Elected: 2019
Country (Nationality)
Denmark
Discipline
Medical & Health Sciences
Bio
Lars is a Professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen (since 2006). He has conducted research on the immunology and pathogenesis of Plasmodium falciparum malaria since the late 1980s. Lars’ research is mostly based on field studies in Africa – mainly in Sudan and Ghana. In 1991, he co-founded the Centre for Medical Parasitology (CMP) in Copenhagen, which has grown since to becoming a leading hub of European malaria research. For more than 20 years, his research has been focussed mainly on the role of clonally variant parasite antigens, in particular PfEMP1, in malaria pathogenesis and as targets of naturally acquired protective immunity to the disease. Research capacity building and collaboration with colleagues in Africa has been an integral part of his research activities throughout. Lars is an international faculty member at the West-African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens (WACCBIP), University of Ghana. His laboratory participates in the Legacy project of the Federation of African Immunological Societies (FAIS). He is an elected Fellow of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (FASTMH, Class of 2013).