Cesar Muñoz-Fontela

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Cesar Muñoz-Fontela (* 1975 ) is a Spanish microbiologist and virologist .

Since the beginning of 2018 he has headed the Virus Immunology working group at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg. From 2011 to the end of 2017 he was head of the junior research group Emerging Viruses at the Heinrich Pette Institute in Hamburg .

Muñoz-Fontela succeeded in building a mouse model for viral hemorrhagic fevers in humans, such as Ebola and Lassa . For this purpose, human blood stem cells were implanted in the mice. Munoz-Fontela was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the antiviral drug favipiravir , which has already been successfully tested on patients. He worked with the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM) in Hamburg (and the head of virology there Stephan Günther ). He also researched Ebola fever on site in West Africa (Guinea) and, together with colleagues from his institute and from the BNITM in 2016, was able to find a special feature of the immune response in the event of a fatal course of the disease (increased number of CD4- and CD8-positive T lymphocytes, which to a high degree Expressing CTLA-4 and PD-1). This is an indication that a misdirected immune response is a major contributor to lethality.

He travels regularly to countries with Ebola outbreaks and similar viral fever and trains doctors and other medical staff in diagnostics and protective equipment.

In 2016 he received the science award : Society needs science .

Fonts (selection)

  • with L. Oestereich, A. Lüdtke, S. Wurr, T. Rieger, S. Günther: Successful treatment of advanced Ebola virus infection with T-705 (favipiravir) in a small animal model, Antiviral Research, Volume 105, 2014, p 17-21
  • with L. Zammarchi, S. Günther u. a .: Zika virus infections imported to Italy: clinical, immunological and virological findings, and public health implications, Journal of Clinical Virology, Volume 63, 2015, pp. 32-35
  • with MW Carroll, S. Günther u. a .: Temporal and spatial analysis of the 2014-2015 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, Nature, Volume 524, 2015, p. 97
  • with S. Macip u. a .: Transcriptional role of p53 in interferon-mediated antiviral immunity, Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 205, 2008, pp. 1929-1938

Web links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Laborundmore.com, César Muñoz-Fontela , accessed April 24, 2020
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ Characteristic immune signal in Ebola patients in Guinea, press release BNITM, May 5, 2016
  4. ↑ Prize of the Stifterverband 2016
  5. ↑ P. Ruibal, Munoz-Fontela et al. a., Unique human immune signature of Ebola virus disease in Guinea, Nature, Volume 533, 2016, pp. 100-104, PMID 27147028
personal data
SURNAME Muñoz-Fontela, Cesar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Spanish microbiologist and virologist
DATE OF BIRTH 20th century