Curriculum vitae Prof. Dr. med. Oliver Kurzai, M.D.

1994-2002          Studies Medicine, University of Wuerzburg

2002                    M.D. Mentors: Prof. Friedrich Mühlschlegel, Prof. Matthias Frosch, Prof. Jörg Hacker (summa cum laude)

2001-2009          Postdoc and medical qualification, Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, Univ. Wuerzburg

2006                    Medical Specialization (Facharzt) Microbiology, Virology and Infection Epidemiology

2008                    Habilitation in Medical Microbiology, Univ. Wuerzburg

2009-2016          Professor (W2) “Fungal Septomics”, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena and Leibniz Institute for Natural                                         Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans-Knoell-Institut, Jena

Since 2014         Head, National Reference Center for Invasive Fungal Infections (NRZMyk), Leibniz Institute for Natural                                         Product Research and Infection Biology – Hans-Knoell-Institut, Jena

Since 2017         Research group leader, Leibniz Institute for Natural Product Research and Infection Biology –
                             Hans-Knoell-Institut, Jena

Since 2017         Professor and Chair (W3) Medical Microbiology and Mycology, Univ. Wuerzburg

Since 2021         Director, Institute for Hygiene and Microbiology, Univ. Wuerzburg

Activities in the Research System

2024                   Congress President 7^th Joint Microbiology & Infection Conference of the German Society for Hygiene and                                  Microbiology (DGHM) and the Association of General and Applied Microbiology (VAAM)
                            (with Cynthia Sharma)

Since 2023        Member, Executive Board CRC1583 Decisions in Infectious Diseases DECIDE

Since 2023        President, Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft (DMykG)

Since 2021        Member, Working group “New economic incentives for the development of antimicrobial agents” of the                                       National Academy of Sciences, Leopoldina.

Since 2020        Scientific Manager and Co-Applicant, Else-Kröner-Center Würzburg-Mwanza funded by the Else-Kröner                                        Fresenius Foundation (www.wuerzburg-mwanza.de)

2020-2023         President-elect, Deutschsprachige Mykologische Gesellschaft (DMykG)

Since 2019        Member, Fachkollegium 2.21 (formerly 204), German Research Foundation (DFG) (re-elected 2023)

Since 2018        Deputy Speaker, Center for Infection Research (ZINF), Würzburg

Since 2018        Member, Scientific Advisory Board, Laboratoire national de santé, Luxemburg

Since 2017        Member, Editorial Board, International Journal of Medical Microbiology

Since 2015        Representative (Germany), Subcommittee Antifungal Susceptibility Testing, EUCAST, Delegate, National                                      Antibiotic-Susceptibility-Testing Committee (NAK)

2012-2019         Founding Editor-in-Chief, Medical Mycology Case Reports and Member ex officio, Executive board                                                International Society for Human & Animal Mycology (ISHAM)

2011-2020         Secretary, DMykG

2014-2022         Scientific Manager, Consortium “InfectControl – Neue Antiinfektionsstrategien – Wissenschaft •                                                  Gesellschaft • Wirtschaft” (Speaker: Prof. A. Brakhage, Jena)

2014-2016         Speaker, Septomics Research Center, University, University Hospital and Hans-Knoell-Institut, Jena

2013-2015         Member, Executive Board, Integrated Research and Treatment Center for Sepsis Control and Care, Jena

Selected Publications

1. Brassington PJT, Klefisch FR, Graf B, Pfüller R, Kurzai O, Walther G, Barber AE. Genomic reconstruction of an azole-resistant Candida parapsilosis outbreak and the creation of a multi-locus sequence typing scheme: a retrospective observational and genomic epidemiology study. Lancet Microbe. 2025 doi: 10.1016/j.lanmic.2024.07.012.
2. Häder A, Schäuble S, Gehlen J, Thielemann N, Buerfent BC, Schüller V, Hess T, Wolf T, Schröder J, Weber M, Hünniger K, Löffler J, Vylkova S, Panagiotou G, Schumacher J, Kurzai O. Pathogen-specific innate immune response patterns are distinctly affected by genetic diversity. Nat Commun. 2023;14(1):3239.
3. Seif M, Kakoschke TK, Ebel F, Bellet MM, Trinks N, Renga G, Pariano M, Romani L, Tappe B, Espie D, Donnadieu E, Hünniger K, Häder A, Sauer M, Damotte D, Alifano M, White PL, Backx M, Nerreter T, Machwirth M, Kurzai O, Prommersberger S, Einsele H, Hudecek M, Löffler J. CAR T cells targeting Aspergillus fumigatus are effective at treating invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in preclinical models. Sci Transl Med. 2022
4. Engels G, Forster J, Streng A, Rücker V, Rudolph P, Pietsch F, Wallstabe J, Wallstabe L, Krauthausen M, Schmidt J, Ludwig T, Bauer C, Gierszewski D, Bendig J, Timme S, Jans T, Weißbrich B, Romanos M, Dölken L, Heuschmann P, Härtel C, Gágyor I, Figge MT, Liese J, Kurzai O; Wue-KiTa-CoV 2.0-Study Group. Acceptance of Different Self-sampling Methods for Semiweekly SARS-CoV-2 Testing in Asymptomatic Children and Childcare Workers at German Day Care Centers: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial. JAMA Netw Open. 2022; 5(9):e2231798.
5. Barber AE, Sae-Ong T, Kang K, Seelbinder B, Li J, Walther G, Panagiotou G, Kurzai O. (2021) Aspergillus fumigatus pan-genome analysis identifies genetic variants associated with human infection. Nature Microbiology 6(12):1526-1536.
6. Jiao C, Sharma S, Dugar G, Peeck NL, Bischler T, Wimmer F, Yu Y, Barquist L, Schoen C, Kurzai O, Sharma CM, Beisel CL. Noncanonical crRNAs derived from host transcripts enable multiplexable RNA detection by Cas9. Science. 2021; 372(6545):941-948.
7. Barber AE, Riedel J, Sae-Ong T, Kang K, Brabetz W, Panagiotou G, Deising HB, Kurzai O. (2020) Effects of Agricultural Fungicide Use on Aspergillus fumigatus Abundance, Antifungal Susceptibility, and Population Structure. mBio 11(6):e02213-20.
8. Moyes DL, Wilson D, Richardson JP, Mogavero S, Tang SX, Wernecke J, Höfs S, Gratacap RL, Robbins J, Runglall M, Murciano C, Blagojevic M, Thavaraj S, Förster TM, Hebecker B, Kasper L, Vizcay G, Iancu SI, Kichik N, Häder A, Kurzai O, Luo T, Krüger T, Kniemeyer O, Cota E, Bader O, Wheeler RT, Gutsmann T, Hube B, Naglik JR. Candidalysin is a fungal peptide toxin critical for mucosal infection. Nature 2016; 532(7597):64-8.
9. Linde J, Duggan S, Weber M, Horn F, Sieber P, Hellwig D, Riege K, Marz M, Martin R, Guthke R, Kurzai O. Defining the transcriptomic landscape of Candida glabrata by RNA-Seq. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015; 43(3):1392-406.
10. Cunha C, Aversa F, Lacerda JF, Busca A, Kurzai O, Grube M, Löffler J, Maertens JA, Bell AS, Inforzato A, Barbati E, Almeida B, Santos e Sousa P, Barbui A, Potenza L, Caira M, Rodrigues F, Salvatori G, Pagano L, Luppi M, Mantovani A, Velardi A, Romani L, Carvalho A. Genetic PTX3 deficiency and aspergillosis in stem-cell transplantation. N Engl J Med. 2014; 370(5):421-32.

Academic Distinctions

2022             Online Teaching Award, Medical Faculty, University of Würzburg (with PD Dr. Lâm)

2020             Main Research Award, German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)

2008             Career Award, German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)

2003             Dissertation Award, Memorial Foundation of Lower Franconia

2002             Becton-Dickinson Award, German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology (DGHM)