mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies

Immune checkpoint inhibitors and engineered T cells have delivered durable remissions, but their benefit remains limited to a minority of patients and tumour types. For most solid tumours, the immunosuppressive tumour microenvironment continues to blunt these therapies. Overcoming this requires progress on two fronts at once: treatments that actively reshape the tumour microenvironment and engineer immune cells directly within the patient, and computational methods that capture tumour heterogeneity to predict who will respond, and why. 

Our division is built around exactly this dual challenge, combining mRNA- and DNA-based technologies with a research-driving computational programme, to move precision immunotherapies toward the patients who need them most, and to feed clinical and molecular insights back into the laboratory.

LAB FOCUS

Our research spans three closely connected lines of work: mRNA-based cancer vaccines and nanoparticle-based modulation of the tumour microenvironment; DNA-based platforms for engineering immune cells in vivo; and a dedicated computational programme that drives its own research and clinical questions.

On the experimental side, we formulate lipid nanoparticles in-house and design individualized neoantigen vaccines, alongside nanoparticle-delivered immunostimulants and in situ vaccination strategies aimed at reprogramming the tumor microenvironment. In parallel, we build DNA–lipid-nanoparticle platforms to generate CAR- and TCR-engineered T cells directly in the body, together with next-generation, cytokine-armoured constructs for solid tumours.

Our computational team develops machine-learning and deep-learning models trained on patient data for immunotherapy target discovery, single-cell and spatial multi-omics integration, biomarker- and response-prediction, and decision-support tools for immunotherapy. As part of HI-TRON Mainz and the DKFZ, we work with clinical and research partners to transform patient samples and data into laboratory discoveries that translate directly back to the clinic. Our long-term aim is to integrate these strengths into truly individualized cancer immunotherapy.