I am fascinated by cell transformation and the endless capacity of cancer cells to survive and thrive in foreign tissues and under hostile conditions. Being intensively investigated in many cancer entities, T cell-based adoptive cell therapies constitute one of the most promising approaches to kill cancer cells. Thus, understanding how oncogenic signaling contributes to the immunosuppressive environment within tumors has become pivotal to cancer immunotherapy´s success.

My scientific orientation has been set during my master’s thesis as I got a first small insight into the complexity of our immune system – and ever since it captured my interest. Interference with just one molecule might disrupt its function completely.

As Freiburg is known for its strong focus on Immunobiology, I moved here to further enlarge our knowledge of how B lymphocyte signalling – my favourite immune cell type – regulates the development of functional cells and enables effective immune responses.

Since my Bachelor studies I am interested in immunology, especially molecular and clinical immunology. Currently, I am performing my PhD project within the framework of the excellence cluster CIBSS and the interdisciplinary graduate school SGBM. My main focus of interest are the early events of TCR signaling, in particular I am studying a newly identified motif (RK motif) in the TCR CD3ε chain which is able to recruit the kinase Lck. This interaction is very important to initiate TCR signaling and thereby T cell activation.