Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology

I am happy to share our latest paper, “Causal inference concepts can guide research into the effects of climate on infectious diseases,” published yesterday in Nature Ecology & Evolution. A project led by Laura Andrea Barrero Guevara, an outstanding PhD student in my lab, in collaboration with Sarah Kramer and Tobias Kurth. An important question arising from global warming is how climate change will impact the spread of infectious diseases. To make such predictions, it is essential to understand how weather influences these diseases, usually through the analysis of observational data. However, analyzing such data can be perilous, as observational studies may misinterpret causes—a problem commonly referred to as “association does not imply causation.” What can we do? In this paper, we argue that concepts from causal inference can help. We illustrate this by presenting a series of brief case studies based on a simple mathematical model capturing the causal relationships between weather, transmission, and disease. We demonstrate how causal concepts—such as confounders, descendants, and mediators—can guide research in various ways. This includes evaluating study designs, selecting study locations, and interpreting the multifaceted effects of weather on disease transmission. More broadly, we argue that interdisciplinary approaches using explicit causal frameworks will be crucial for predicting the consequences of climate change on infectious diseases. https://lnkd.in/dZC2uYBC

We are looking for a case worker for external funding and international cooperation at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in #Berlin. Responsibilities 📌 Fund management and financial controlling of externally funded projects 📌 Monitoring cooperation agreements with national and international partners 📝 Proficient in English and German 👩🎓 Completed apprenticeship or college degree – we are open to interested and committed people with other qualifications 📅 Deadline: December 31 https://lnkd.in/eY4G8A-h   #AcademicJobs #JobOffer

We are looking for a #bioinformatician to join the Malaria Parasite Biology Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin. Responsibilities 📌 Develop, deploy and maintain bioinformatics pipelines to process malaria genomic data 📌 Support capacity building of international partners (international travel possible) 📝 Proficient in English 👩🎓 Degree in computer science, bioinformatics, or related field 📅 Deadline: January 10, 2025 https://lnkd.in/e9AEvfKZ #AcademicJobs #JobOffer

Preparation of Polarity-Marked Microtubules Using a Plus-End Capping DARPin: https://lnkd.in/gYEcG27x Work by Gil Henkin, Cláudia Fernandes de Brito, PhD, Andreas Plückthun, and Thomas Surrey at Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), and University of Zurich. Congratulations to the authors on being featured on the cover of our latest issue!  #Reproducibility #LifeSciences #CellBiology

📢 Voices in Infection Biology  Join us this Friday for a talk by Rotem Sorek (Weizmann Institute of Science): "The Immune System of Bacteria: Beyond CRISPR". 🗓️ Friday, December 6 🕓 3:30 pm CET (Berlin time) 📍 on-site and online Registration and abstract: https://lnkd.in/eRgGAvYX

I am happy to share our latest paper, “Causal inference concepts can guide research into the effects of climate on infectious diseases,” published yesterday in Nature Ecology & Evolution. A project led by Laura Andrea Barrero Guevara, an outstanding PhD student in my lab, in collaboration with Sarah Kramer and Tobias Kurth. An important question arising from global warming is how climate change will impact the spread of infectious diseases. To make such predictions, it is essential to understand how weather influences these diseases, usually through the analysis of observational data. However, analyzing such data can be perilous, as observational studies may misinterpret causes—a problem commonly referred to as “association does not imply causation.” What can we do? In this paper, we argue that concepts from causal inference can help. We illustrate this by presenting a series of brief case studies based on a simple mathematical model capturing the causal relationships between weather, transmission, and disease. We demonstrate how causal concepts—such as confounders, descendants, and mediators—can guide research in various ways. This includes evaluating study designs, selecting study locations, and interpreting the multifaceted effects of weather on disease transmission. More broadly, we argue that interdisciplinary approaches using explicit causal frameworks will be crucial for predicting the consequences of climate change on infectious diseases. https://lnkd.in/dZC2uYBC

📢 Voices in Infection Biology Next up in our seminar series is Ákos T. Kovács with a talk on the chemical ecology of bacilli, kindly hosted by Igor Iatsenko. 🗓️ Wednesday, November 27 🕓 4 pm CET (Berlin time) 📍 on-site and online Registration and abstract: https://lnkd.in/eg2jicbd

Delighted to share that our article on #iron #transporters in the #malaria #parasite #Plasmodium falciparum has been published in #FrontiersIn #CellularInfectionMicrobiology and is now freely available at https://t.co/1lYVaKXuh9 #transporterproteins #IronBiology #BioIron #RNAseq #AlphaFold Thanks to Jan Strauss, Vadim Kotov, Lasse Votborg Novél, Christina Ntalla, the Portugal lab, Roland Thuenauer, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Centre for Structural Systems Biology CSSB and Universitätsklinikum Hamburg Eppendorf for a fruitful collaboration and to Boehringer Ingelheim, European Research Council (ERC), EMBL and PIER - Partnership of Universität Hamburg and DESY for funding.

I am excited to announce our recent work, led by Gerben Marsman in which we investigated the antimicrobial activity of histone H1 against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus!! So happy to have contributed to this piece - hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed working on it! Many thanks to all the colleagues and collaborators who made this happen!

A few years ago, Elizabeth Goult, a PhD student in my lab, proposed a research project idea that was so promising I decided to set aside all other projects I had planned for her. I am now pleased to share the results of this project, entitled “Estimating the optimal age for infant measles vaccination,” which has recently been published in Nature Communications. Why does the age of measles vaccination matter at all? Research shows that the effectiveness of the first dose of measles-containing vaccines (MCV1) increases with the age at which it is administered. This leads to a risk trade-off when determining the recommended age for MCV1: vaccinating infants too early can raise the risk of vaccine failure while vaccinating too late can increase the risk of infection before vaccination. By carefully balancing these risks, the recommended age for MCV1 can thus be optimized to minimize the incidence of measles. In this study, we developed a new model of measles transmission that incorporated age variations in the effectiveness of MCV1 and realistic delays in vaccination. Using this model, we predicted the optimal age for recommending MCV1 across different populations and transmission settings worldwide. These results may help improve current WHO recommendations and assist countries in customizing their vaccination schedules for more effective measles control, ultimately moving towards the goal of elimination. https://lnkd.in/dcHiXifs