EKUT is one of Europe's oldest universities, with key strengths in science and life sciences. Within the Faculty of Medicine, the Institute for Tropical Medicine, Travel Medicine and Human Parasitology (ITM) has been an established centre of excellence since 2007. The ITM specialises in infectious and tropical diseases and human parasitosis, operating a tropical medicine and travel medicine outpatient clinic, conducting research and teaching. The ITM also has a dedicated Clinical Trials Platform (CTP), partly funded by the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF). This platform was specially developed to conduct Phase I-IV clinical trials to International Council on Harmonization and Good Clinical Practice (ICH-GCP) standards. Clinical trials are also being run with a partner in Gabon, the Center of Medical Research Lambaréné (CERMEL), the former Medical Research Unit of the Albert Schweitzer Hospital. Its collective expertise lies in integrating basic biological research and applied clinical research. EKUT’s main task will be to plan and carry out the clinical trial part of the project (Phase I ).
Partners
Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen (EKUT), Germany
Team members
Professor Peter Kremsner is a world leader in research on parasitic infections and is the Director of EKUT's ITM. He also set up CERMEL in 1992 and was its Director from 1992 till 2011. Having published over 500 peer-reviewed research articles, his interests include tropical medicine, human parasitology, immunology, vaccinology and travel medicine. He conducts a unique combination of basic research in the field of malaria, bacterial and viral infections, allergies and worm infections as well as clinical studies, including on drugs and vaccines, from Phases I to IV.
Professor Kremsner will oversee the Phase I studies conducted at EKUT.
Prof. Dr. Thirumalaisamy Velavan is an expert in infectious diseases, with over 110 publications to his name. In addition to being affiliated to EKUT's ITM, he is a Scientific Coordinator at the Congolese Foundation for Medical Research (FCRM) in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Prof. Velavan has also established a clinical research unit and is the Director of the Vietnamese-German Center for Medical Research (VGCare) in Hanoi, Vietnam. Prof. Dr. Velavan have published several articles on the contribution of host complement proteins in Cutaneous and Visceral Leishmaniasis.
Professor Velavan will coordinate the Phase I trial.
Sigrid Czarnotta has a Master of Science from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. She has worked in administration roles at the university since 2017 and as a project manager at the Institute of Tropical Medicine since 2019.
For Tübingen, she is the partner site manager for the German Center for Infection Research in Germany (DZIF) and responsible for the management of various national funded research projects.
For the TT4CL project, she will be the project manager for the Phase I clinical trial that will be performed on-site at EKUT.
