Our project “Advanced CAR T cell engineering to augment the GvL effect of ASCT” focuses on optimizing CAR T cell strategies as both a bridge to transplant and post-ASCT CAR donor lymphocyte infusion in AML and multiple myeloma. It aims to enhance efficacy by engineering glucocorticoid-resistant CAR T cells to preserve anti-tumor activity during GvHD and CRS, enabling serial antigen targeting to strengthen the graft-versus-leukemia effect, and dissecting how alloreactivity and inflammation drive resistance and neurotoxicity during CAR T cell therapy, ultimately improving ASCT outcomes and integrating CAR T cells into clinical treatment algorithms.

I lead a team at the Chair for Cellular Immunotherapy for Malignant Diseases at the University of Würzburg. After structured training as clinician-scientist, I combined expertise as a T-cell engineer and a clinical trialist. Given the impressive successes of CAR T-cell therapy for certain hematological diseases, my research team is particularly committed to improving cell therapy options for malignancies that so far lack adequate therapeutic options. One approach here could be the strategic combination of allogeneic stem cell transplantation and CAR T-cell therapy.