Prof. Dr. Dirk Grimm
Laboratory of Virus-Host Interactions
Department of Infectious Diseases, Virology
Heidelberg University
69120 Heidelberg, Germany
Phone: +49 6221-54 51331
E-Mail
FIELDS OF INTEREST
Adeno-associated viral (AAV) gene transfer vectors, interactions of pathogens (viruses and parasites) with human host cells, RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms and role in viral and parasital disease, in vitro and in vivo RNAi screens for gene and miRNA annotation, gene/Genome Engineering Technologies including CRISPR, development of new AAV/RNAi/CRISPR-based clinical modalities to treat and prevent human infections, characterization of circulating miRNAs as novel biomarkers for infection, use of AAV/RNAi technologies to create and modify human induced pluripotent stem cells, therapeutic in vivo reprogramming of somatic cells in adult organisms.
AWARDS & HONORS
| 2020 | “Outstanding Achievement” Award by Netherlands Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (NVGCT) |
| 2017 | Research Award from Deutsche Duchenne-Stiftung |
| 2015 | “Outstanding New Investigator” Award by American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) |
| 2014 | Bonus from program “Spitzenpublikationen” (engl. Top publications) by Heidelberg University Hospital |
| 2010 | Gold medal at iGEM student contest |
| 2007 | 3rd place amongst ‘Top 13 Medicine Stories 2006’ in Discover magazine |
| 2004 – 2007 | Travel awards by American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy |
| 2006 | Plenary talk at Presidential Symposium of 2006 ASGT meeting |
| 1998 | Summa cum laude (PhD ‘with highest honor’) |
| 1995-1998 | PhD student grant from Progen Biotechnik GmbH, Heidelberg |
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| 2017–present | Full Professor (W2), Department of Infectious Diseases, Heidelberg University |
| 2007–present | Group leader “Virus-Host Interactions”, Heidelberg University, Germany |
| 2006–2007 | Research Associate, Stanford University, School of Medicine, CA, USA |
| 2001–2006 | Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University, School of Medicine, CA, USA |
| 1999–2001 | Postdoctoral Fellow, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany |
| 1998 | PhD (Biology) with summa cum laude, Heidelberg University, Germany |
| 1994 | Diploma (Biology), University of Kaiserslautern, Germany |
| 1988–1994 | Study of Biology (Universities of Kaiserslautern and Heidelberg, Germany) |
| 2012–present | Co-coordinator and co-speaker of CellNetworks EcTop5 “Non-coding RNAs as versatile regulators of cellular processes” |
Weinmann J, Weis S, Sippel J, Tulalamba JW, Remes A, El Andari J, Herrmann AK, Pham QH, Borowski C, Hille S, Schöneberger T, Frey N, Lenter M, VandenDriessche T, Müller OJ, Chuah MK, Lamla T, Grimm D (2020). Identification of a myotropic AAV by massively parallel in vivo evaluation of barcoded capsid variants. Nat Commun 28: 5432
Börner K, Kienle E, Huang LY, Weinmann J, Sacher A, Bayer P, Stüllein C, Fakhiri J, Zimmermann L, Westhaus A, Beneke J, Beil N, Wiedtke E, Schmelas C, Miltner D, Rau A, Erfle H, Kräusslich HG, Müller M, Agbandje-McKenna M, Grimm D (2020). Pre-arrayed pan-AAV peptide display libraries for rapid single-round screening. Mol Ther 28:1016-1032
Bubeck F, Hoffmann M, Harteveld Z, Aschenbrenner S, Bietz A, Waldhauer M, Börner K, Fakhiri J, Schmelas S, Dietz L, Grimm D, Correia B, Eils R, Niopek D (2018). Engineered anti-CRISPR proteins for optogenetic control of CRISPR/Cas9. Nat Methods 15:924-927
Senís E, Mosteiro L, Wilkening S, Wiedtke E, Nowrouzi A, Afzal S, Fronza R, Landerer H, Abad M, Niopek D, Schmidt M, Serrano M, Grimm D (2018). AAV vector-mediated in vivo reprogramming into pluripotency. Nat Commun 9:2651
Michler T, Grosse S, Mockenhaupt S, Röder N, Stückler F, Knapp B, Heikenwälder M, Protzer U, Grimm D (2016). Sense strand neutralisation improves potency, safety and specificity of anti-hepatitis B virus short hairpin RNA. EMBO Mol Med 8:1082-1098
Rezvani M, Espanol-Suner R, Malato Y, Dumont L, Grimm AA, Kienle E, Bindman J, Wiedtke E, Hsu BY, Naqvi SJ, Schwabe RF, Covera CU, Grimm D, Willenbring H (2016). In vivo reprogramming of myofibroblasts into hepatocytes as a therapeutic strategy for liver fibrosis. Cell Stem Cell 18:809-816
Mockenhaupt S, Grosse S, Rupp D, Bartenschlager R, Grimm D (2015). Alleviation of off-target effects from vector-encoded shRNAs via co-delivered RNA decoys. PNAS 112: E4007-E4016
Grimm D, Wang L, Lee JS, Schürmann N, Gu S, Börner K, Storm TA, Kay MA (2010). Argonaute proteins are key determinants of RNAi efficacy, toxicity, and persistence in the adult mouse liver. J Clin Invest 120:3106-3119
Grimm D, Lee JS, Wang L, Desai T, Akache B, Storm TA, Kay MA (2008). In vitro and in vivo gene therapy vector evolution via multispecies interbreeding and re-targeting of adeno-associated viruses. J Virol 82:5887-5911
Grimm D, Streetz KS, Jopling CL, Storm TA, Pandey K, Davis CR, Marion P, Salazar F, Kay MA (2006). Fatality in mice due to oversaturation of cellular microRNA/short hairpin RNA pathways. Nature 441:537-541
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