Elena Levashina

2004 Laureate

Current Position

Group leader

Host Institution

Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germnay

The Levashina lab

Levashina@mpiib-berlin.mpg.de

Anopheles mosquito by a graffiti artist in London

Host-pathogen interaction and innate immunity in mosquitoes

Elena Levashina is focusing on building on the research she developed on the role of the immune system in regulating the survival of malaria parasites in the Anopheles mosquito, the insect vector that transmits malaria to humans. She and her group now have a greater focus on the vector biology, and investigate the mosquito responses to a wide range of pathogens including bacteria and fungi, and the trade off between immunity and reproduction. The developed knowledge should inform novel intervention strategies in the fight against vector-borne diseases.

Training

• 1994 : Ph. D. in Genetics, St-Petersbourg State University, Russia, Ludmila A. Lutova's lab, Cell selection in vitro for the development of plant stocks resistant to the phytosterol-dependent insects

• 1995-1998 : Post-doctoral fellow, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS, Strasbourg, France, Jules A. Hoffmann's lab

• 1999-2001 : Post-doctoral fellow, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany, Fotis C. Kafatos' lab

• 2002 : Appointed Group Leader, Institut de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, CNRS, Strasbourg, France

Awards

• Jaffé Prize, Institut de France, 2011

• Elected EMBO member, 2010

• International Scholar, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, 2005-2010

• Research Prize, Inserm, 2008