Scientific Director

Personel Assistant
Tanja Durez
Tel.:  +49 (0)30 28460 601
Fax:  +49 (0)30 28 460-603
e-Mail: durez@drfz.de

Biosketch

Prof. Dr. (med.) Eicke Latz studied medicine at the Georg-August University in Göttingen and the Freie Universität Berlin, following which, he worked as an intensive care physician at the Charité Universitätsmedizin. In 2001, he moved to the USA, working as a postdoctoral researcher at Boston University, then at UMass Chan Medical School, where he held his first professorship. In 2010, he returned to Germany and founded the Institute for Innate Immunity at the University Hospital Bonn. He became Scientific Director of the German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin, a Leibniz Institute, and Professor of Experimental Rheumatology at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin in 2023. His research interests concern how the innate immune system maintains health and under what circumstances it can promote disease. In particular, he investigates the molecular mechanisms that lead to activation or inhibition of the immune system and how these influence the inflammatory reactions in various diseases, such as rheumatic diseases, arteriosclerosis or Alzheimer’s disease.

Prof. Dr. Latz is spokesperson of the Collaborative Research Centre “Metaflammation and Cellular Programming” (SFB 1454) and was previously co-spokesperson of the Cluster of Excellence “ImmunoSensation²”, both at the University of Bonn. He has also co-founded several biotech companies, including IFM Therapeutics (2017), Dioscure Therapeutics (2020),  a ‘Stealth’ biotech’ (2020), and Odyssey Therapeutics (2021), which translate his discoveries into novel therapeutics and preventive approaches. He has been a highly cited scientist in immunology since 2014 having published more than 300 publications. Prof. Dr. Latz was elected as a member of the German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina) in 2016 and has received a number of prestigious awards, including the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in 2018.

Weblinks:
Google scholar (Eicke Latz); ORCID (000-0003-1488-5666)
Highly Cited Researcher – 2023 Clarivate™

EDUCATION

2001                Doctorate, Medicine (Dr. med.), Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
1998                German Medical Licence Examination (State examination), License to practice Medicine (Approbation), Berlin, Germany
1995 – 2000    US Medical Licence Examinations I, II, III, Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates, Philadelphia, USA
1991 – 1998    Studies of Medicine, Georg-August-University Göttingen and Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

CURRENT POSITIONS

05/2023          Scientific Director, Deutsches Rheuma Forschungszentrum Berlin (DRFZ)
05/2023          Professor of Experimental Rheumatology (W3), Charité, Berlin, Germany
2013                Full Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
2011                Group leader, Innate Immunity in Neurodegeneration, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
2009                Professor of Medicine (W3), Founder and Co-Director, Institute of Innate Immunity, Medical Faculty/University Hospital, University of Bonn, Germany
2008                Adjunct Professor II, Center for Molecular Inflammation Research (CEMIR), Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

PREVIOUS POSITIONS

2006 – 2013    Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
2003 – 2006    Research Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
2001 – 2003    Postdoctoral Fellow, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA
1999 – 2001    Research Fellow, Molecular Sepsis Research Laboratories, Humboldt-University, Berlin, Germany
1998 – 2001    Internship and Residency (Intensive Care), Department of Surgery, Charité University Hospital, Berlin, Germany
1998                Visiting Scientist, Department of Lipid Biochemistry, Merck Research Laboratories, Rahway, NJ, USA 

FELLOWSHIPS AND AWARDS

2018 Gottfried-Wilhelm Leibniz-Prize; 2016 Elected Member, German National Academy of Sciences (Leopoldina); 2014-21 Highly Cited Researcher in Immunology, ‘World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds’ (Thomson Reuters); 2014 Kavli Fellow, United States National Academy of Sciences (NAS); 2011 Glaxo Smith Kline Clinical Science Award; 2009 Dana Foundation Award; 2004 FOCIS Award; 2001 DAAD Postdoctoral Grant

 SUPERVISION OF GRADUATE STUDENTS AND POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWS

2009 – date     Institute of Innate Immunity, University of Bonn, Germany: 12 Postdocs, 32 Ph.D. students and 50 Master or Medical students
2006 – 2009    Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA: 4 Postdocs, 1 Ph.D. student, 7 Master’s or Medical students

TEACHING ACTIVITIES

2013 – 2017    “Studienstiftung” foundation, Bonn, Germany: Student courses “Innate Immunity”
2009 – date     University of Bonn, Germany: Master program “Medical Immunosciences and Infection’ (since 2016); Bachelor & Master programs ‘Immunobiology” (since 2009), Mentor student’s exchange program Waseda University, Japan (since 2009); Mentor “Bonn and Melbourne International Research & Training Group” (since 2016)
2009 – date     Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway: “Advanced Imaging Techniques and Molecular Imaging” (yearly)
2004 – date     UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA, USA: “Immunology and Virology” program
2002 – 2009    Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA: ‘Imaging Techniques / Molecular Imaging’

 ORGANISATION OF SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS

2024               Symposium “From Innate to Adaptive Immunity – a question of memory”, Berlin, Germany
2020 – 2024  2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th “Immuno-Metabolic Mechanisms of Atherosclerosis Conference”, Nassau (The Bahamas), and Riviera Maya (Mexico)
2016                eystone Meeting “Myeloid Cells”, Killarney, Ireland
2014, 2017     Innate Immune Memory Conferences, Wellcome Trust, Cambridge, UK
2004 – 2024 Toll Meetings: Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2024); Porto, Portugal (2018); Marbella, Spain (2015); Riva del Garda, Italy (2011); Cascais/Lisbon, Portugal (2008); Taormina, Italy (2004)

INSTITUTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

2021 – 2023   Elected Member, Supervisory Board of the University of Bonn (‘Hochschulrat’)
2021 – 2023   Speaker, SFB 1454 “Metaflammation and Cellular Programming”, University of Bonn
2018 – 2023   Co-Speaker, Cluster of Excellence “ImmunoSensation²”, University of Bonn
2010 – 2023   Commissions Head: BONFOR (intramural funding), Research Infrastructure; Commissions Member: Personnel & Strategy, Finance, Core facilities; University of Bonn

REVIEWING ACTIVITIES

2023 – date   Portfolio Advisory Board (PAB) Member, IBT Lower Saxony, Germany
2022 – date    Mentor, Creative Destruction Lab (CDL)-Berlin, European School of Management and Technology (ESMT) Berlin, Germany
2022 – date    ERC Panel Member, ERC starting grants, LS6 – Immunity, Infection and Immunotherapy
2021 – date    Co-Founder and Consultant, Odyssey Therapeutics, Boston, MA, USA
2020 – date    Co-Founder, Chairman of the Board, Dioscure SE, Bonn, Germany
2020 – date    Co-Founder, Chairman SAB, Board member, Stealth Biotech B-Corp, LA, CA, USA
2016 – date    Member, Helmholtz Think Tank, Helmholtz Society, Berlin
2016 – date    Co-Founder and Consultant, IFM Therapeutics LLC, Boston, MA, USA
2015 – date    Chair of Scientific Advisory Board, MPI for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany
2008 – date     Consultant (current and past): Novartis (Basel, Switzerland); Glaxo Smith Kline (London, UK); Medimmune (Gaithersburg, MD, USA); Biogen (Cambridge, MA, USA); Amgen (Seattle, WA, USA); Eisai Pharmaceuticals (Andover, MA, USA); Altana Pharmaceuticals (Konstanz, Germany); CBio Pharmaceuticals (Brisbane, Australia); Johnson & Johnson (Brussels, Belgium); Boehringer (Ingelheim, Germany)

2008 – 2016    Member of Therapeutic Area Scientific Advisory Panels (TASAP): Inflammation & Immunology, Centers for Therapeutic Innovation, Pfizer (Cambridge, MA, USA)

2005 – date     Member of Advisory Boards (current and past): Pfizer Worldwide R & D (New York, NY, USA); Grünenthal Pharmaceuticals (Aachen, Germany); Genzyme (Boston, MA, USA); Opsona Pharmaceuticals (Dublin, Ireland)

 MEMBERSHIPS OF SCIENTIFIC SOCIETIES

2015                German Society for Immunology (DGFI), Member
2012                American Association of Immunologists (AAI), Member
2010                International Trained Immunity Consortium (INTRIM), Founding member