Primary fields of research

Malaria pathogenesis and experimental treatment

The interplay between infection and nutrition with focus on iron and hepcidin

Clinical and diagnostic parasitology

Bacterial sepsis in children and neonates in low-income countries

I work with malaria pathogenesis with the aim of improving management of patients in malaria-endemic parts of the world, in particular Sub-Saharan Africa. In this connection I have studied the pathogenesis of two major malaria complications, cerebral malaria and severe anaemia, and how these can be targeted by EPO and iron given as supplement to antimalarial treatment in experimental models.

My present research in this field takes place in the Volta Region of Ghana where I collaborate with other researchers at ISIM together with researchers at University of Ghana and University of Health and Allied Sciences in a large research capacity building project. My group in Copenhagen is primarily working on experimental malaria in vitro and in animal models.

I also participate in development of new diagnostic methods including collaborations with manufacturers of diagnostic and other equipment. In this connection we have set up molecular methods for some parasites, and we hope soon to be able to offer hepcidin measurement in blood and urine by mass spectrometry.

I have been involved in studies of etiology of bacterial sepsis in neonates in Vietnam and Ghana and now extending this to infections in malnourished children in Ethiopia. Recently, I have started to collaborate with University of Ghana Medical School on a project aiming at reducing healthcare associated infections with special focus on the neonatal intensive care unit.

Teaching

I have the overall responsibility for the medical studies at University of Copenhagen with more than 3800 students and an annual enrollment of appr. 550. This is a fascinating teamwork between faculty leadership, study administration, seven university departments, numerous teachers in basic sciences, clinical and sociological fields - and not least our students who play an important role via our staff-student committee.

As previous course leader in clinical microbiology for medical students I have developed teaching materials, lectures and laboratory practicals, and I have written text book chapters on parasitology. I am still teaching in the course.

I have supervised a high number of pre- and postgraduate students at Danish, Ghanaian, German, French, and Swedish Universities and continue my role as supervisor that I find highly rewarding.

Short presentation

Head of medical studies and director of Med School.

Senior consultant in Clinical Microbiology at Rigshospitalet.

Professor of Clinical Parasitology at Department of Immunology and Microbiology and team leader at Centre for Medical Parasitology.

Chairman of the Staff-Student Committee (studienævnet) for medicine and chairman of the Educational Council for Human Health and Medicine.

Participant in Building Stronger Universities with Ghanaian universities.

President World Federation of Parasitologists.

CV

CURRICULUM VITAE: Jørgen Kurtzhals, *31 March 1960

Professor MSO, Centre for Medical Parasitology, Department of Immunology and Microbiology (ISIM), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Copenhagen (KU) – since May 2013

Education:

• MD, KU 1987.

• Diploma in tropical medicine and hygiene, KU 1993.

• PhD Faculty of Health Sciences, KU 1994.

• Clinical Microbiology (RH, Statens Serum Institut and Hvidovre Hospital), totally 11 years

• Other clinical positions totally 3½ years

Administrative experience:

• Head of medical studies and chairman of staff student committee (studienævnet), Medical school, KU

• Head of parasitology, member of ‘sundhedsfagligt råd’, and clinic-appointed professor, Department of Clinical Microbiology, RH

• Leader of the Pathogenesis team in Centre for Medical Parasitology (CMP, cmp.ku.dk)

• President World Federation of Parasitologists (wfpnet.org)

• Acting vice-dean, Faculty of Health Sciences, KU – 3 months (March-May 2017)

• Implementing partner in phase 1 of the Building Stronger Universities initiative of DANIDA

• Development and administration of research laboratories in Ghana (1994-98 and 2013-present mavareca.cmp.ku.dk)

• Administration and co-adminstration of more than 20 grants, including IPR and patent negotiations

Teaching, supervision and research collaborations:

• Course leader in clinical microbiology for medical students 2009-2015.

• Supervision of 14 PhD projects and >40 master and bachelor projects (Danish and international)

• Responsible for expert education in parasitology for specialist registrars in clinical microbiology

Publications:

132 scientific papers plus 11 letters, editorials etc. in journals with peer review since 1988.

Orcid-link: orcid.org/0000-0003-2760-8713

Scopus author ID: 10238852300 – H-index: 35

Citation metrics i Google Scholar (10 June 2018): Total citations: 6248. H-index: 42. http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7hDMBYcAAAAJ

Thesis:

Kurtzhals JAL. Immuno-epidemiology of visceral leishmaniasis. A model for the study of immune responses to Leishmania donovani infection in humans. PhD thesis; KU: 1993.

Patents:

1. Burckhardt S, Funk F, Kurtzhals J & Sørensen LM. Iron carbohydrate complex compounds for the intravenous therapy of malaria. WO/2012/104204

2. Andersen JG, Enemark HL, Al-Sabi MNS & Kurtzhals J. Detection device and method. PCT/DK2012/050497.

Selected papers:

1.    Kurtzhals JAL, Hey AS, Jardim A, Kemp M, Schaefer K-U, Odera EO, Christensen CBV, Githure JI, Olafson RW, Theander TG & Kharazmi A. Dichotomy of the human T-cell response to Leishmania antigens. II. Absent or TH2-like response to gp63 and TH1-like response to lipophosphoglycan-associated protein in cells from cured visceral leishmaniasis patients. Clin Exp Immunol 1994; 96: 416-421.

2.    Madsen HO, Garred P, Thiel S, Kurtzhals JAL, Lamm LU, Ryder LP & Svejgaard A. Interplay between promoter and structural gene variants control basal serum level of mannan-binding protein. J Immunol 1995; 155: 3013-3020.

3.    Kurtzhals JAL, Rodrigues O, Addae M, Commey JOO, Nkrumah FK & Hviid L. Reversible suppression of bone marrow response to erythropoietin in Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Br J Haematol 1997; 97: 169-174.

4.    Kurtzhals JAL, Adabayeri V, Goka BQ, Akanmori BD, Oliver-commey JO, Nkrumah FK, Behr C & Hviid L. Low plasma concentrations of interleukin 10 in severe malarial anaemia compared with cerebral and uncomplicated malaria. Lancet 1998; 351: 1768-1772.

5.    Nielsen MA, Staalsoe T, Kurtzhals JAL, Goka BQ, Dodoo D, Theander TG, Akanmori BD & Hviid L. Plasmodium falciparum variant surface antigen expression varies between isolates causing severe and non-severe malaria and is modified by acquired immunity. J Immunol 2002; 168: 3444-3450.

6.    Ostrowski SR, Ullum H, Goka BQ, Høyer-Hansen G, Adjei GO, Pedersen BK, Akanmori BD & Kurtzhals JAL. Plasma concentrations of soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor are increased in patients with malaria and are associated with a poor clinical or a fatal outcome. J Infect Dis 2005; 191: 1331-1341.

7.    Adjei GO, Kristensen K, Goka BQ, Høgberg LCG, Alifrangis M, Rodrigues OP & Kurtzhals JAL. Effect of concomitant artesunate administration and CYP2C8 polymorphisms on the pharmacokinetics of amodiaquine in Ghanaian children with uncomplicated malaria. Antimicrobial Agents Chemother 2008; 52: 4400-4406.

8.    Hempel C, Combes V, Hunt NH, Kurtzhals JAL, Grau GER. CNS hypoxia is more pronounced in murine cerebral than non-cerebral malaria and reversed by erythropoietin. Am J Pathol 2011; 179: 1939-1950.

9.    Rostved AA, Sassi M, Kurtzhals JAL, Sørensen SS, Rasmussen A, Ross C, Gogineni E, Huber C, Kutty G, Kovacs JA & Helweg-Larsen J. Outbreak of Pneumocystis pneumonia in renal and liver transplant patients caused by genotypically distinct strains of Pneumocystis jirovecii. Transplantation 2013; 96:834-842

10.Efunshile A, Ngwu B, Kurtzhals JAL, Sahar S, König B & Stensvold CR. Molecular detection of the carriage rate of four intestinal protozoa with Real-Time PCR—possible overdiagnosis of Entamoeba histolytica in Nigeria. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2015; 93: 257-62

11.DellaValle B, Hempel C, Staalsø T, Johansen FF & Kurtzhals JAL. Glucagon-like peptide-1 analogue, liraglutide, in experimental cerebral malaria: implications for the role of oxidative stress in cerebral malaria. Malaria J 2016; 15: 427.

12.Hempel C, Pasini E & Kurtzhals JAL. Endothelial Glycocalyx: Shedding Light on Malaria Pathogenesis. Trends Mol Med 2016; 22: 453-457.

13.Mørcke AM & Kurtzhals JAL. Eksamenskarakterer på medicinstudiet – skal, skal ikke. Ugeskr Laeger 2017; 179: V69006. (Editorial).

14.Castberg FC, Maretty L, Staalsoe T, Hempel C, Clasen-Linde E, Hviid L, Kurtzhals JAL. Increased Plasmodium chabaudi malaria mortality in mice with nutritional iron deficiency can be reduced by short-term adjunctive iron supplementation. Malaria J 2017; Malar J 2018;17:34.

15.Stauning MT, Bediako-Bowan A, Andersen LP, Opintan JA, Labi A-K, Kurtzhals J & Bjerrum S. Traffic flow and microbial air contamination in operating rooms at a major teaching hospital in Ghana. J Hosp Inf; in press.