodium falciparum. PLoS Pathog 14:e1007249.
Ngwa, C.J., Kiesow, M.J., Pabst, O., Orchard, L.M., Filarsky, M., Rosinski, A.N., Voss, T.S., Llinás, M., Pradel, G. (2017). Transcriptional profiling defines Histone acetylation as a regulator of gene expression during human-to-mosquito transmission of the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 7:320
Wirth CC, Glushakova S, Scheuermayer M, Repnik U, Garg S, Schaack D, Kachman MM, Weißbach T, Zimmerberg J, Dandekar T, Griffiths G, Chitnis CE, Singh S, Fischer R, Pradel G (2014):
Perforin-like protein PPLP2 permeabilizes the red blood cell membrane during egress of Plasmodium falciparum gametocytes.
Cell Microbiol 16:709-733.
Simon N, Lasonder E, Scheuermayer M, Kuehn A, Tews S, Fischer R, Zipfel PF, Skerka C, Pradel G (2013):
Malaria parasites co-opt human factor H to prevent complement-mediated lysis in the mosquito midgut.
Cell Host Microbe 13(1):29-41.
Rupp I, Sologub L, Williamson KC, Scheuermayer M, Reininger L, Doerig C, Eksi S, Kombila DU, Frank M, Pradel G (2011):
Malaria parasites form filamentous cell-to-cell connections during reproduction in the mosquito midgut.
Cell Res 21:683-696.
Simon N, Scholz SM, Moreira CK, Templeton TJ, Kuehn A, Dude MA, Pradel G (2009):
Sexual stage adhesion proteins form multi-protein complexes in the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.
J Biol Chem 284:14537-14546.
Pradel G, Hayton K, Aravind L, Iyer LM, Abrahamsen MS, Bonawitz A, Mejia C, Templeton TJ (2004):
A multidomain adhesion protein family expressed in Plasmodium falciparum is essential for transmission to the mosquito.
J Exp Med 199:1533-1544.
Pradel G, Frevert U (2001):
Malaria sporozoites actively enter and pass through rat Kupffer cells prior to hepatocyte invasion.
Hepatology 33:1154-1165.
Mota MM, Pradel G, Vanderberg JP, Hafalla JC, Frevert U, Nussenzweig RS, Nussenzweig V, Rodríguez A (2001):
Migration of Plasmodium sporozoites through cells before infection.
Science 291:141-144.
Thesis supervision
Primary supervision of 23 PhD theses, 11 diploma theses, 26 MSc theses, 29 BSc theses
Awards and Fellowships of co-workers
- Sandra Bennink: Gerhard Piekarski Award of the DGP, 2020
- Sandra Bennink: ERS Start-Up Fund of RWTH Aachen University, 2020-2021
- Sandra Bennink: Karman travel stipend of RWTH Aachen University, 2019.
- Sandra Bennink: FRONTIERS Junior Research Award of the DGHM-FG EP, 2018
- Afia Farrukh: DAAD PhD fellowship, 2019-2022
- Jean Pierre Musabyimana: DAAD PhD fellowship, 2019-2022
- Che Julius Ngwa: ERS Seed Fund of RWTH Aachen University, 2018
- Monika Saini: DAAD PhD sandwich fellowship, 2017-2018
- Thiago Rosa: EMBO short-term fellowship, 2017
- Che Julius Ngwa: ERS Start Up grant of RWTH Aachen University, 2016
- Ansgar Flammersfeld: Poster award by the DGP, 2016
- Bismarck Dinko: DAAD postdoc fellowship, 2015-2016
- Emilie Joelle Njila Tchoufack:DAAD PhD fellowship, 2015-2019
- Che Julius Ngwa: Karman travel stipend of RWTH Aachen University, 2014
- Thiago Rosa: Science without Borders PhD fellowship, 2013-2017
- Makoah Nigel Aminake: Georg Forster postdoctoral fellowship of the Alexander Humboldt Foundation, 2012-2014
- Christine Wirth: Recipient of a poster award by the DGP, 2012
- Nina Simon: Recipient of a Zonta Prize, Würzburg, Germany, 2010