Anton Windfelder Explained

Anton George Windfelder is a German zoologist and immunologist whose primary research interests include functional imaging of insects.[1]

Life

Windfelder became known after he established the caterpillars of the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) as an alternative animal model for medical research.[2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] His work has received international attention and helps to reduce the number of mammals in medical research according to the 3R principle.[9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] [16]

Windfelder was born in Berlin, where he also graduated from high school. After this, Windfelder studied biology at the Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, with a major in zoology, and became scientifically active early on during his studies.[17] After graduation, Windfelder became a research associate at the Institute of General Zoology and Developmental Biology in the research group for cellular recognition and defense processes led by Tina Trenczek.[18]

Windfelder received his doctorate in 2021 on the topic "High-throughput screening of insect larvae as a replacement for mammalian models of gut inflammation" from Tina Trenczek and Ulrich Flögel.[19] [20] The doctorate was awarded with the highest grade summa cum laude, and Windfelder was awarded the Dr.-Herbert-Stolzenberg-Prize for outstanding achievements in biology in 2023 for his work.[21] [22] [23] After receiving his doctorate, Windfelder moved to the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology to work with Andreas Vilcinskas. He is also employed at the University Hospital Giessen in Experimental Radiology.[24] [25] Windfelder is also involved in university teaching and advocates the use of new didactic methods, such as virtual reality, in medical education.[26] [11] [5]

During his time in Giessen, Windfelder met his wife. Windfelder is married and has two children.[27]

Scientific work

Windfelder's scientific focus is on the functional imaging of insects.[3] [28] [29] He exploits medical imaging methods such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography, or photoacoustic imaging to study physiological and immunological processes in insects.[3] He was the first scientist to use 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to show pathological glucose metabolism in tobacco hornworms with gut inflammation[3] [30] His work shows that the previously mentioned methods can also be used in insects to detect inflammation in analogy to humans.[3] [31] [32] [33] [34]

This allows insects to be better protected from harmful influences such as pesticides, as the adverse effects of these substances can now be detected more easily. On the other hand, insects can be used as alternative animal models in biomedical research.[3] [35] Due to the close evolutionary conservation of the innate immune system and the anatomy of the intestinal epithelium between insects and mammals, insects represent excellent models for studying gut inflammation.[36] [37] [38] For this purpose, Windfelder and his team established the larvae of the tobacco hornworm (Manduca sexta) using the above methods as an alternative animal model for chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.[3] [33] [34] In addition, new promising contrast agents for radiology or tracers for nuclear medicine can first be tested on insects instead of mice or rats, as was previously the case.[29] [39] Since Windfelder's research helps reduce the number of experiments involving small mammals, his research also significantly contributes to animal welfare (3Rs principle).[3] [40]

Literature (selection)

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Development of alternatives to mammalian models in medicine – Fraunhofer IME . 3 September 2023 . Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME . en.
  2. Web site: 2 September 2023. hessenschau. Frankfurt Germany . 6 January 2023 . de. Tabakschwärmer-Larve gegen Darmerkrankungen.
  3. Windfelder . Anton G. . Müller . Frank H. H. . Mc Larney . Benedict . Hentschel . Michael . Böhringer . Anna Christina . von Bredow . Christoph-Rüdiger . Leinberger . Florian H. . Kampschulte . Marian . Maier . Lorenz . von Bredow . Yvette M. . Flocke . Vera . Merzendorfer . Hans . Krombach . Gabriele A. . Vilcinskas . Andreas . Grimm . Jan . 24 November 2022 . High-throughput screening of caterpillars as a platform to study host–microbe interactions and enteric immunity . Nature Communications . en . 13 . 1 . 10.1038/s41467-022-34865-7 . 2041-1723 . 9700799 . 36433960.
  4. Web site: 2 September 2023. rtl.de. 9 February 2023. de. Statt Tierversuchen an Mäusen: Kleine Kriecher revolutionieren die Medikamentenforschung.
  5. Web site: 2 September 2023. Martin Vieweg. 16 June 2023. de-DE. Virtuelle Reise durch die "Raupe der Forschung".
  6. Web site: 2 September 2023. de. Grundlagenforschung: Raupen statt Mäuse.
  7. Web site: 12 January 2023 . Move Over, Mice: Caterpillars Could Replace Some Mammals in the Study of Human Disease Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center . 3 September 2023 . www.mskcc.org . en.
  8. Web site: Audio – Fraunhofer IME . 3 September 2023 . Fraunhofer-Institut für Molekularbiologie und Angewandte Oekologie IME . de.
  9. Web site: Caterpillars as a replacement for mammalian models in preclinical research – Research team developed an innovative and unique imaging platform . 3 September 2023 . www.bionity.com . en.
  10. Web site: Introducing... The Caterpillar Model of Human Disease Health And Medicine . 3 September 2023 . Labroots.
  11. Web site: 16 June 2023 . Virtual journey through the "caterpillar of research" . 3 September 2023 . Techzle . en-US.
  12. Web site: 2 September 2023. 12 January 2023. en. Caterpillars could be used as an alternative to mammalian models to study gut inflammation.
  13. Web site: 2 September 2023. 12 January 2023. pt. Fim dos ratos em experimentos? Lagartas podem substituir os roedores.
  14. Web site: 2 September 2023. 16 January 2023. en-AU. COVID-19 antibodies in breast milk, Martian meteorite & more.
  15. Web site: 2 September 2023. Liana Ganea. ro. Omizile ar putea înlocui șoarecii în studiul bolilor umane.
  16. Web site: 19 January 2023 . Understanding gut inflammation using caterpillars Immunopaedia . 3 September 2023 . Immunopaedia Advancing global immunology education . en.
  17. Müller . F. H. H. . Farahati . J. . Müller . A. G. . Gillman . E. . Hentschel . M. . 2016 . Positron emission mammography in the diagnosis of breast cancer: Is maximum PEM uptake value a valuable threshold for malignant breast cancer detection? . Nuklearmedizin . de . 55 . 01 . 15–20 . 10.3413/Nukmed-0753-15-07 . 0029-5566.
  18. Web site: Prof. Dr. Tina E. Trenczek . 2 September 2023 . Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen . de.
  19. Book: Windfelder, Anton George . High-throughput screening of insect larvae as a replacement for mammalian models of gut inflammation . 2021 . Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen . Giessen.
  20. Web site: 2 September 2023 . Suchportal UB Gießen: Titel: High-throughput screening....
  21. Web site: 2 September 2023. 4 July 2023. de. Förderung der Jungwissenschaftler.
  22. Web site: 2 September 2023. 11 July 2023. de . Stolzenberg-Preis für Windfelder.
  23. Web site: 2 September 2023. 13 July 2023. de. Herausragende Leistung am Fraunhofer IME in Gießen.
  24. Web site: 2 September 2023. de. Entwicklung von Alternativen zu Säugetiermodellen in der Medizin – Fraunhofer IME .
  25. Web site: 2 September 2023. de. Universitätsklinikum Giessen und Marburg – Team .
  26. Web site: 2 September 2023. 3 July 2023. de. "Gamechanger": Gießener Team forscht mit VR-Technik an Darmerkrankungen.
  27. Web site: Short CV Anton Windfelder Alternative Animal Models . 2023-09-15 . Meinewebsite . en.
  28. Windfelder . Anton G. . Steinbart . Jessica . Flögel . Ulrich . Scherberich . Jan . Kampschulte . Marian . Krombach . Gabriele A. . Vilcinskas . Andreas . June 2023 . A quantitative micro-tomographic gut atlas of the lepidopteran model insect Manduca sexta . iScience . 26 . 6 . 106801 . 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106801 . 2589-0042 . 10291339 . 37378344.
  29. Koshkina . Olga . Rheinberger . Timo . Flocke . Vera . Windfelder . Anton . Bouvain . Pascal . Hamelmann . Naomi M. . Paulusse . Jos M. J. . Gojzewski . Hubert . Flögel . Ulrich . Wurm . Frederik R. . 19 July 2023 . Biodegradable polyphosphoester micelles act as both background-free 31P magnetic resonance imaging agents and drug nanocarriers . Nature Communications . en . 14 . 1 . 4351 . 10.1038/s41467-023-40089-0 . free . 2041-1723 . 10356825 . 37468502.
  30. Web site: BPoD PET Caterpillars . 3 September 2023 . bpod.org.uk . en.
  31. Web site: 8 December 2022 . Ein neues Labortier für die Darmforschung . de . 3 September 2023 . AerzteZeitung.de.
  32. Web site: 6 December 2022 . Tabakschwärmer helfen beim Verständnis entzündlicher Prozesse . 3 September 2023 . www.diepta.de . de-DE.
  33. Web site: 13 December 2022 . Tabakschwärmer-Raupen als neuer Modellorganismus für präklinische Studien . Deutsches Ärzteblatt . de . 3 September 2023.
  34. Web site: Volker Budinger . 22 December 2022 . Schmetterlingsraupen für die Erforschung von Darmerkrankungen . 3 September 2023 . DAZ.online.
  35. Web site: Georg Thieme . 6 January 2023 . Vet-News: Schädlingsraupen als Ersatz für Versuchstiere?! . 3 September 2023 . vet.thieme.de . de-DE.
  36. Anthony Galenza . Edan Foley. 1 May 2019 . 10.1016/j.dci.2019.01.011 . 0145-305X . 22–34. Developmental & Comparative Immunology. Immunometabolism: Insights from the Drosophila model . 94.
  37. Web site: Schädlingsraupen können traditionelle Versuchstiere ersetzen- Technologieland Hessen . 3 September 2023 . www.technologieland-hessen.de . de.
  38. Windfelder . Anton G. . Steinbart . Jessica . Graser . Leonie . Scherberich . Jan . Krombach . Gabriele A. . Vilcinskas . Andreas . April 2024 . An enteric ultrastructural surface atlas of the model insect Manduca sexta . iScience . 27 . 4 . 109410 . 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109410 . 2589-0042 . 10981077.
  39. Web site: Biodegradable phosphoester polymers for greener MRI color . 4 September 2023 . cen.acs.org.
  40. Web site: 2 September 2023. de-DE. Das 3R-Prinzip . Tierversuche verstehen.

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