Achim Hörauf

Achim Hörauf (* 1962 in Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz ) is a German parasitologist and professor at the University of Bonn .

Hörauf studied medicine at the University of Erlangen from 1983 , where he received his doctorate in 1989. He then worked as an assistant at the Institute for Clinical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene in Erlangen and, from 1995, working group leader at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, and from 2001 as head of the helminthology department . In 1997 he completed his specialist degree in microbiology and infection epidemiology in Hamburg and qualified as a professor in 1998. In 2003 he became professor of parasitology and director of the Institute for Medical Parasitology at the University of Bonn.

In 1998 Hörauf discovered that bacteria of the genus Wolbachia , which live symbiotic in the worm Onchocerca volvulus , the cause of river blindness , can be used as a target for therapies against the disease. The bacterium is essential for the worm and can be fought with antibiotics. He is also investigating similar approaches for combating other filariasis , the immunological response to malaria pathogens using the mouse model, and the mechanism by which many worms that cause chronic diseases manipulate the immune system.

In 1999 he received the prize of the German Society for Tropical Medicine, in 2001 the Dr. Martini Prize for clinical research from the Eppendorf University Hospital and in 2002 the Prize of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology .

Web links

• Biography at the University of Bonn