The Heinrich-Heine-University, founded in 1965, is a research university with almost 20.000 students of the pre- and postgraduate level. The University comprises faculties of Arts and Humanities, Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Economics, Law and Medicine offering altogether more than 35 subjects to study. The Institute for Virology belongs to the Medical Faculty and University Hospital which employs almost 6000 people in 34 clinics (1300 beds) and 33 institutes. The strength in research is documented by several DFG-funded collaborative research as well as graduate centers in experimental hepatology, molecular aspects of circulation and infectious diseases.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Hengel

Professor Dr. Hartmut Hengel is director of an University Institute for Virology. He started his scientific training in 1988 at the Institute for Immunology at the University of Ulm (Germany) before he moved to the Universities of Heidelberg and München. From 2000 to 2004 he was appointed as head of the Division of Viral Infections at the Robert Koch Institute Berlin.
Prof. Hengel has a long-standing experience in molecular virology and immunology with a special emphasis on cytomegaloviruses (CMV). Prof. Hengel and his team of coworkers are focussing on human and mouse CMV immunobiology and viral countermeasures to immunity. Using bacterial artificial chromosome (BACmid) plasmid-based forward genetic approaches his group identified human CMV glycoprotein forming Fc? receptors and long time sought after CMV genes interfering with the MHC class I pathway of antigen presentation and Jak/Stat signalling. These findings are currently translated into novel vaccine concepts and antiviral intervention strategies.

Relevant publications/patents

• Atalay, R., Zimmermann, A., Wagner, M., Borst, E., Benz, C., Messerle, M., Hengel, H.: Identification and expression of human cytomegalovirus transcription units coding for two distinct Fc-receptor homologs. Journal of Virology, 76: 8596-8608, 2002.
• Khan, S., Zimmermann, A., Basler, M., Groettrup, M., Hengel, H.: Modulation of immunoproteasomes subcomposition by cytomegalovirus: A cytomegaloviral inhibitor of IFN- signaling controls immunoproteasome induction. Journal of Virology, 78: 1831 – 1842, 2004.
• Krmpotic, A., Hasan, M., Loewendorf, A., Saulig, T., Halenius, A., Lenac, T., Polic, B., Bubic, I., Kriegeskort, A., Messerle, M., Hengel, H., Busch, D. Koszinowski, U.H. Jonjic, S.: NK cell activation through the NKG2D ligand MULT-1 is selectively prevented by the glycoprotein encoded by mouse cytomegalovirus (MCMV) gene m145 product. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 201:211-220, 2005.
• Zimmermann, A., Trilling, M., Wagner, M., Bubic, I., Wilborn, M., Jonjic, S., Koszinowski, U., Hengel, H.: A viral protein reveals a dual role for STAT2 in IFN- signaling and antiviral responses. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 201:1543-1553, 2005.
• Hengel, H., Koszinowski, U.H., Conzelmann, K.K.: Viruses know it all: new insights into interferon networks. Trends in Immunology, 26:396 – 401, 2005.
  

Contact:

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Hengel
Heinrich-Heine-Univerity
Tel.: +49 211 81 12225
Fax: +49 211 81 10792
E-Mail: Hartmut.Hengel@uni-duesseldorf.de
Website: www.uni-duesseldorf.de