Alexander Maier

Professor Alex Maier’s passion for Molecular Parasitology was ignited during his studies at the University of Tuebingen (Germany) and Southern Colorado (USA). During his doctorate he investigated protein trafficking and membrane proteins of an energy generating organell in Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of the African sleeping sickness. This work was conducted under the supervision of Professor Christine Clayton at the ZMBH (Center for Molecular Biology) in Heidelberg, Germany.

In 2000 he was awarded a Post-doctoral fellowship from the German research council (Deutsche Forschungssgemeinschaft) to join the Walter and Eliza Institute of Medical Research (WEHI), Melbourne. Here he established and headed the WEHI Malaria Functional Genomics Facility from 2002-2008 focussing on the mechanism of how malaria parasites invade red blood cells and the transport and display of malaria molecules on the surface of infected red blood cells.

Dr Maier moved to the Department of Biochemistry at La Trobe University as ARC Australian Research Fellow and lab head in 2008 to investigate red blood cell modifications induced by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum.

Dr Alex Maier joined the Division of Biomedical Sciences and Biochemistry at The Australian National University in 2012. His research activites have been recognised by several awards including being a finalist at the Eureka Awards and a Laureate of the Khwarizmi International Award. He is an Alexander-von-Humboldt Fellow, a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Australian Society for Parasitology.