Leif Erik Sander 🇪🇺🇺🇦
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sanderlab.bsky.social
Leif Erik Sander 🇪🇺🇺🇦
@sanderlab.bsky.social
17K followers 1.1K following 610 posts
Professor & Head of ID at Charité Berlin & Berlin Institute of Health
German-Norwegian physician-scientist interested in Infectious diseases, respiratory medicine, vaccines & immunity,
„friluftsliv“, cycling, music, democracy.
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sanderlab.bsky.social
Die Polizei, die Feuerwehr, die Ärzteschaft, die Umwelthilfe und die überwältigende Mehrheit (75%) der Berliner Bevölkerung fordert ein Verbot von privatem Feuerwerk an Silvester. Das kann man nicht länger ignorieren. Verletzungen, Schäden hohe Kosten.
Was macht die Politik?
November 22, 2025 at 6:05 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Going from years of rejections, demotions, and unexpected turns to ultimately winning the The Nobel Prize is one of the most inspiring stories science and life has to offer. Thank you so much, Prof Katalin Karikó for taking the time and for sharing your inspirational journey with us.
November 14, 2025 at 10:03 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Earlier this week we had the great honor of hosting #NobelPrize Laureate Katalin Karikó at Charité/BIH in Berlin.
She captivated the room with her remarkable story: an incredible journey of perseverance, passion, and unwavering belief in science. A brilliant scientist and a truly wonderful person.
November 14, 2025 at 10:03 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
📢 ID Weekend 2026 (Berliner Infektiologie-Tage)
🗓 16.–17.01.2026 in Berlin Mitte
Beim #IDWeekend2026 trifft sich die Hauptstadt-Infektiologie und diskutiert aktuelle Trends & Herausforderungen der #Infektiologie über Klinik- & Sektorengrenzen hinweg.
👉Jetzt gratis registrieren lnkd.in/eEHRxvia
November 14, 2025 at 9:49 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Der offensichtliche Kontrollverlust über Fahrpläne bei @deutschebahn.com ist schon frustrierend.
November 5, 2025 at 11:52 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Wow. COVID-19 mRNA Impfung verstärkt Krebstherapie!
Neue Studie zeigt: COVID-mRNA Impfung vor Immuntherapie verbessert Überleben bei Lungen- und Hautkrebs deutlich (HR 0,51), durch Aktivierung von Immunantworten gegen den Tumor. Von wegen "Turbo-Krebs" #ImpfenSchuetzt
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Abbildung 1A aus der Studie in Nature. Zeigt eine Kaplan-Meier Kurve mit Gesamtüberleben (Overall Survival, OS) in Prozent über die Zeit. In Rot geimpfte Patienten, in blau umgeimpfte Patienten. Man sieht ein deutlich verbessertes Gesamtüberleben. Adjustierte HR = 0.51
October 22, 2025 at 8:06 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Alle reden von Effizienz und Resistenz. Diese Reform bewirkt das Gegenteil. Gerade angesichts der aktuellen Sicheheitslage schafft die Bundesregierung die Leistungsgruppe "Notfallmedizin" und "Infektiologie" ab? Die Bundeswehr stuft sie als "wehmedizinisch" hoch relevant an.
Hinzu kommt noch ein anderer Punkt, den die Bundesgesundheitsministerintrotz einer zunehmenden Bedrohungslage in Deutschland offenkundig nichtwahrhaben will. Müssen deutsche Soldaten in den Krieg ziehen, oder wirdDeutschland angegriffen, zählen Infektionen zu den größten Bedrohungenfür das Gesundheitswesen. So wird die Infektiologie als einzige derLeistungsgruppen in der Inneren Medizin von der Bundeswehr alswehrmedizinisch relevant eingestuft. Nun lässt sich argumentieren, dass kein Infektiologe das Krankenhausverlassen müsste, wenn die neuen Regelungen in Kraft treten. Die Medizinersind noch da, sie treten nur nicht als eigene Leistungsgruppe auf. Aber das seieine Milchmädchenrechnung, sagt Sander. „Die Leistungsgruppen habennicht nur etwas mit der Vergütung zu tun, sie legen Qualitätsstandards festund definieren, wie viel Personal mit welcher Expertise vorgehalten werdenmuss“, sagt er.
October 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
So soll es zukünftig in den Krankenhausplänen keine spezialisierten Zentren für komplexe Infektionen oder komplex krankte Kinder geben. Nach dem Motto "das kann ja jeder so mitmachen". Das ist Fahrlässig und kurzsichtig. Es gefährdet Sicherheit, führt zu mehr Komplikationen und höheren Kosten!
„Studien belegen, dass bis zu 20 Prozent weniger Menschen an schwerenInfektionen sterben, wenn Experten für Infektiologie die Behandlungsteuern – hier geht es um die Sicherheit und um Qualität, und nebenbei gehtes auch um erhebliche Kosten, die zusätzlich entstehen“, so Sander. „Wirgeben sehr hohe Summen für hochkomplexe Therapien wieKrebsbehandlungen, Knochenmarks- oder Organtransplantation oder fürkomplizierte chirurgische Eingriffe aus, um das Leben von Patienten zu rettenoder zu verlängern. Das sind aber genau die hochvulnerablen Patienten, die inder Folge häufig schwere Infektionen erleiden und daran versterben. Es istvollkommen kurzsichtig, genau die Expertise abzuschaffen, die für dieTherapie dieser Komplikationen so entscheidend ist. Denn genau das passiertmit der Reform.“
October 8, 2025 at 11:02 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Impfung gegen Demenz? Ja, genau.
Die nächste große Studie, die klaren Zusammenhang zwischen Herpes Zoster (Gürtelrose) und erhöhtem Demezrisiko zeigt. Aber Impfung reduziert das Demenzrisiko deutlich.
Zwei Stiche für ein deutlich gesenktes Demenzrisiko.
Guter Deal!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
a,b, Comparing dementia risk (cumulative hazard, y axis) over time (x axis) after (a) exposures of female individuals to the ZVL and (b) exposure of female individuals aged 80–89 years to the RZV showed a substantial association with a decreased dementia risk at 3 and 5 years after index date compared to the PPSV23. The postmatching cohort characteristics for comparisons shown in this figure are presented in Supplementary Table 25. The curves show the Nelson–Aalen estimates of the cumulative hazard function (y axis) over the follow-up period (x axis) with a 95% CI band (shaded areas around each curve) for each cohort being compared. Cumulative hazards at specific time points are compared between the cohorts based on RR using a two-sided chi-squared statistic with 1 degree of freedom without adjusting for multiple comparisons. Superscript letter ‘a’ indicates censored, cumulative numbers of individuals who were lost to follow-up or had died until each time point; superscript letter ‘b’ indicates cumulative numbers of individuals with the event of interest (dementia diagnosis) until each time point. NMD, normalized mean difference; RR, relative risk.
October 6, 2025 at 8:55 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
No. The CDC has deliberately changed its wording here. They changed the name of the disease, which is officially called Mpox internationally.
The causative pathogen is called Monkeypox virus =MPXV.
September 30, 2025 at 2:18 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Gratulation an @tagesspiegel.de zum 80 jährigen Jubiläum.🎂

Gute, unabhängige Tageszeitungen und Qualitätsjournalismus gehören für mich zu einer lebendigen Demokratie dazu. Und ich lese auch einfach gerne Zeitung. Danke an die Journalistinnen & Journalisten. Gerade in diesen Zeiten. 📰
Titelseite der Jubiläumsausgabe des Tagesspiegel „wie werden wir leben?“
September 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
🤝
September 23, 2025 at 10:04 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
It was such a pleasure to visit @gimmfoundation.bsky.social in beautiful Lisbon and to discuss science with students and faculty. So much great science going on here. Thank you, @marcveld.bsky.social for the hospitality.
September 20, 2025 at 9:17 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Der aktuelle Entwurf der Bundesregierung zum Krankenhausanpassungsgesetz (KHAG) enthält gravierende Rückschritte, allen voran die Streichung der Leistungsgruppe Infektiologie. Mit dieser Fehlentscheidung schwächt das BMG die Effizienz + Qualität der Versorgung & konterkariert die Ziele der Reform. 🧵
Screenshot aus dem Referentenentwurf: "Zu Leistungsgruppe Nummer 3" Die Leistungsgruppe Infektiologie wird gestrichen.
August 7, 2025 at 12:57 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
It was a great pleasure to discuss our work on myeloid cells in viral infections at the @www.helmholtz.de #COVIPA meeting on Pandemic Preparedness hosted at @dkfz.bsky.social in beautiful Heidelberg. A great meeting with fantastic talks & discussions. Thanks to the organizers for inviting me.
Lecture halls during the Covipa symposium at DKFZ the river Neckar and the city of Heidelberg
June 3, 2025 at 1:02 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Berlin has its spots.
A picture showing the Wannsee lake in Berlin with blue water, white sailboats and blue sky.
May 24, 2025 at 7:41 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
It was such a delight to host Dr. Rochelle P. #Walensky, former director of the CDC during the COVID crisis at #Charité Berlin. Thank you for sharing inspiring lessons and personal insights with the Charité community.

We all need to speak up for #HealthEquity and Evidence-based health policies.
May 21, 2025 at 5:43 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Genomics reveals zoonotic and sustained human Mpox spread in West Africa
@nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/s41...
May 19, 2025 at 5:02 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Prävention wird immer wichtiger (demogr. Wandel, steigende chronische. Erkrankungen u. Kosten)
Interessante Studie im @thelancet.bsky.social vergleicht Koloskopie mit Test auf Blut im Stuhl alle zwei Jahre. Kein Unterschied in der Krebserkennung nach 10 Jahren.
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
Zwei Abbildungen aus der zitierten Studie. links: The number of participants included in each of the analysis populations (intention-to-screen, as-screened, and per-protocol populations) are shown in the appendix (p 11). The number of eligible individuals shown in this figure differs from that in the previously published preliminary results of the COLONPREV study18 because 1245 additional participants could not be contacted after being randomly assigned because they had died before randomisation or had an inaccurate mailing address, and due to permanent exclusions among participants recruited in subsequent rounds of the study after the publication of the preliminary results. rechts: Figure 3. Kaplan Meyer Curve showing Cumulative risk of colorectal cancer at 10 years in the intention-to-screen population. No difference.
March 29, 2025 at 5:56 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Besides significantly reducing the risk of catching #mpox, the vaccine reduces the likelihood of severe symptoms in those that experienced a breakthrough infection. Therefore, the vaccine reduces the risk of infection and severe disease.
4/7
Figure 4. Relative frequencies of symptoms, hospital admissions, and healing time in days in participants with confirmed mpox among all unvaccinated and vaccinated participants in the unmatched, overall TEMVAc cohort within the observation period (vaccinated n=24, unvaccinated n=298). For healing time of pox lesions, whiskers extend from the box to the minimum and maximum values within 1·5 × IQR from Q1 and Q3, respectively. TEMVAc=Emulated Target Trial for Effectiveness of MVA-BN Vaccination Against Mpox Infection in At-risk Individuals.
March 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Using this combined approach we found that the safety events were extremely rare and the vaccine was well-tolerated.
Overall vaccine effectiveness was 57,8%
84.1% in people without HIV, 34,9% in People living with HIV.
2/6
left: (A) Kaplan–Meier estimates of adverse reactions for all vaccinated participants after first and second vaccination and the number of individuals at risk. Shaded areas indicate the 95% CIs for adverse reactions. (B) Relative frequencies of any local reaction or systemic reaction graded by severity as mild (not interfering with daily activities), moderate (interfering with daily activities), and severe (inability to perform daily activities) after first and second vaccination in the overall population, (C) in PLWH and PLWoH, and (D) in participants with childhood smallpox vaccination and no childhood smallpox vaccination. Severity grading was according to a modified US Food and Drug Administration scale. MVA-BN=modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic. PLWH=people living with HIV. PLWoH=people living without HIV. SV=childhood smallpox vaccination. (A) Dynamics of the mpox outbreak in Germany, 2022, showing the narrow time frame of overlapping MPXV infections per week (orchid coloured area, left y-axis) and the vaccination campaign (Cumulative count of first MVA-BN vaccination in Germany as violet coloured area, right y-axis). (B) Number of participants with PCR-confirmed MPXV infection per week from July 1, 2022, to Oct 31, 2022, in the vaccinated and unvaccinated groups in TEMVAc. (C) Cumulative incidence curves of PCR-confirmed MPXV infection in unvaccinated and vaccinated individuals with one dose in the overall effectiveness cohort derived as per-protocol analysis. Vertical dotted line indicates 14 days. (D) effectiveness for one dose in various subgroups ≥14 days after first vaccination. MPXV=Monkeypox virus. MVA-BN=modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic. PLWH=people living with HIV. PLWoH=people living without HIV. PrEP=pre-exposure prophylaxis. TEMVAc=Emulated Target Trial for Effectiveness of MVA-BN Vaccination Against Mpox Infection in At-risk Individuals.
March 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
The highly dynamic epidemiology of the mpox outbreak prevented us from measuring effectiveness in the prospective study. We therefore combined the prospective enrollment (n=6.265) for assess safety & tolerability with a retrospective target trial emulation (n=9.354) to estimate effectiveness.
2/7
(A) Consort diagram of SEMVAc participants included in the safety cohort. The number of second MVA-BN doses administered at or after study enrolment includes participants who received their first dose before enrolment but received the second dose during the study. Participants who remained unvaccinated or had received their vaccinations before enrolment were not part of the prospective safety cohort. (B) Consort diagram of the rolling cohort and matching of unvaccinated and vaccinated participants in the target trial TEMVAc. MVA-BN=modified vaccinia Ankara–Bavarian Nordic. SEMVAc=Safety and Effectiveness of MVA-BN Vaccination Against MPXV Infection. TEMVAc=Emulated Target Trial for Effectiveness of MVA-BN Vaccination Against Mpox Infection in At-risk Individuals.
March 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Out now in @thelancetinfdis.bsky.social our study demonstrates that the MVA-BN (Imvanex/Jynneos) vaccine is safe & effective against mpox, but a single dose does not sufficiently protect people living with #HIV.
Thank you @ema.europa.eu for support
www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...
1/7
As screenshot showing the title of the study "Safety and effectiveness of MVA-BN vaccination against mpox in at-risk individuals in Germany (SEMVAc and TEMVAc): a combined prospective and retrospective cohort study" a and two graphs illustrating the Vaccine effectiveness in the overall cohort and in sub-cohorts.
March 19, 2025 at 3:48 PM
sanderlab.bsky.social
Super excited about this fantastic study by my friend Johan Garaude in @nature.com. His team found that macrophages recycle carbon from engulfed bacteria, fueling their own metabolism in a highly regulated process. 👏
Grateful to have contributed a tiny part.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
March 12, 2025 at 8:09 AM
sanderlab.bsky.social
March 3, 2025 at 7:18 AM