Hans Lutz

Board Member

Hans Lutz qualified from the veterinary faculty of Zurich (Switzerland) in 1971. After several years of bacteriology and mastitis research, clinical work (Clinic of Gynaecology, University of Zurich) and a postgraduate course in Experimental Biology and Medicine, (University of Zurich) Dr Lutz worked two years at the Institute of Pharmacology and Biochemistry (Univ. Zurich) before spending three years studying virology and immunology at the University of California Davis with Prof. Niels C.Pedersen. 
Dr. Lutz has been full professor in clinical laboratory medicine and he was director of the clinical laboratory at the Veterinary Faculty in Zurich, from 1981 until his retirement in 2011. He served as President of the Swiss National Centre for Retroviruses (AIDS reference laboratory of Switzerland) from 1995 til 2008. He holds a degree in laboratory and basic research of the Swiss Association of Veterinary Laboratory Diagnosticians (FVH) and obtained the specialist diploma for laboratory medical analysis (Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences). 
His research interests include Feline viral and especially retroviral infections, Animal Models for AIDS, Feline immunology and vaccinology, tick-borne infections and clinical laboratory diagnostics in veterinary medicine. 
He authored and coauthored over 350 papers in peer-reviewed journals, has published several book chapters and reviews and is frequently invited as guest lecturer or speaker. 
Member of the cat specialist group of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Hans Lutz is a founding member of the EU concerted action on FIV Vaccination. Member of the scientific advisory board to the Veterinary University in Vienna. Hans Lutz is co-editor of the textbook “Diseases of the cat” (Enke Verlag). He obtained several awards among them the science award of the World Small Animal Veterinary Association in 2001. He is also member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina.

My list of 10 selected publications

  • Cattori V., Weibel B., Lutz H. Inhibition of Feline leukemia virus replication by the integrase inhibitor Raltegravir Veterinary Microbiology (2011), 152, 165-168.
  • Gomes Keller A., Goenczi E., Tandon R., Riondato F., Hofmann-Lehmann R., Meli M., Lutz H. Detection of feline leukemia virus RNA in saliva from naturally infected cats and correlation of PCR results with those of current diagnostic methods. Journal of Clinical Microbiology 44, 916-922 (2006).
  • Hofmann-Lehmann R., Tandon R., Boretti F., Meli M., Willi B., Cattori V., Gomes Keller MA., Ossent P., Golder M., Flynn N., Lutz H. Reassessment of feline leukaemia virus (FeLV) vaccines with novel sensitive molecular assays. Vaccine 24, 1087-1094 (2006).
  • Leutenegger C., Boretti F., Mislin C., Flynn J., Schroff M., Habel A., Junghans C., Koenig-Merediz S., Sigrist B., Aubert A., Pedersen N., Wittig B., Lutz H. Immunization of cats against feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection by using minimalistic immunogenic defined gene expression vector vaccines expressing FIV gp140 alone or with feline interleukin-12 (IL-12), IL-16, or a CpG motif. Journal of Virology 74, 10447-10457 (2000).
  • Gut M., Leutenegger C., Huder J., Pedersen N., Lutz H. One-tube fluorogenic reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction for the quantitation of feline coronavirus. Journal of Virological Methods 77, 37-46 (1999).
  • Holznagel E., Hofmann-Lehmann R., Leutenegger C., Allenspach K., Hüttner S., Forster U., Niederer E., Joller H., Willett B.J., Hummel U., Rossi G.L., Schüpbach J., Lutz H. The role of in vitro-induced lymphocyte apoptosis in feline immunodeficiency virus infection: Correlation with different markers of disease progression. Journal of Virology, 72, 9025-9033 (1998).
  • Fehr D., Holznagel E., Bolla S., Hauser B., Herrewegh A.A.P.M. Horzinek M., Lutz H. Placebo-controlled evaluation of a modified life virus vaccine against feline infectious peritonitis: safety and efficacy under field conditions. Vaccine 15, 1101-1109 (1997).
  • Roelke-Parker M.E., Munson L., Packer C., Kock R., Cleaveland S., Carpenter M., O’Brien J., Pospischil A., Hofmann-Lehmann R., Lutz H., Mwamengele G.L.M., Mgasa M.N., Machange G.A., Summers B.A., Appel M.J.G. A canine distemper virus epidemic in Serengeti lions (Panthera leo). Nature 379, 441-445 (1996).
  • Lutz H., Pedersen N.C., Theilen G.H. Course of feline leukemia virus infection and its detection by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and monoclonal antibodies. Am. J. Vet. Res. 44, 2054-2059 (1983).
  • Lutz H., Pedersen N.C., Higgins J., Hübscher U., Troy F.A., Theilen G.H. Humoral immune reactivity to feline leukemia virus and associated antigens in cats naturally infected with feline leukemia virus. Cancer Res. 40, 3642-3651 (1980).