Professor
Technical University of Munich
Germany
The main areas of work of Hermann Wagner are the complex defense mechanisms of the innate and acquired immune system. He is fascinated by the prospect of strengthening immunity against pathogens with ever-improving vaccination processes. At the beginning of his scientific career, Hermann Wagner dealt with the mechanisms of activation of T-killer cells and the role of bacterial superantigens. He completed a research stay in Melbourne at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in 1973 with a Ph.D. via T-cell mediated immunity. At the Technical University of Munich, he developed infection immunology into one of the scientific focal points of the medical faculty. In 1995 he was one of the first scientists to discover the importance of so-called Toll-like receptors for infection research and immunology. With more than 370 publications to date, Hermann Wagner is one of the most cited immunologists in Europe. In honorary positions he has worked, among other things, as President of the German Society for Immunology, as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technical University of Munich and as Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Würzburg Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF).