Zoonoses pose an increasingly significant threat to global health. Respiratory pathogens are particularly concerning due to their rapid transmission capacity and pandemic potential. While emerging viruses demand vigilant surveillance for pandemic risk, we must not overlook „old“ pathogens that cause severe human disease. Members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex exemplify this challenge, with zoonotic tuberculosis remaining a critical public health concern. These pathogens and their natural reservoir hosts have coevolved extensively, with the host immune system employing multiple mechanisms that often facilitate persistent infection. The specific immune mechanisms governing host adaptation and disease pathogenesis remain incompletely understood. We employ cross-species comparative approaches to elucidate these mechanisms in tuberculosis, framing our investigation within a One Health paradigm.
Anca Dorhoi has been teaching and conducting research in Greifswald since 2017 and heads the Institute of Immunology at the Friedrich Loeffler Institute (Federal Research Institute for Animal Health) on the island of Riems. Previously, she worked at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin until 2019. She completed her PhD at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, where she had previously studied veterinary medicine as well as pathology and laboratory diagnostics (M.Sc.).
Chair: Lukas Voigt, B. A., Henriette Möller, M. A.