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

.

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

Click here for further publications.