Meet the Guest Editor

Abstract

Reto Crameri studied microbiology and biochemistry at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zürich, where he completed his PhD on genetics of industrial microorganisms in 1980. He was a research scientist and head of the antibiotic research group until the end of 1982 at the same institution. Thereafter, he joined Biogen SA in Geneva as senior scientist in molecular biology until end of 1986. After a short period as head of the Swiss Radon Project at the Paul Scherrer Institute (1987-1989), he moved at the Swiss Institute of Allergy and Asthma Research in Davos as head of the Division of Molecular Allergology. In addition he became guest Professor for Molecular Immunology at the University of Salzburg, Austria, in 1996. Dr. Crameri is on the Editorial Board of Allergy, Biochemical Journal, and International Archives of Allergy and Immunology and is or has been a reviewer of grant applications for the österreichiser Nationalfonds (FWF), the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), The Wellcome Trust, and The Eli and Edythe L. Broad Foundation, among others. Besides contributions to the fields of allergology and immunology, he recently played an important role as a founder of ImVisioN GmbH & Co. KG, Hannover, Germany, a spin-off company dealing with recombinant vaccines. The research interests of Dr. Crameri include development of phage display and robot-based high throughput screening technology for fast identification of medically important target molecules, studies on the mechanisms of innate immunity, development of diagnostic tools based on molecular biology, elucidation of molecular structures, and mass spectrometric-based profiling of peptides and small proteins from human body fluids and tissues. Some recent publications are cited below. SELECTED PUBLICATIONS Kodzius R.; Rhyner C.; Konthur Z.; Buczek D.; Lehrach H.; Walter G.; Crameri R. Rapid identification of allergen-encoding cDNA clones by phage display and high-density arrays. Combin. Chem. High Throughput Screen. 2003, 6, 147-154. Fossa A.; Alsoe L.; Crameri R.; Funderud S.; Gaudernack G.; Smeland E. B. Serological cloning of cancer/testis antigens expressed in prostate cancer using cDNA phage surface display. Cancer Immunol. Immunother. 2004, 53, 431-438. Andersson A.; Rasool O.; Schmidt M.; Kodzius R.; Flückiger S.; Zagari A.; Crameri R.; Scheynius A. Cloning, expression and characterization of two new IgE-binding proteins from the yeast Malassezia sympodialis with sequence similarities to heat shock proteins and manganese superoxide dismutase. Eur. J. Biochem. 2004, 271, 1885-1894. Akdis M., Verhagen J., Taylor A., Karmaloo F., Karagiannidis C.; Crameri R.; Thunberg S.; Deniz G.; Valenta R.; Fiebig H.; Kegel C.; Disch R.; Schmidt-Weber C.B.; Blaser K.; Akdis C. A. Immune responses in healthy and allergic individuals are characterized by a fine balance between allergen-specific T regulatory 1 and T helper 2 cells. J. Exp. Med. 2004, 199, 1567- 1575. Kussebi F.; Karamloo F.; Rhyner C., Schmid-Grendelmeier P,: Salagianni M.; Manhart C.; Akdis M.; Soldatova L.; Markovic-Housley Z.; Von Beust B.R.; Kündig T.; Kemeny D.M.; Blaser K.; Crameri R.; Akdis C. A. A major allergen gene-fision protein for potential usage in allergen-specific immunotherapy. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2005, 115, 323-329. Schmid-Grendelmeier P.; Flückiger S.; Disch R.; Trautmann A., Wüthrich B.; Blaser K.; Scheynius A.; Crameri R. IgEmeidated and T cell-mediated autoimmunity against manganese superoxide dismutase in atopic dermatitis. J. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 2005, 115, 1068-1075. Lamerz J.; Selle H.; Scapozza L.; Crameri R.; Schulz-Knappe P.; Mohring T.; Kellmann M.; Khameina V.; Zucht H.D. Correlation-associated peptide networks of the human cerebrospinal fluid. Proteomics 2005, 5, 2789-2798. Crameri R. The potential of proteomics and peptidomics for allergy and asthma research. Allergy 2005, 60, 1227-1237. Limacher A.; Kloer D. P.; Flückiger S.; Folkers G.; Crameri R.; Scapozza L. The crystal structure of Aspergillus fumigatus cyclophilin reveals 3D domain swapping of a central element. Structure 2005 (in press).