Stefan H. E. Kaufmann

Stefan H.E. Kaufmann
Born (1948-06-08) 8 June 1948 (age 76)
NationalityGerman
Alma materUniversity of Mainz, 1977
Free University Berlin, 1981
Known forImmunology
Microbiology
SpouseElke Kaufmann
Children2
AwardsGagna A. & Ch. Van Heck Prize (2018)
Scientific career
Fields
InstitutionsUniversity of Ulm
Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin
Websitewww.mpiib-berlin.mpg.de/research/immunology

Stefan Hugo Ernst Kaufmann (born 8 June 1948 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) is a German immunologist and microbiologist and is one of the highly cited immunologists worldwide for the decade 1990 to 2000.[1] He is amongst the 0.01% most cited scientists of c. 7 million scientists in 22 major scientific fields globally.[2]

Biography

Kaufmann is a German immunologist and microbiologist with focus on infection biology. He received his Dr. Rer. Nat. (PhD) at the University of Mainz in 1977 and his habilitation in immunology and microbiology at the Free University Berlin in 1981. He was professor at the University of Ulm from 1987 to 1998. Currently, he is director of the Department of Immunology at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin, for which he served as founding director in 1993. Since 2019 he is director emeritus at this institute and leader of an emeritus group on systems immunology at the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences. Member of the Max Planck Society since 1993. Since 1998 he is also professor for immunology and microbiology at the Charité Berlin. Since 2018 he is faculty fellow of the Hagler Institute for Advanced Study at Texas A&M University [1]. He was appointed Senior Professor at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin in September 2022.

Kaufmann collects historical medicinal books.[3]

Career

Kaufmann has published more than 1000 scientific original papers and review articles and according to the Clarivate – Web of Science, Highly Cited Researcher (category Immunologie) 2001,[4] Highly Cited Researcher (category Cross-Field) 2020 [5] he is one of the highly cited immunologists and vaccinologists with more than 99,000 citations (Google Scholar) worldwide for the decade 1990 to 2000 and has an h-index of >155 (as of October 2021). Immunology Leader Award for 2023, and Medicine Leader Award for 2023, Germany (Research.com) [2]. His current scientific interest is focused on the analysis of cell-mediated immunity against intracellular bacteria, the rational design and development of a better vaccine against tuberculosis as well as of biomarkers for reliable diagnosis of TB disease. Biomarker discovery is done in a multicentric approach with seven partner institutes in Africa with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.[6][7] His vaccine against tuberculosis is currently in phase III clinical trial assessment.[8][9][10][11] A phase III vaccine trial to test prevention of tuberculosis recurrence (NCT 03152903)[12][13] and a phase III trial to test prevention of tuberculosis disease in household contacts of tuberculosis patients are ongoing in India (CTRI/2019/01/017026).[14] A third phase III trial to assess protection against tuberculosis in neonates (priMe) is currently ongoing at nine trial sites in five Sub-Saharan African countries (NCT 04351685) with financial support from the European Investment Bank.[15] Moreover, a clinical study assessing therapy of bladder cancer with the vaccine has revealed highly promising data (NCT 02371447).[16] Another clinical study tested heterologous protection against SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 by the vaccine (NCT 04435379).[17] Furthermore, Kaufmann is actively involved in public awareness of immunology and infectious diseases (EFIS – Day of Immunology).[18] In his recent books written in German, he has answered questions on Covid-19 [19] and vaccination [20] in a detailed and comprehensible manner.

He is past president and honorary member of the German Society of Immunology (DGfI)[3], past president of the European Federation of Immunological Societies (EFIS)[4],[21][22] and past president of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS)[5].[23] From 2010 to 2013 he was member of the board of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) [6] as alternate representative of scientific and technical institutes. From 2009 to 2014 he was a member of the advisory board of Global Alliance for TB Drug Development (TB Alliance) [7], New York. From 2014 to 2018 he was member of the strategic advisory committee of the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) [8]. Kaufmann was member of the board of directors from 2003 to 2019 and of the scientific advisory council from 1998 to 2017 of the Robert Koch Foundation, which annually awards the Robert Koch Prize and the Robert Koch Medal in gold. From 2014 to 2023 he was chairman of the board of trustees of the Schering Foundation. From 2013 to 2014 he was corresponding member of the board of trustees and since 2014 he is full member of the board of trustees for the Lindau Nobel Laureate meetings for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings.[24] Since 2018 he is member of the Governance Board of the TuBerculosis Vaccine Initiative (TBVI) [9].

Kaufmann headed a team that developed a method of using defensins to combat anthrax.[25]

Other activities

Prizes and honours

Kaufmann has received numerous rewards and honours for his scientific achievements in immunology of infectious diseases including:

  • 1982 – Förderpreis der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie
  • 1987 – Alfried Krupp Award for young professors
  • 1988 – Aronson Prize of the State of Berlin
  • 1991 – Smith Kline Beecham Science Prize
  • 1991 – Merckle Science Prize
  • 1992 – Robert Pfleger Prizer
  • 1992 – Pettenkofer Prize
  • 1993 – Scientific Prize of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology
  • 2018 – Gagna A. & Ch. Van Heck Prize[28][29]
  • 2022 – Ernst Hellmuth Vits Prize 2022 of Universitätsgesellschaft Münster [30]

In 2007, Kaufmann was conferred the title of Doctor Honoris Causa by the Université de la Mediterranée, Aix-Marseille II, France. In 2014 he received the Gardner Middlebrook Award. From 2014 to 2021, he was Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (FRCP Edin). He is Guest Professor, Tongji University, School of Medicine, Shanghai, China (since 2011), Honorary Professor, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru (since 2012), and Visiting Professor, Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China (since 2014).

Partial bibliography

  • The New Plagues: Pandemics and Poverty in a Globalized World, ISBN 978-1-906598-13-6, The Sustainability Project, Haus Publishing, London (2009)
  • Handbook of Tuberculosis, 3 Volume Set, Stefan H. E. Kaufmann (Editor), Paul van Helden (Editor), Eric Rubin (Editor), Warwick J. Britton (Editor), ISBN 978-3-527-31683-0
  • AIDS and Tuberculosis, A Deadly Liaison, Infection Biology Series, Kaufmann, Stefan H. E. / Walker, Bruce D. (Hrsg.), ISBN 978-3-527-32270-1 – Wiley-VCH, Weinheim
  • The Immune Response to Infection, Stefan H.E. Kaufmann, Barry T. Rouse, David L. Sacks (Editors), ISBN 1-55581-514-6, ASM Press 2011
  • Tuberculosis, Stefan H.E. Kaufmann (Editor), Eric J. Rubin (Editor), Alimuddin Zumla (Editor), ISBN 978-1-621820-73-4, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
  • Tuberculosis vaccines: time for a global strategy. Sci. Transl. Med. 7: 276–8 (2015)
  • "The Tuberculosis Front". project-syndicate.org. March 2013. Translated into the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish

Videos

Latest Thinking: [10]

Latest Thinking: [11]

References

  1. ^ According to the Institute for Scientific Information
  2. ^ PLoS Biol 17(8): e3000384, 2019
  3. ^ [Neugier und Bazillen, Cicero Magazin (Sabine Rosenbladt), p. 136-139, January 2011]
  4. ^ "World's largest publisher-neutral citation index and research intelligence platform". Web of Science Group. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  5. ^ "Stefan HE Kaufmann's Publons profile". publons.com. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Global Commitment of Max Planck Researchers" (Press release). Max Planck Society. 2005-06-28. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  7. ^ Insciences
  8. ^ "Clinical trial for new tuberculosis vaccine". Max Planck Society. 2008-09-11. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  9. ^ Gilla Kaplan, Ph.D. (2005-10-13). "Rational Vaccine Development – A New Trend in Tuberculosis Control". New England Journal of Medicine. 353 (15). The New England Journal of Medicine: 1624–1625. doi:10.1056/NEJMcibr053426. PMID 16221789. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  10. ^ Kupferschmidt, K. (2011). "Taking a New Shot at a TB Vaccine". Science. 334 (6062): 1488–90. Bibcode:2011Sci...334.1488K. doi:10.1126/science.334.6062.1488. PMID 22174226.
  11. ^ [Spritze gegen Schwindsucht, Der Spiegel 20/2012, Medizin, S. 118, 2012]
  12. ^ TB vaccine trial on adults begins in June. in: thehindu.com, 30 March 2017
  13. ^ Revamped, safer, and with greater punch. in: thehindu.com, 21 February 2016
  14. ^ ICMR begins trials on vaccine for close contacts of TB patients. in: The Hindu BusinessLine, 15 July 2019
  15. ^ https://www.vpm-consult.com/de/news-events/news/update-zur-prime-studie, 1 February 2019
  16. ^ "Modified tuberculosis vaccine as therapy against bladder cancer". mpiib-berlin.mpg.de. February 20, 2020.
  17. ^ Against Severe Respiratory Tract Infections Including COVID-19 in the Elderly: a phase III randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicenter clinical study. In: Clinical Infectious Diseases. 1 April 2023: Vol. 76 no.7, S. 1304–1310, doi:10.1093/cid/ciac881
  18. ^ How pandemics happen. Megan Murray, Nature Medicine, Book Review, Vol. 16 | No. 2 | February 2010, p. 159
  19. ^ "Covid-19 und die Bedrohungen durch Pandemien". Available for free at: https://hlz.hessen.de/publikationen/publikation/?id=cba0b1d5-72a7-4fd6-a1d8-5573e205d09d
  20. ^ "Impfen. Grundlagen, Wirkung, Risiken". C.H. Beck Verlag. ISBN 978-3-406-77144-6. https://www.beck-shop.de/kaufmann-h-e-impfen/product/32309246
  21. ^ "EFIS – European Federation of Immunological Societies". Archived from the original on 2012-03-31. Retrieved 2011-08-23.
  22. ^ "EFIS – European Federation of Immunological Societies". www.efis.org. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  23. ^ "IUIS » International Union of Immunological Societies". IUIS. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  24. ^ "Portraet – Mut, etwas zu machen", 28 June 2018
  25. ^ Max Planck Society (2005, April 1). Defensins Neutralize Anthrax Toxin. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 25, 2010, from Science Daily News
  26. ^ Council World Health Summit.
  27. ^ "About". The Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. Retrieved 2018-09-17.
  28. ^ "Van Heck Prize für Stefan Kaufmann". Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina (in German). 25 September 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  29. ^ "GAGNA A. & Ch. VAN HECK Prize – 2018". Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 26 November 2021.
  30. ^ Ernst Hellmuth Vits Prize- 2022, Website of Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology.