Zoller Group

Our work focuses on research in East-Africa, namely in Tanzania. Together with our long-term partners Ifakara Health Institute and Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, we recently established the Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Disease attached to St. Francis Referral Hospital in Ifakara as a centre of excellence in Heart and Lung disease in the central Kilombero region of Tanzania.
In a following project, we implement a care programme to reach rural and remote communities to provide basic NCD care locally, and to build a chain of care and referral up to the Center for Heart and Lung Disease in Ifakara: the CARECHAIN-NCD project.
We also aim to describe epidemiology and risk factors for chronic lung disease in the region, eventually aiming to desing and implement effective healthcare interventions.
Moreover, the group is interested to harness the potential of  eHealth and mHealth solutions to provide efficient healthcare to underpriviledged populations.

Clinical studies / projects:

• CARECHAIN-NCD: building a chain of care for non-communicable diseases in rural Tanzania (May 2023 – April 2028), see also project page of SwissTPH.
• Else Kröner Center for Heart and Lung Disease in Ifakara, central Tanzania (2020-2023). Project page of Swiss TPH.
• Health telematics for improving TB- and HIV-care in rural Tanzania (TB-HIV-Telematics, 2020 – 2022), see project page 
• TB-TRIAGE (2020-2024, participation as medical advisor)
• Tanzanian Lung Health Study (2015-2016)
• NC-005 TB clinical trial (2014-2016, participation as medical advisor)
• NC-006 TB clinical trial (2014-2016, participation as medical advisor)

The group contributes actively to the cohort studies Pa-COVID-19 (Charité) as well as to NAPKON-HAP and NAPKON-POP studies (link to NAPKON); both are multi-centre observational cohort studies investigating the clinical course and long-term outcomes of COVID-19. The group designed the follow-up study programme for the NAPKON-HAP cohort of patients who were hospitalized for COVID-19 and coordinates the clinical research for the Berlin site of NAPKON-POP, the population-based COVID-19 study. The groups main interest is the analysis of respiratory sequelae of COVID-19.

Clinical studies / projects (contribution as described above):

• NAPKON-HAP (2020-2024)
• NAPKON-POP (2020-2024)
• Pa-COVID-19 (2020-2021)

Chagas disease is a parasitic infection endemic in most countries in Latin America and belongs to the group of „Neglected Tropical Diseases“.  Due to international migration, many people infected with Trypanosoma cruzi live now in Europe and in Germany. The project addresses the problems of missing epidemiological data and poor capacity for attending complex medical problems of patients affected in the German healthcare system.

We also partner with Hospital Dermatológico de Monteagudo, Bolivia, and University of Würzburg, Germany, to carry out clinical and epidemiological research on Chagas Disease in the highly endemic Bolivian Chaco.

Clincal studies / projects:

• AUTOS-CHAGAS (2023-2024): a study to examine the role of auto-antibodies against beta-adrenergic receptors and nutritional selenium status in Chagas disease in patients in Bolivia (see also: https://drks.de/search/de/trial/DRKS00020935).
• „Erkennung und Lenkung von Chagas Patienten in Deutschland – ELCiD“. More information on the project website: www.chagas.info (2015-ongoing)

Severe malaria is life-threatening infection. Artemisinin drugs are the key drugs in the WHO global strategy to roll back malaria, but is now well established that they can cause delayed haemolytic reactions two to six weeks after treatment. „Post-Artemisinin Delayed Haemolysis“ – now a widely known adverse drug reaction – was discovered and first described by our group. Up to 25% of patients have recurring and severe anaemia after being discharged from hospital. Data from our centre led to a major improvement in patient safety of artemisinin treatment worldwide.

After more than 15 years in clinical use worldwide, the group again demonstrated that late haemolytic reactions also occur not only in patients after i.v.-artesunate treatment, but also in patients treated with oral ACT´s for uncomplicated malaria.

Clincal studies / projects:

• MAL-RISK study part II (2024-2027)
• MAL-RISK study part I (2018-2021)
• Study site: Proof of Concept Study of Eurartesim® in Patients with Imported Uncomplicated Plasmodium vivax Malaria (2014-2016, local PI)
• SMPS (severe malaria pharmacovigilance system for intravenous artesunate, 2014-2020)
• HAEMO-ART study (2014-2020)
• TropNet Severe Malaria Study (2008-2015)

The group is actively involved in research projects on the epidemiology of travel-related infections imported to Europe. We aim to raise the standards in diagnostic methods and clinical and therapeutic options. This knowledge also improves pre-travel risk assessment and efficacy of disease prevention.

Clincal studies / projects:

• Partner of „DENGUE TOOLS“ consortium (2014-2016, participation)
• Epidemiology and clinical features of imported Schistosomiasis in European travellers (2017)
• Epidemiology and clinical features of Dengue fever in German travellers (2015)

EU-PEARL (2019-2023, scientific contribution): EU-PEARL is a strategic partnership between the public and private sectors formed in 2019 to shape the future of clinical trials. Under the umbrella of the Innovative Medicines Initiative, the Consortium developed a generic framework and a set of tools to conduct patient-centric collaborative platform trials, Integrated Research Platforms (IRPs).