Katja Fischer
Dr | Group Leader
+61 7 3362 0417katja.fischer@qimrberghofer.edu.au
CAREER HISTORY
Dr Katja Fischer (ARC Future Fellow 2013, NHMRC SRF 2019) is a Group Leader at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute. She completed her undergraduate training as a molecular Parasitologist at the University of Freiburg, Germany, followed by a PhD in molecular biology of malaria parasites at the University of Würzburg, Germany, followed by post doc positions at QIMR Berghofer MRI. Here she became Laboratory Head in 2007 and Group Leader in 2013. Her laboratory at the QIMR Berghofer MRI is one of very few groups worldwide providing crucial biomedical research towards reducing scabies and associated secondary infections.
CURRENT APPOINTMENTS
2014-present: Group Leader, Scabies Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer
2018-present: NHMRC Senior Research Fellow
2012-present: Adjunct Associate Professor, Queensland University of Technology
2005-present: Adjunct appointment, School of Natural Sciences, Griffith University
2000-present: Conjoint Academic Level B appointment with the Faculty of Medicine, University of Queensland
PREVIOUS APPOINTMENTS
2010-2014: Laboratory Head, Scabies Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer
2013-2018: ARC Future Fellow
2010-2014: Laboratory Head, Scabies Laboratory, QIMR Berghofer
2003-2010: Senior Research Officer, QIMR Berghofer
1999-2003: Research Officer, QIMR Berghofer
1994-1998: PhD candidate, University of Würzburg
ORCID NUMBER
RESEARCHER ID
H-4989-2014
CURRENT RESEARCH
Scabies and associated bacterial skin infections continue to be a global problem. They result in a truly neglected, underrated yet significant health burden associated with overcrowding of people living in remoteness and poverty, including Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. There is no vaccine for scabies, only few suboptimal broad-spectrum anti-parasitic drugs and mite resistance against these drugs emerging. Another major challenge is the lack of early diagnostic markers for infection, to distinguish scabies from numerous skin conditions with similar symptoms. Dr Fischer is leading the only Australian group exploring scabies molecular biology in a formal, long-term, continuously funded research program.
Our program drives the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Our research has changed the knowledge of mite biology, scabies pathogenesis and the mechanisms underlying the three-way interactions between mites, bacteria and the skin immune system. We have attracted a critical mass of the best expert collaborating scientists and established essential industry links for the successful implementation of this multi-center, multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary program. Our work has major translational implications, globally and for Australian Indigenous patients.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS
- identified multiple therapeutic and diagnostic candidates, drug targets with pharmaceutical potential and molecular mechanisms underlying scabies pathogenesis
- our international scabies microbiome program involves clinicians in India, France and remote Australia
- provide an integrated multi-omics database and a powerful in vivo model facilitating pre-clinical work
- produced the first recombinant proteins/crystal structures for scabies mites
- defined virulence factors that interfere with complement, coagulation and the skin barrier
- defined molecular mechanisms underlying mite/bacterial co-infections
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- Associate Editor PLoS NTD since 2010
- Grant reviews since 2001 (NHMRC, ARC, NIH)
- Invited Chief Editor of a book in a series on NTDs with Springer Nature
- Scientific Advisor ‘Orange Sky Australia’
- Founding member and Lead Scientific Advisor of ‘IACS’, the sole international alliance advocating for scabies
AWARDS RECOGNITION
2020: The Bancroft-Meckerras Medal for Excellence, awarded by the Australian Society of Parasitology
2019-2023: NHMRC SRF
2014: QIMR Group Leader, Faculty
2013-2018: ARC Future Fellow
2002: Prize for best poster presentation at Molecular Parasitology Meeting
1994: German PhD Scholarship awarded for four years for women enrolling for PhD while supporting young children
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
2003-2010: Senior Research Officer, QIMR Berghofer
1999-2003: Research Officer, QIMR
1994-98: PhD Molecular Parasitology, University of Würzburg, Germany
1997: “Course on Vectors and Vector Borne Diseases in Africa’’ in Bamako, Mali, Africa. Travel, tuition and expenses sponsored by the Mac Arthur Foundation, USA
1991: Diploma Biology/Parasitology, University of Freiburg, Germany