Kathrin Öhlenschläger
PhD Student
© dkfz.de
Phone: +49 6221 42 3822
Scientific CV
Since Oct 2021
PhD student, Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg
2017 - 2021
MSc Molecular Biotechnology, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg
2014 - 2017
BSc Molecular Biotechnology, Ruprecht-Karls-University, Heidelberg
Research Project
Characterization of HPV epitopes for their suitability to be included into a therapeutic HPV vaccine
Persistent infections with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) can cause anogenital as well as head and neck cancer. Most HPV infections are cleared by the immune system, but if immune recognition fails, infections can persist and lead to the development of cancerous lesions. For this, inducing targeted T cell responses against HPV-infected cells with a therapeutic vaccination could be a promising new treatment option. To successfully develop a therapeutic vaccine against HPV, immunogenic epitopes that mediate cytotoxic T cell responses need to be identified and validated.
In this project, previously identified candidate epitopes for the major HLA supertypes will be first functionally characterized in vitro. Then, for the most promising epitopes, the capacity to induce de novo immune responses will be analyzed in detail and a multi-epitope vaccine formulation will be tested in vaccination experiments using our syngeneic orthotopic tumor model in HLA-humanized mice.