Prof. Ulrike Protzer
Professorship - Virology
School - TUM School of Medicine and Health
Contact - Business card in TUMonline
ACADEMIC CAREER AND RESEARCH AREAS
Professor Protzer (b. 1962) studies the virus-host-interaction. Her research aims to advance our understanding of the molecular and immunological mechanisms of virus control. Together with her work group, she utilizes the knowledge thus gained to develop new therapeutic approaches to cure chronic hepatitis B and to treat secondary diseases resulting from the virus. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she focused on the immune control of SARS-CoV-2 and served as an expert in national and international committees.
Professor Protzer studied medicine at the universities of Erlangen, Basel, and Durban (South Africa) and obtained her doctorate in Erlangen in 1989. After further training in gastroenterology and infectiology in Frankfurt and Mainz, she acquired the specialist qualifications for internal medicine in 1996. She spent a postdoctoral period at the Center for Molecular Biology in Heidelberg from 1996 to 2000 and completed her postdoctoral teaching qualification in virology in 2000. She then embarked upon a second course of clinical training as a specialist in microbiology, virology and infection epidemology (2005). From 2002 to 2007 she led a junior research group at the University of Cologne’s Center for Molecular Medicine. In late 2007 she was appointed to the Chair of Virology at TUM and has since then been director of the Institute of Virology at the Technical University of Munich and at the German Research Center for Environmental Health, Helmholtz Zentrum München.
KEY PUBLICATIONS
Wratil PR, Stern M, Priller A, Willmann A, Almanzar G, Vogel E, Feuerherd M, Cheng CC, Yazici S, Christa C, Jeske S, Lupoli G, Vogt T, Albanese M, Mejías-Pérez E, Bauernfried S, Graf N, Mijocevic H, Vu M, Tinnefeld K, Wettengel J, Hoffmann D, Muenchhoff M, Daechert C, Mairhofer H, Krebs S, Fingerle V, Graf A, Steininger P, Blum H, Hornung V, Liebl B, Überla K, Prelog M, Knolle P, Keppler OT, Protzer U. Three exposures to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 by either infection or vaccination elicit superior neutralizing immunity to all variants of concern. Nature Medicine 2022, 28:496-503. PMID: 35090165 .
Michler T, Kosinska A, Festag J, Bunse T, Su J, Ringelhan M, Imhof H, Grimm D, Steiger K, Mogler C, Heikenwalder M, Michel ML, Guzman CA, Milstein S, Sepp-Lorenzio L, Knolle P, Protzer U. Knockdown of Virus Antigen Expression Increases Therapeutic Vaccine Efficacy in High-titer HBV Carrier Mice. Gastroenterology 2020,158: 1762-1775. PMID: 32001321 .
Wisskirchen K*, Kah J*, Malo A, Asen T, Volz T, Allweiss L, Wettengel JM, Lütgehetmann M, Urban S, Bauer T, Dandri M*, Protzer U*. T-Cell Receptor Grafting allows Virological Control of Hepatitis B Virus Infection. Journal Clinical Investigation 2019, 129(7):2932-2945. Doi 10.1172/JCI120228 . PMID 31039136.
Lucifora J, Xia Y, Reisinger F, Zhang K, Stadler D, Cheng X, Sprinzl M, Koppensteiner H, Li Y, Makowska Z, Volz T, Remouchamps C, Chou W-M, Thasler W, Hüser N, Durantel D, Münk C, Heim MH, Browning JL, Dejardin E, Dandri M, Schindler M, Heikenwalder M, Protzer U. Specific and non-hepatotoxic degradation of nuclear hepatitis B virus cccDNA. Science. 2014; 343(6176): 1221-1228.
Protzer U, Maini M, Knolle P. Living in the Liver. Nature Reviews in Immunology. 2012; 12(3): 201-213.