Tobias Lenz Why Are Some Genetically Caused Diseases so Frequent in the Human Population?

Tobias Lenz is Research Group Leader in Evolutionary Immunogenomics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology. Previously, he was Postdoctoral Fellow at the same Max Planck Institute and at Harvard Medical School. His main research focus is on immunogenomics, the evolution of the major histocompatibility complex and the genetics of host-parasite coevolution. For his current research project he received an Emmy Noether Grant from the German Research Foundation.

Area of Research

Evolutionary Biology

Christophe Eizaguirre, Tobias L. Lenz, Martin Kalbe and Manfred Milinski. "Divergent Selection on Locally Adapted Major Histocompatibility Complex Immune Genes Experimentally Proven in the Field." Ecology Letters 15 (2012): 723–731.  
Tobias L. Lenz. "Computational Prediction of MHC II-Antigen Binding Supports Divergent Allele Advantage and Explains Trans-Species Polymorphism." Evolution 65 (2011): 2380–2390.  
Tobias L. Lenz, Aaron J. Deutsch, Buhm Han, Xinli Hu, Yukinori Okada, Stephen Eyre, Michael Knapp, Alexandra Zhernakova, Tom WJ Huizinga, Gonçalo Abecasis and et al. "Widespread Non-Additive and Interaction Effects within HLA Loci Modulate the Risk of Autoimmune Diseases." Nature Genetics 47 (2015): 1085–1090.  
Paul J. McLaren, Cedric Coulonges, István Bartha, Tobias L. Lenz, Aaron J. Deutsch, Arman Bashirova, Susan Buchbinder, Mary N. Carrington, Andrea Cossarizza, Judith Dalmau and et al.. "Polymorphisms of Large Effect Explain the Majority of the Host Genetic Contribution to Variation of HIV-1 Virus Load." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 112 (2015): 14658–14663.  

since 2014

Research Group Leader in Evolutionary Immunogenomics

Max Planck Society (more details)

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

2011-2014

Post-doctoral Research Fellow, Division of Genetics

Harvard University

Harvard Medical School

2009-2011

Post-doctoral Research Fellow

Max Planck Society (more details)

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

2005-2009

PhD

Max Planck Society (more details)

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

2001-2005

Diploma in Zoology

University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg)

1998-2001

Studies in Biology

University of Hamburg (Universität Hamburg)

- BMC Genomics

- BMC Immunology

- BMC Evolutionary Biology

- Evolution

- Evolutionary Ecology

- Genome Biology and Evolution

- Genomics

- Heredity

- Human Molecular Genetics

- Immunogen

- Gene

- Molecular Biology and Evolution

- Molecular Ecology

- Nature Communications

- PLOS Genetics

- PNAS

- Proceedings of the Royal Society London B

- Scientific Reports

- Tissue Antigens

© Maximilian Dörrbecker

Max Planck Society

"The Max Planck Society is Germany's most successful research organization. Since its establishment in 1948, no fewer than 18 Nobel laureates have emerged from the ranks of its scientists, putting it on a par with the best and most prestigious research institutions worldwide. The more than 15,000 publications each year in internationally renowned scientific journals are proof of the outstanding research work conducted at Max Planck Institutes – and many of those articles are among the most-cited publications in the relevant field." (Source)

Institute

Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology

The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology consists of the three departments Evolutionary Ecology, Evolutionary Genetics and Evolutionary Theory, the fourth department Microbial Population Biology is currently building up. The institute is focused on basic research to unravel general evolutionary processes, such as ecological adaptations, benefits of sexual reproduction or evolution of cooperation. The scope of the work includes ecological, organismic, molecular and theoretical approaches. (Source)

Map

Why are some people more prone to sickness than others? Individual people differ in their genetic predisposition to disease. TOBIAS LENZ and his research group investigate whether historical selection by pathogens – by infectious agents – has shaped the genetic makeup of our immune system today. Their specific focus here is on whether selection by pathogens on specific immune genes, so-called HLA genes, has affected the frequency of disease-causing mutation in the neighborhood of these genes. As he explains in this video, they used both computer simulations as well as real sequencing of humans and ran a project on the genetics of medieval Europeans who suffered from leprosy. Their findings indeed support their hypothesis. This can explain, at least in part, the surprising frequency of some genetically caused diseases in the human population today.

LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10501

Ancient DNA Study Reveals HLA Susceptibility Loci for Leprosy in Medieval Europeans

  • B. Krause-Kyora, M. Nutsua, L. Böhme, F. Pierini, DD. Pedersen, S-C. Kornell, D. Drichel, M. Bonazzi, L. Möbus, P. Tarp, J. Susat, E. Bosse, B. Willburger et al
  • Nature Communications
  • Published in 2018
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B. Krause-Kyora, M. Nutsua, L. Böhme, F. Pierini, DD. Pedersen, S-C. Kornell, D. Drichel, M. Bonazzi, L. Möbus, P. Tarp, J. Susat, E. Bosse, B. Willburger et al. "Ancient DNA Study Reveals HLA Susceptibility Loci for Leprosy in Medieval Europeans." Nature Communications (2018). doi:10.1038/s41467-018-03857-x.

Excess of Deleterious Mutations around HLA Genes Reveals Evolutionary Cost of Balancing Selection

  • Tobias L Lenz, Victor Spirin, Daniel M Jordan and Shamil R Sunyaev
  • Molecular Biology and Evolution
  • Published in 2016
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Tobias L Lenz, Victor Spirin, Daniel M Jordan and Shamil R Sunyaev. "Excess of Deleterious Mutations around HLA Genes Reveals Evolutionary Cost of Balancing Selection." Molecular Biology and Evolution 33, 10 (2016): 2555–2564. doi:10.1093/molbev/msw127.