Research Program Immunology and Cancer - News & Notices

Dr. Tim Waterboer (F020) Secondary prevention of Human Papillomavirus-driven oropharyngeal cancer.

Dr. Alice O. Kamphorst, who is an Assistant Professor of Oncological Sciences at the Precision Immunology Institute of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and a member of the Cancer Immunology Research Program at the Tisch Cancer Institute.
Alice obtained her PhD at the Rockefeller University and worked on antigen processing and presentation under the supervision of Dr. Michel Nussenzweig. In her post-doctoral studies, she moved to Emory University where she worked on T cells and PD-1 immunotherapy with Dr. Rafi Ahmed.
Her current research focuses on T cell differentiation with a specific interest in situations of chronic persistent antigen stimulation, such as cancer and chronic infections. Her lab studies the effects of costimulation, inflammation and other factors in the microenvironment on CD8 T cell differentiation, dysfunction and response to immunotherapy, in particular PD-1 targeted therapies.

Stephan Krieg (F180. Tschaharganeh Lab): A synthetic lethal strategy to target 8p deleted cancers

PD Dr. Frank Momburg (D121): Enhanced T cell activation and tumor cell killing using the split co-stimulation approach
Dr. Susanne Delecluse (F100 Delecluse Lab): New therapeutical approaches for the treatment of EBV-associated diseases
Guillaume Wassmer (F100 Delecluse Lab): Antigen-coupled Antibodies for the treatment of hematological malignancies

Deciphering the functions of dendritic cell types and their molecular regulation in antiviral and antitumor immunity.

PD. Cr. Matthias Kloor (F210): Evolution under surveillance - towards immune prevention of hereditary cancers

Prof Christine Engeland (F230) Oncolytic measles virus vaccines for targeted cancer immunotherapy

Dr. Marco Binder (F170) THe CD-free side of immunology - how cell-intrinsic innate responses protect you from cancer and COVID

She has extensive experience in the field of innate immunity and Pattern Recognition Receptor(PRRs) systems. The research of her lab focuses on studying the cGAS-STING signaling pathway in innate DNA sensing with a special emphasis on defining its function in physiological contexts that fall outside its classical, infection-associated realm. She has been the recipient of the German Cancer Prize and the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award.

Dr Matthias Bossa (F160) Non-Integrating DNA Vectors for T cell engineering.

Dr Michael Dill (F240) Versatile modeling of cholangiocarcinome to dissect oncogenic influences on the microenvironment.

Dr. Andrea Schietinger, Group Leader at the Sloan Kettering Institute in the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Her lab has extensive experience in studying T-cell responses and how they detect cancer cells over the course of tumor development. A primary focus of her team is on understanding the dynamics of how immune cells become unresponsive to tumors and mechanisms that regulate T-cell differentiation.

Dr. Felix Hartmann, who is currently a Postdoctoral fellow at Stanford University.
We are very happy to inform you that he will join the DKFZ in October as a Junior PI. We would like to use this seminar as an opportunity for the DKFZ fraternity to get to know him and his research and stem potential collaborations.
His research combines novel single-cell and imaging proteomic technologies to study interactions of immune cells with the local environment in human cancer. His recent publication outlined a method to characterize the metabolic regulome of single cells together with their phenotypic identity – scMEP (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-020-0651-8)

Prof. Dr. Mathias Heikenwälder (F180) Stratifying hepatic immune cells: Consequences for liver cancer therapy.

     Theresa Kordaß (D210): Controlling the immune suppressor: how miRNAs regulate CD73/NT5E

     Julian Mochayedi (D200): An autochthorous preclinical pancreatic cancer model for immuno-oncology research

     Meiqi Ren (D180): Cytidine deaminases hape the genome of germinal center B-cell derived lymphoma

Dr. Maike de La Roche, a Group Leader at the CRUK-CI, Uni. of Cambridge.

Her team studies differentiation, migration and function of CD8 T cells during the adaptive anti-tumor response. In her talk, she will provide an overview of the different avenues in her laboratory engaged towards defining the roles of Hedgehog signaling in immune cells which may enable novel therapeutic opportunities.

Beatrice Casati (D150): COVID-19 pandemic: another case for SHERLOCK

Riccardo Pecori: RNA editing modulates pathways critical to B cell lymphomagenesis

Thesis Abstract: Our study revealed that SPTLC2 underpins the adaptive protective immunity by translating extracellular stimuli into intracellular anabolic signals and reducing the cellular stress in maintaining metabolic reprogramming sustainability. In addition, SPTLC2 is required to maintain the suppressive activity of Treg cells to keep the immune tolerance and restrict the anti-tumor responses. Collectively, we address that the SPTLC2-mediated sphingolipid de novo synthetic pathway synchronizes metabolic reprogramming and the immune reaction of regulatory and effector T cells in infection and cancer.

Abstract: T cell receptor (TCR) engagement and subsequent signalling are a prerequisite to initiate a T cell immune response. This study examined the role of Thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) in TCR signalling and shows that TXNIP acts as transcriptional inhibitor. Hence, TXNIP might be considered as a potential therapeutic target to shape T cell responses e.g. in autoimmune or tumour diseases.

Congratulations on this excellent work!

Abstract: My PhD work was focusing on the characteristic frameshift mutations of the Notch1 PEST domain, leading to the expression of a truncated, hyperactive Notch1 protein. These mutations are found with very high frequencies in human T-ALL, and also in our spontaneous T-ALL mouse model. To investigate the importance of such frameshift mutations in leukemia pathogenesis, we developed a modified Notch1 allele, where frameshift mutations are non-functional. Interestingly, mice bearing such a modified Notch1 allele overcome frameshift disability by specifically acquiring direct STOP mutations leading to a truncated PEST domain. Overall, our results reveal an enormous selection pressure for mutations leading to a hyperactive Notch signaling in T-ALL pathogenesis.

Congratulations Dr. Kongsaysak-Lengyel!

Abstract: In my PhD project I investigated the regulation of the hematopoietic system, and in particular HSC, under stress conditions. To enable HSC fate mapping, I employed a Cre knock-in reporter mouse and performed time-resolved analysis of hematopoietic compartment sizes and label propagation. Our findings show that the activation of HSC, in terms of differentiation, depends strongly on the nature of the challenge, giving important insights on the hematopoietic response to severe insults such as sepsis and irradiation.

Congratulations on this great work!