de la Rosa Lab | Max Delbrück Center

Our lab has a strong focus on human immunology, which stems from the fundamental need to deeply understand the human immune system to combat diseases. Particularly, we study B cells, the type of immune cells that produce antibodies.

de la Rosa lab

An enormous diversity of antibodies protects us from various infectious diseases by binding and neutralizing pathogens. During an infection, B cells undergo maturation processes including the acquisition of beneficial mutations followed by subsequent selection to increase the potency of antibodies. However, for some diseases the body’s immune system fails to induce natural protection. We study antibody maturation to understand how diversity is generated and which determinants are important to elicit potent protection.

Using high-throughput cellular and molecular screening methodologies, in vitro cultivation methods, and functional studies, our laboratory seeks out novel applications for B cells and antibodies to preserve human health.

Group picture of the de la Rosa Lab — Front row fom left to right: Franziska Beate Flohr (Trainee), Iris Apostel-Krause (Staff), Clara Vazquez Garcia (Scientist), Luise Elizabeth Veelken (Bachelor student (internship)), Lisa Spatt (TA), Kathrin de la Rosa (Group leader) | Back row from left to right: Cathrin Gerhard (TA), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD), Casper Silvis (PhD), Emre Mert Ipekoglu (PhD), Dennis Jeroen Doorduijn (Scientist), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD) | 25.04.2024

Group Leader

Prof. Dr. Kathrin de la Rosa

Prof. Dr. Kathrin de la Rosa

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Kathrin.delaRosa@mdc-berlin.de

Scientist

Dr. Dennis Jeroen Doorduijn

Dr. Dennis Jeroen Doorduijn

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Technical Assistants

Cathrin Gerhard

Cathrin Gerhard

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

cathrin.gerhard@mdc-berlin.de

Lisa Spatt

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

PhD student

Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad

Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad

AtaUlWakeel.Ahmad@mdc-berlin.de

Emre Mert Ipekoglu

Emre Mert Ipekoglu

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Emre.Ipekoglu@mdc-berlin.de

Mikhail Lebedin

Mikhail Lebedin

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Mikhail.Lebedin@mdc-berlin.de

+49 30 9406-2109

Casper Silvis

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Casper.Silvis@mdc-berlin.de

+49 30 94062109

Clara Vazquez Garcia

Clara Vazquez Garcia

31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus

Trainee

Image Gallery

(← swipe left)

2021-2025

CoVipa – Helmholtz Network Fund

CoViPa is a joint research initiative of 7 Helmholtz institutes and 3 university partners. Together with the German Aerospace Center (DLR, Wessling) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ, Heidelberg) we aim develop targeted immunomodulatory strategies by means of AI-based robotic platforms.

2021-2026

Johanna Quandt Fellowship of the Stiftung Charité

Stiftung Charité

The goal of this program is to develop and study innovative approaches for two challenges of translational immunology: cellular vaccines for improved humoral immunity and the use antibodies to modulate T cell responses.

2020-2025

Starting grant of the European research council (ERC)

This research project aims to develop novel strategies for B cell engineering exploiting natural DNA-breaks to generate antibodies that surpass common reactivity profiles.

2018-2024

Emmy Noether Project of the german research foundation

The project aims to study a new layer of antibody diversity that is generated by integration of large DNA inserts in the antibody heavy chain locus.

July 09, 2025 / Antiviral Res

SARS-CoV-2 neutralization and protection of hamsters via nasal administration of a humanized neutralizing antibody

M. Lebedin
N. Petrovsky
K. Tabynov
K. Tabynov
Y. Lebedin

October 15, 2024 / J Immunol

Orientation regulation of class-switch recombination in human B cells

L. Du
V. Oksenych
H. Wan
X. Ye
J. Dong
A.Y. Ye
H. Abolhassani
S. Vlachiotis
X. Zhang
K. de la Rosa
L. Hammarström
M. van der Burg
F.W. Alt
Q. Pan-Hammarström

October, 2024 / Annu Rev Cell Dev. Biol

Diversification of antibodies: from V(D)J recombination to somatic exon shuffling

M. Lebedin
K. de la Rosa

March 15, 2024 / iScience

Soluble ACE2 correlates with severe COVID-19 and can impair antibody responses

M. Lebedin
C. Ratswohl
A. Garg
M. Schips
C. Vazquez Garcia
L. Spatt
C. Thibeault
B. Obermayer
J. Weiner
I. Moreno Velásquez
C. Gerhard
P. Stubbemann
L.G. Hanitsch
T. Pischon
M. Witzenrath
L.E. Sander
F. Kurth
M. Meyer-Hermann
K. de la Rosa

February 02, 2024 / Sci Immunol

Precise CRISPR-Cas9 gene repair in autologous memory T cells to treat familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

X. Li
T. Wirtz
T. Weber
M. Lebedin
E.D. Lowenstein
T. Sommermann
A. Zach
T. Yasuda
K. de la Rosa
V.T. Chu
J.H. Schulte
I. Müller
C. Kocks
K. Rajewsky

December 19, 2023 / Front Immunol

LMP1 and EBNA2 constitute a minimal set of EBV genes for transformation of human B cells

J. Zhang
T. Sommermann
X. Li
L. Gieselmann
K. de la Rosa
M. Stecklum
F. Klein
C. Kocks
K. Rajewsky

December 09, 2023 / Sci Rep

A bead-based multiplex assay covering all coronaviruses pathogenic for humans for sensitive and specific surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 humoral immunity

October, 2023 / BIOspektrum

Pandemieforschung: von Autoantikörpern und Impfstoff-Innovationen

K. de la Rosa

October, 2023 / Eur J Immunol

A design strategy to generate a SARS-CoV-2 RBD vaccine that abrogates ACE2 binding and improves neutralizing antibody responses

C. Ratswohl
C. Vázquez García
A.U.W. Ahmad
H. Gonschior
M. Lebedin
C.E. Silvis
L. Spatt
C. Gerhard
M. Lehmann
L.E. Sander
F. Kurth
S. Olsson
K. de la Rosa

May, 2023 / Eur J Immunol

Discriminating promiscuous from target-specific autoantibodies in COVID-19

M. Lebedin
C. Vazquez Garcia
L. Spatt
C. Ratswohl
C. Thibeault
L. Ostendorf
T. Alexander
F. Paul
L.E. Sander
F. Kurth
K. de la Rosa

Two people

Science July 08, 2025

Clara Vázquez García wins Helmholtz Doctoral Award

Clara Vázquez García has won a Helmholtz Doctoral Award and a Helmholtz Enterprises Field Study Fellowship. She plans to use the funding to further develop a tool that can assess a person’s DNA repair and immune system fitness.

fridge

Science July 02, 2025

Cutting the environmental impact of research

From reducing freezer usage to plastic waste, Max Delbrück Center labs have been implementing strategies from the LEAF program for sustainable research. As more labs join the program, they are not only contributing to reaching our sustainability goals, they are also improving research quality.

Zellbild in magenta und cyan

Science January 31, 2025

Innovations to improve personalized medicine

Therapy that is tailored to patients’ diseases is largely unaffordable. Three Max Delbrück Center postdocs have won GO-Bio Initial grants to simplify and improve personalized therapies. They aim to bring down costs to enable more widespread access.

Struktur eines Proteins

Press Release No. 32 July 24, 2023 Berlin

Low binding affinity improves vaccine efficacy

Researchers at BIH and the Max Delbrück Center have developed a new approach for vaccines against coronaviruses using modified spike proteins with lower binding affinity. This method could make vaccinations more effective, the team writes in the "European Journal of Immunology".

Kathrin de la Rosa

Press Release No. 13 April 04, 2023 Berlin

Autoantibodies in COVID-19: not always harmful?

Critically ill COVID-19 patients often have antibodies in their blood that bind to the body’s own structures. But these autoantibodies frequently bind to multiple targets, Kathrin de la Rosa’s team reports in “European Journal of Immunology.” This calls into question their role in disease progression.

Kathrin de la Rosa

Press Release No. 39 August 29, 2022 Berlin

Stolen DNA strengthens immune diversity

To combat pathogens, the immune system needs an enormous number of different antibodies. In an MDC study, a group led by BIH professor Kathrin de la Rosa has now described in the journal PNAS a “stealing” mechanism that contributes to antibody diversity.

Scientific image: colony of human hematopoietic stem cells

Press Release No. 30 June 23, 2022 Berlin

A fine-tuned gene editor

The molecular tool CRISPR-Cas9 can be used to treat inherited blood disorders, but this may cause unintended genetic alterations. A team led by MDC researchers Klaus Rajewsky and Van Trung Chu has now presented an approach in “Science Advances” that minimizes such adverse consequences.

Berlin Science Week at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin

Institute & Campus November 12, 2021

📺 A festival for curious people

What does the delphinium flower have to do with proteins and corona? Why is diversity good for research? And, what are Berlin-based scientists doing to reduce animal testing? In 2021, Berlin Science Week once again offered plenty of food for thought and hands-on experiments.

Kathrin de la Rosa

Press Release No. 44 August 31, 2021 Berlin

Johanna Quandt-Professorship for Kathrin de la Rosa

Stiftung Charité Foundation and the Berlin Institute of Health at the Charité are continuing their format for recruiting outstanding female scientists. MDC researcher Kathrin de la Rosa is among the four new Johanna Quandt Professors. The immunologist will continue to lead her research group here.

Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2

Science April 30, 2021

Solutions for tackling current and future pandemics

How can we use the knowledge gained so far to better overcome the COVID-19 crisis and prevent future pandemics? Two MDC labs are taking part in a collaborative Helmholtz project that aims to answer this question from an immunological, virological and economic perspective.

Christoph Ratswohl — © Private

Christoph Ratswohl

PhD student
2018 – 2022

PhD thesis: “Towards novel active and passive vaccine design strategies that target the interaction with viral entry receptors”

Subsequent position: Postdoc, Immunological synapse formation of T cells and dendritic cells, Biotechnologie Institut Thurgau, Switzerland

Mateja Zvipelj — © Private

Mateja Zvipelj

Erasmus student
March 2023 – July 2023

Project title: Identification of splice enhancer sequences to support exon integration in engineered primary human B cells

Miriam Herfort — © Private

Miriam Herfort

BSc Student
February 2023 – May 2023

Dunja Vukcevic — © Private

Dunja Vukcevic

MSc Student
September 2022 – March 2023

Master thesis on “Profiling DNA Repair in the switch region to predict the efficiency of DNA-repair in individuals”

Irina Yakuteno — © Private

Irina Yakuteno

PhD student
August 2021 – November 2021

Subsequent position: self-employed science journalist and blogger

Carlotta Caramel — © Private

Carlotta Caramel

Erasmus student
March 2021 – September 2021

Subsequent position: PhD student, department of pediatric oncology and hematology, Charité Berlin, Germany

Portrait Anthony Marchand — © Private

Anthony Marchand

MSc student
September 2019 – March 2020

Subsequent position: PhD Student, protein engineering, EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), Switzerland

Erasmus student Špela Knez — © Private

Špela Knez

Erasmus student
April 2019 – August 2019

Subsequent position: PhD student, biotechnology and immunology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia

Master student Svetlana Khorkova — © Private

Svetlana Khorkova

MSc student
September 2018 – April 2019

Master thesis on "A method to detect transchromosomal insertions in immunoglobulim transcripts."

Subsequent position: PhD students program IMPRS at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

Prof. Dr. Kathrin de la Rosa

Contact

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC)
Robert-Rössle-Str. 10
13092 Berlin, Germany

Kathrin.delaRosa@mdc-berlin.de

Kathrin.delaRosa@bih-charite.de

Research Topics