Our team investigates how metabolic stress affects T-cell function after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Our work is based on our recent findings showing that metabolic dysregulation and DNA damage responses can impair T-cell fitness, thereby limiting graft-versus-leukemia activity and increasing the risk of AML relapse. Using advanced molecular and cellular approaches, we aim to identify mechanisms that drive post-transplant T-cell dysfunction and explore novel strategies to restore durable anti-leukemic immunity. Insights from this work may also help improve other adoptive T-cell therapies, including CAR-T and TCR-engineered cell therapies.

I’m a Junior Professor for Translational Medicine at the University Hospital Würzburg (UKW), Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg. I was trained to be a basic and translational scientist with expertise in tumor immunology, gut microbiome research, and cellular immunotherapy. My research focuses on the interplay between microbial metabolites, T-cell function and metabolism, with the goal of developing microbiome-boosted CAR-T-cell therapies for cancer and beyond.