Marylyn Martina Addo (, born 1970) is a German

infectiologist Infectious diseases (ID), also known as infectiology, is a medical specialty dealing with the diagnosis and treatment of infections. An infectious diseases specialist's practice consists of managing nosocomial ( healthcare-acquired) infections o ...

who is a professor and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) head of infectious disease at the

University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf The University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (German: Universitätsklinikum Hamburg-Eppendorf, UKE) is the teaching hospital of the University of Hamburg and the largest hospital in Hamburg, Germany. The UKE has 1,738 beds and 121 day-care pla ...

. Addo has developed and tested vaccinations that protect people from

Ebola virus disease Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after infe ...

and the

MERS coronavirus EMC/2012 MERS coronavirus EMC/2012 (MERS coronavirus Erasmus Medical Center/2012) is a strain of coronavirus isolated from the sputum of the first person to become infected with what was later named '' Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavi ...

. She is currently developing a viral vector-based

COVID-19 vaccine A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19). Knowledge about the structure and fun ...

Early life and education

Addo is the daughter of a Ghanaian father and a German mother, and she was born in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

. Her father is a physician. Addo studied medicine at the

University of Bonn The University of Bonn, officially the Rhenish Friedrich Wilhelm University of Bonn (), is a public research university in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in its present form as the () on 18 October 1818 by Frederick Willi ...

. She earned her diploma at the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

, during which she researched ''

Candida albicans ''Candida albicans'' is an opportunistic pathogenic yeast that is a common member of the human gut flora. It can also survive outside the human body. It is detected in the gastrointestinal tract and mouth in 40–60% of healthy adults. It is usu ...

'' transmission between

HIV-positive people HIV-positive people, seropositive people or people who live with HIV are people infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus which if untreated may progress to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). According to estimat ...

. In 1999, she moved to Boston, where she specialised in

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

at the

Harvard Medical School Harvard Medical School (HMS) is the medical school of Harvard University and is located in the Longwood Medical and Academic Area, Longwood Medical Area in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1782, HMS is the third oldest medical school in the Un ...

Research and career

Whilst at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

, Addo was made an assistant professor at the Ragon Institute, and served as associate director of the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research. Here she investigated the role of

Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase Indoleamine-pyrrole 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO or INDO ) is a heme-containing enzyme physiologically expressed in a number of Tissue (biology), tissues and Cell (biology), cells, such as the small intestine, lungs, female genital tract or placenta. I ...

(IDO) specific

T cell T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell ...

s as immune system regulators in patients with

HIV-1 The subtypes of HIV include two main subtypes, known as HIV type 1 (HIV-1) and HIV type 2 (HIV-2). These subtypes have distinct genetic differences and are associated with different epidemiological patterns and clinical characteristics. HIV-1 e ...

. In 2013, Addo returned to Germany, where she was made a professor and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) head of infectious disease at the

. Here she works on

and

tropical medicine Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions. Physicians in this field diagnose and tr ...

. Her research group work on clinical management, epidemiology and the immunology of newly emerging infections. In 2014, Addo was involved with the development of the preparation RVSV-EBOV, an experimental recombinant live vaccination that can be used against

. The vaccine is vector-based, where the DNA of a virus is introduced into human cells ''via'' a different virus. To be effective the vaccination must contain parts of the virus that human cells can generate

antibodies An antibody (Ab) or immunoglobulin (Ig) is a large, Y-shaped protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily which is used by the immune system to identify and neutralize antigens such as bacteria and viruses, including those that caus ...

against. As a result, vector-based vaccinations can result in robust immune responses. The RVSV-EBOV vaccination contained a modified

Vesicular-Stomatitis-Virus ''Indiana vesiculovirus'', formerly ''Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus'' (VSIV or VSV) is a virus in the family ''Rhabdoviridae''; the well-known ''Rabies lyssavirus'' belongs to the same family. VSIV can infect insects, cattle, horses and pigs ...

, which contained a surface protein of Ebola virus. After making contact with the ebola

glycoprotein Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide (sugar) chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known a ...

, the vaccination produce antibodies,

s and

neurotransmitter A neurotransmitter is a signaling molecule secreted by a neuron to affect another cell across a Chemical synapse, synapse. The cell receiving the signal, or target cell, may be another neuron, but could also be a gland or muscle cell. Neurotra ...

s. It was selected by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

for accelerated testing. Of her time working on the Ebola virus, Addo has said "During such a disaster, the world comes together.". Alongside the ebola vaccination, Addo worked on a recombinant live vaccination to tackle the

Middle East Respiratory syndrome Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is a viral respiratory infection caused by '' Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus'' (MERS-CoV). Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe depending on age and risk level. Typi ...

(MERS) vaccination. Her vaccination was supported by the

Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations The Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) is a foundation that takes donations from public, private, philanthropic, and civil society organisations, to finance independent research projects to develop vaccines against emerging ...

. The

MERS Virus Middle East respiratory syndrome–related coronavirus (MERS-CoV, ''Betacoronavirus cameli'') or EMC/2012 ( HCoV-EMC/2012), is the virus that causes Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS). It is a species of coronavirus which infects humans, ba ...

vaccine was tested in

camel A camel (from and () from Ancient Semitic: ''gāmāl'') is an even-toed ungulate in the genus ''Camelus'' that bears distinctive fatty deposits known as "humps" on its back. Camels have long been domesticated and, as livestock, they provid ...

s, the animals which first spread

, in 2016, and started clinical trials in humans from 2018. In 2020, Addo started developing a vector-based vaccination to protect people from the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Inside the

coronavirus Coronaviruses are a group of related RNA viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans and birds, they cause respiratory tract infections that can range from mild to lethal. Mild illnesses in humans include some cases of the comm ...

there is a spike protein that can penetrate human cells. Addo looks to combine the spike protein with the genetic information of another viral vector that can penetrates cells and can produce spike proteins. The immune system recognises that these proteins are foreign bodies, triggering an immune response and a spike in T cells that ultimately work against the coronavirus protein. The proposed vaccine makes use of the

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

virus (

modified vaccinia Ankara Modified vaccinia Ankara (MVA) is an attenuated (weakened) strain of the vaccinia virus. It is being used as a vaccine (called MVA-BN, brand names: Imvanex in the EU, Imvamune in Canada, and Jynneos in the US) against smallpox and mpox, having ...

) as a vehicle for the

. The vaccination will be developed by IDT Biologika.

Recognition

Addo was nominated by the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

as delegate to the

Federal Convention The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. While the convention was initially intended to revise the league of states and devise the first system of federal government under the Articles of Conf ...

for the purpose of electing the

President of Germany The president of Germany, officially titled the Federal President of the Federal Republic of Germany (),The official title within Germany is ', with ' being added in international correspondence; the official English title is President of the F ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Awards

* 1999

London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a member institution of the University of London that specialises in public health and tropical medicine. The institu ...

Ralph A. Neal Memorial Prize * 2008: Edward H. Kass Award for Clinical Excellence, Massachusetts ID Society * 2013: Honorary Professor, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa * 2019: Pettenkofer Prize

Selected publications

* * *

Personal life

Addo is married and has two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Addo, Mayrlyn 1970 births Living people Women virologists University of Bonn alumni Alumni of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine People from Troisdorf Academic staff of the University of Hamburg Humboldt University of Berlin alumni