Prof. Dr. M. NEURATH Scientific career, awards and honors 1984 ...

Prof. Dr. M. NEURATH
Scientific career, awards and honors
1984 -1990 Study of Medicine, University Marburg
1990 MD thesis: Ultrastructural changes of menisci and cruciate ligaments in rheumatoid
arthritis, University of Mainz
1998 PhD thesis: Cytokine signalling in inflammatory bowel diseases, University of
Mainz
1990 - 1992 Resident in Internal Medicine, University of Mainz
1992 - 1995 Fellow at Mucosal Immunity Section, NIH, NIAID, MIS (Dr. Strober)
Supported by a scholarship from the German Research Council DFG
1995 - 1998 Fellow in Gastroenterology, University of Mainz
1997 Diplomate, Board of Internal Medicine
1999 Diplomate, Board of Gastroenterology
2004 Health economist (European Business School)
1998 Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine (Gastroenterology), University of
Mainz
2000 Associate Professor of Internal Medicine (Gastroenterology), University of
Mainz
2000 Visiting Professor at the Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
(Prof. Blumberg, Prof. Glimcher)
Awards
Head of Endoscopy Unit, Professor of Medicine, University of Mainz
W3 Professorship: Co-Director I. Med. Clinic; Director Institute Molecular
Medicine
W3-Professorship: Chairman Department of Medicine 1 University Hospital Erlangen
1992 - 1996 DFG and Fogarty International Center (NIH) Scholarships
1995 International Scholarship of the Clinical Immunology Society
1995 Young Investigator Award, North American Society for Pediatric Gastroen-

terology and Nutrition
1997 Gerhard-Hess Prize of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
1999 Frerichs Award, German Society of Internal Medicine
2000 Thannhauser Prize of the German Society of Gastroenterology
2000 Fulbright Scholarship for Senior Scientists
2005 Dr. Norbert Henning Prize, University of Erlangen
2006 Ernst Jung Prize for Medical Research from the Jung Foundation
2008 United European Gastroenterology Foundation Prize (UEGF Research Prize)
Activities
since 2000 Applicant of Grants from the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), European
Union, Innovationsstiftung Rheinland-Pfalz
Duties as reviewer for several well-known peer-reviewed journals: Nature Medicine, Cell,
New England J. Med., Immunity, Genes and Development, J. of Experimental Medicine, J. of
Clinical Investigation, Gastroenterology, J. of Immunology.
Duties as consultant for funding organizations such as German Research Council (DFG),
German Israeli Foundation (GIF), Dr. Mildred Scheel Stiftung, Volkswagenstiftung, Wellcome
Trust (UK), Austria Science Fund (AU), Arthritis Research Campaign (UK), Crohn´s in Childhood
Research Association (UK), Deutsche Crohn-Colitis Vereinigung, Broad Foundation for
Innovative Research (USA)
More than 300 publications in peer reviewed journals and proceedings and publications listed
in the Scientific Citation Index (SCI – Web of Science)
Ten most important publications in the field
1 Waldner Mj, Wirtz S, Jefremov A, Warntjen M, Neufert C, Atreya R, Becker C, Weigmann
B, Vieth M, Rose-John S, Neurath MF., VEGF receptor signaling links inflammation
and tumorigenesis in colitis-associated cancer, J Exp Med, 2010; 207:2855-68
2 Leppkes M, Becker C, Ivanov, II, Hirth S, Wirtz S, Neufert C, Pouly S, Murphy AJ,
Valenzuela DM, Yancopoulos GD, Becher B, Littman DR, Neurath MF., RORgammaexpressing
Th17 cells induce murine chronic intestinal inflammation via redundant effects
of IL-17A and IL-17F, Gastroenterology, 2009;136:257-67
3 Mudter J, Amoussina L, Schenk M, Yu J, Brustle A, Weigmann B, Atreya R, Wirtz S,
Becker C, Hoffman A, Atreya I, Biesterfeld S, Galle PR, Lehr HA, Rose-John S, Mueller
C, Lohoff M, Neurath MF., The transcription factor IFN regulatory factor-4 controls
experimental colitis in mice via T cell-derived IL-6, J Clin Invest, 2008;118:2415-26

4 Weigmann B, Lehr HA, Yancopoulos G, Valenzuela D, Murphy A, Stevens S, Schmidt
J, Galle PR, Rose-John S, Neurath MF., The transcription factor NFATc2 controls IL-
6-dependent T cell activation in experimental colitis, J Exp Med, 2008;205:2099-110
5 Siebler J, Wirtz S, Weigmann B, Atreya I, Schmitt E, Kreft A, Galle PR, Neurath MF.,
IL-28A is a key regulator of T-cell-mediated liver injury via the T-box transcription factor
T-bet, Gastroenterology, 2007;132:358-71
6 Nenci A, Becker C, Wullaert A, Gareus R, van Loo G, Danese S, Huth M, Nikolaev A,
Neufert C, Madison B, Gumucio D, Neurath MF, Pasparakis M., Epithelial NEMO links
innate immunity to chronic intestinal inflammation, Nature, 2007;446:557-61
7 Wirtz S, Tubbe I, Galle PR, Schild HJ, Birkenbach M, Blumberg RS, Neurath MF.,
Protection from lethal septic peritonitis by neutralizing the biological function of interleukin
27, J Exp Med, 2006;203:1875-81
8 Becker C, Fantini MC, Neurath MF., High resolution colonoscopy in live mice, Nat
Protoc, 2006;1:2900-4
9 Neumann H, Vieth M, Neurath MF, Fuchs FS., In vivo diagnosis of small-cell lung
cancer by endocytoscopy, J Clin Oncol, 2011;29:e131-2
10 Becker C, Fantini MC, Schramm C, Lehr HA, Wirtz S, Nikolaev A, Burg J, Strand S,
Kiesslich R, Huber S, Ito H, Nishimoto N, Yoshizaki K, Kishimoto T, Galle PR, Blessing
M, Rose-John S, Neurath MF., TGF-beta suppresses tumor progression in colon
cancer by inhibition of IL-6 trans-signaling, Immunity, 2004;21:491-501
Performance to date in the supervision of doctorates
Markus Neurath is an international leading scientist in the field of immunology and endomicroscopy
of the gut who was awarded with well-known research prizes for his work, e.g. the
UEGF Research Prize. His research deals with the immunologic and molecular mechanisms
in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases and GI-cancer.
Prof. Neurath and his working groups intend to contribute to the explanation of the pathogenetic
mechanisms of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) using cellular and molecular approaches.
Based on the research results new therapeutic options for patients with IBD or
colon cancer will be developed. The research on endoscopy and imaging will lead to novel
diagnostic options and individualized therapies.
In addition, molecular imaging and high resolution endoscopy is a major focus of this research
with special reference to endoscopic filter techniques, high definition imaging and
molecular endoscopy with labelled antibodies.
In different working groups the role of transcription factors and cytokine signaling in IBD and
inflammation associated colon cancer was investigated. Another focus is the regulation and
function of intestinal epthelial cells and the role of T-lymphocytes in the immune system of
the gut. These activities are the basis for the supervision of so far more than 15 successfully
completed theses.

Finished habilitation theses: 2 Ongoing habilitation theses: 9
Finished doctorates (Med./Nat. Sci. ): 13 Ongoing doctorates (Med./Nat. Sci. ) 2
Finished Diploma / Master theses: 1
Members of the Department of Medicine 1 received several awards for the work having performed
under the supervision of Prof. Neurath: 23 Students Awards, 18 Research and Doctoral
Awards and 3 Lecturer Awards.
List of dissertations supervised outside the graduate school
Alexandra Diall „Azathioprin-Effekte auf die T Zell-Aktivierung bei chronisch entzündlichen
Darmerkrankungen“ (ongoing thesis, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Mainz)
Ute Teichgräber „Messung von 6-Thioguanosin-5'-Monophosphat, -Diphosphat und -
Triphosphat in Erythrozyten und Ansprechen auf eine Azathioprin-Therapie in chronisch entzündlichen
Darmerkrankungen“ (ongoing thesis, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Mainz)
Dr. med. Moritz Leppkes „Die Bedeutung RORγt-positiver Zellen für die Pathogenese chronisch
entzündlicher Darmerkrankungen“ (now Resident in Internal Medicine, Department of
Medicine 1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Dr. rer. nat. Heike Dornhoff "Die Rolle der Ubiquitin Ligase Smurf2 in T-Lymphozyten bei der
Entwicklung von chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen" (now Post-Doctoral Research
Assistant, Department of Medicine 1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Prof. Kai Hildner „In vitro und in vivo Untersuchungen zur Modulation der Zytokinproduktion
durch Methotrexat: Die Regulation der TNFalpha-Produktion als potentieller Zielmechanismus
der Methotrexat-vermittelten Immunsuppression bei rheumatoider Arthritis“ (now W1-
Professor for Pneumology and Immunology, Department of Medicine 1, University Hospital
Erlangen)
Dr. med. Jonas Mudter „IL-6-Signaltransduktion bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen“
(now Senior Physician and Head of IBD Section, Department of Medicine 1,
University Hospital Erlangen)
Prof. Raja Atreya „STAT -Transkriptionsfaktoren bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen
(now W1- Professor for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, Department of Medicine
1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Dr. Imke Atreya (née Tiede) „Azathioprin bei chronisch entzündlichen Darmerkrankungen“
(now Research Group Leader, Department of Medicine 1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Prof. Christoph Becker „Die Regulation des humanen Interleukin-12 p40 Promotors in
Monozyten und Makrophagen“ (now W2-Professor for Molecular Gastroenterology,
Department of Medicine 1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Dr. Stefan Wirtz „Studien zur Evaluierung der TH1 vermittelten Immunpathogenese chronisch
entzündlicher Darmerkrankungen“ (now Research Group Leader, Department of Medicine 1,

University Hospital Erlangen)
Dr. med. Dr. rer. nat. Clemens Neufert „Interleukin-27 modulates the balance between inducible
regulatory T cells and Th17 cells via the transcription factor STAT1 and the whole genome
expression profiling identifies potential targets for iTREG directed therapy” (now Resident
in Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine 1, University Hospital Erlangen)
Dr. Christina Claas „Die Entwicklung der Schubinzidenz, des Prednisolonverbrauchs und der
Operationszahlen bei der Colitis ulcerosa unter Azathioprintherapie“ (Whereabouts
unknown)“
Dr. Laura Kühlewein „Kolorektale Neoplasien bei Patienten mit Morbus Crohn. Eine retrospektive
Kohortenstudie“ (Whereabouts unknown)
Dr. Manuela Uenzen “Untersuchung der Wertigkeit der Positronenemissionstomographie zur
Kartierung des entzündlichen Befallsmusters bei Morbus Crohn im Vergleich zur Koloskopie
und zur Hydro-MRT“ (Whereabouts unknown)
Dr. med. Jingling Yu „The roles of Interferon regulatory factors in the murine models of colitis
and sepsis” (now Institute of Molecular Medicine, Mainz)