Title: Senior Scientist
Company: Indiana University
Location: Carmel, Indiana, United States
Bernhard F. Maier, PhD, senior scientist at Indiana University, has been recognized by Marquis Who’s Who Top Scientists for dedication, achievements, and leadership in science and health care.
With over a three and a half decades of experience, Dr. Maier has established a distinguished career in science and education. Since 2008, he has served as an assistant professor at the School of Medicine, Indiana University, working in the hematology-oncology division of the Cancer Institute. In this role, he studies T cell malignancies and their treatment using immune therapeutic measures, develops CAR T cells and bispecific antibodies to target malignant cells with specific tumor markers, and conducts basic research. He collaborates with clinical teams treating immune therapy and gene therapy patients and analyzes clinical materials to advance treatment strategies. His experience also includes assistant professor at the School of Medicine, University of Virginia, from 1995 to 2008, research associate at the University of Virginia from 1995 to 2004 and group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics from 1990 to 1995.
Throughout his career, Dr. Maier has authored articles in various academic and clinical journals, including a notable publication in the Journal of Clinical Investigations in 2010. Additionally, he is a member of the American Society of Nephrology and the German Society of Immunology. Laying a strong educational foundation, he earned a Bachelor of Science in immunology, microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, and parasitology from Eberhard Karl University of Tübingen in 1977. He continued at the same institution to complete a Master of Science in the same disciplines in 1981. In 1986, he earned a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) magna cum laude, focusing on T helper activation and regulatory T cells at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. He further advanced his expertise as a Fogarty postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, United States Department of Health and Human Services, where he studied anti-sense RNA inhibition of HIV and “intracellular immunization” in 1990.
Dr. Maier’s most notable achievements include identifying a short isoform of the tumor suppressor p53 as a key regulator of the relationship between aging and camphor in 2004. In 2010, his groundbreaking study in the Journal of Clinical Investigations revealed that hypusination, a specific modification of the translation factor eIF5A, is critical for immune processes, particularly in forming active T cells. His team demonstrated that inhibiting hypusination in mice prevented diabetes, even on a high-fat diet, suggesting a potential treatment pathway. This research has progressed to successful clinical trials using inhibitors of the polyamine pathway to block hypusination, offering hope for preventing diabetes in newly diagnosed children.
Another significant achievement lies in Dr. Maier’s research on the time course of sepsis, a critical condition with a 50% survival rate. Using advanced methods and informatics in a mouse model, he helped identify distinct stages of sepsis and the molecular pathways active at each stage. This work, widely cited, paves the way for tailored treatments based on a patient’s specific sepsis stage, potentially improving outcomes. He notes parallels to severe COVID-19 cases, where targeted approaches could similarly mitigate immune responses like cytokine storms. He attributes his success to curiosity and creativity, as well as a strong intuition. Looking to the future, he is focused on finding treatments for specific types of cancer, including large granular lymphoma. Currently, his top priority is working on identifying target molecules that can be used to eliminate these leukemic cells.
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