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ERC Starting Grant 2025 for Dr. Johannes Hartl: Molecular Causes of Systemic Fungal Infections in Focus
The Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) is pleased to announce that Dr. Johannes Hartl, a research group leader at BIH, has been awarded a prestigious ERC Starting Grant 2025 for his project "FungalPath". His research focuses on the molecular causes of systemic fungal infections, a critical but often overlooked health problem.
Each year, over 1.5 million people worldwide die from fungal infections that enter the bloodstream and spread to internal organs. In contrast to bacterial and viral infections, systemic fungal infections receive significantly less attention. Yet they are often particularly difficult to diagnose and treat effectively due to the limited availability of potent antifungal drugs. Dr. Hartl and his team aim to understand why only a few fungi cause severe infections in humans, despite many closely related species rarely appearing in clinical settings.
“The project ‘FungalPath’ aims to decipher the molecular adaptations that fungi need to become pathogenic," explains Dr. Hartl. "By investigating the differences between pathogenic fungi and their less harmful relatives, we seek to identify key mechanisms of pathogenicity and in turn novel therapeutic targets."
The interdisciplinary team will use advanced mass spectrometry to analyze proteins and metabolites of numerous fungal species – thereby identifying functional differences between them. In addition, key conditions within the human host will be identified and simulated in the laboratory, and the responses of different fungal species will be captured using high-throughput techniques. This approach will illuminate not only fungal adaptation strategies within the host but also the host’s response to infection, focusing on the complex interplay among fungal biology, genetics, physiology, and environmental factors.
Dr. Hartl’s long-term goal with "FungalPath" is to significantly improve the diagnosis and treatment of systemic fungal infections and enhance medical preparedness for emerging fungal pathogens. The BIH warmly congratulates Dr. Johannes Hartl on this distinguished award and looks forward to the significant insights his project will yield.
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The ERC Grant is one of the most important research funding instruments in Europe. With this grant, the European Research Council (ERC) supports outstanding researchers in pursuing their most innovative and ambitious ideas, regardless of the field of study. The aim is to promote cutting-edge research that generates new knowledge and drives scientific progress. The ERC Grant is considered highly prestigious and extremely competitive.