de la Rosa lab

de la Rosa Lab

Cancer & Immunology / Immune Mechanisms and Human Antibodies

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.

Team

Team photo

From left to right: Dunja Vukcevic (Student assistant), Lisa Spatt (TA), Cathrin Gerhard (TA), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD), Emre Mert Ipekoglu (PhD), Casper Silvis (PhD), Iris Apostel-Krause (Staff), Kathrin de la Rosa (Group leader)

Image Gallery

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Group photo of the de la Rosa Lab

5th Lab Birthday on 04.07.2023: From left to right: Emre Mert Ipekoglu (PhD student), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Lisa Spatt (TA), Cathrin Gerhard (TA), Iris Apostel-Krause (staff member), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student), Kathrin de la Rosa (group leader), Casper Silvis (PhD student), Mateja Zvipelj (Erasmus student), Alexander Schäfer (IT staff member), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD student).

Team photo

Berlin 5 x 5 km TEAM relay on 07.06.2023: From left to right: Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD student), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Iris Apostel-Krause (staff member), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student).

Team photo

Group in July 2022: From left to right: Kathrin de la Rosa (Group leader), Emre Mert Ipekoglu (PhD), Casper Silvis (PhD), Cathrin Gerhard (TA), Lisa Spatt (TA), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD), Christoph Ratswohl (PhD), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD)

Teambild AG de La Rosa

From left to right: Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Kathrin de la Rosa (PI), Lisa Spatt (technician), Carlotta Caramel (Erasmus student), Mikhail Lebedin (scientist), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Petra Haink (secretary), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD student), Cathrin Gerhard (technician), Casper Silvis (PhD student)

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
CoViPa group picture in front of the MDC.C

October 2021 – CoViPa visits of DKFZ and DLR at the MDC

From left to right: Mikhail Lebedin (MDC), Christian Busse (DKFZ), Daniel Leidner (DLR), Andreas Doemel (DLR), Zhe Li (DKFZ), Maximilian Durner (DLR), Peter Lehner (DLR), Kathrin de la Rosa (MDC), Hedda Wardemann (DKFZ), Casper Silvis (MDC), Saskia Müller (DKFZ)

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
Johanna Quandt-Professorship of the Stiftung Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH)

September 2021 – Johanna Quandt-Professorship of the Stiftung Charité and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) 

From left to right: Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (PhD student), Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Casper Silvis (PhD student), Kathrin de la Rosa (PI), Carlotta Caramel (Erasmus student), Irina Yakutenko (PhD student), Mikhail Lebedin (scientist), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Lisa Spatt (technician)

 

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
De la Rosa Lab anniversary Group picture

May 2020- Lab anniversary

From left to right: Cathrin Gerhard (technician), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student), Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Lisa Spatt (technician), Kathrin de la Rosa (PI)

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
de la Rosa Lab anniversary, climbing park, Berlin

July 2019 - Lab anniversary, climbing park, Berlin

From left to right: Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Lisa Spatt (technician), Kathrin de la Rosa (PI), Petra Haink (secretary), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student), Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Špela Knez (Erasmus Student)

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
AG de la Rosa Group picture, MDC campus

July 2019 – Group picture, MDC campus

From left to right: Kathrin de la Rosa (PI), Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Lisa Spatt (technician), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student), Petra Haink (secretary), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student), Špela Knez (Erasmus Student)

 

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
de la Rosa Lab Group picture, ‘EMBO Workshop on Antibody & Complement’

May 2019 – Group picture, ‘EMBO Workshop on Antibody & Complement’, Girona, Spain

From left to right: Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Svetlana Khorkova (visiting student from Moscow, Russia), Lisa Spatt (technician), Mikhail Lebedin (PhD student), Kathrin de la Rosa (PI), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student)

© AG de la Rosa, MDC
Group photo

From left to right; upper: Petra Haink (secretary), Svetlana Khorkova (visiting student from Moscow, Russia), Lisa Spatt (technician), Kathrin de la Rosa (group leader); lower: Christoph Ratswohl (PhD student), Clara Vazquez Garcia (PhD student)

 

Projects and grants

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

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.

 

Publications

/ 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. Silvis
  • L. Spatt
  • C. Gerhard
  • M. Lehmann
  • L.E. Sander
  • F. Kurth
  • S. Olsson
  • K. de la Rosa
/ 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
/ Bio-protocol

Application of a spacer-nick gene-targeting approach to repair disease-causing mutations with increased safety

  • N.T. Tran
  • M. Lebedin
  • E. Danner
  • R. Kühn
  • K. Rajewsky
  • V.T. Chu
/ Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A

Different classes of genomic inserts contribute to human antibody diversity

  • M. Lebedin
  • M. Foglierini
  • S. Khorkova
  • C. Vázquez García
  • C. Ratswohl
  • A.N. Davydov
  • M.A. Turchaninova
  • C. Daubenberger
  • D.M. Chudakov
  • A. Lanzavecchia
  • K. de la Rosa
/ J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry

SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccinations fail to elicit humoral and cellular immune responses in patients with multiple sclerosis receiving fingolimod

  • L. Meyer-Arndt
  • J. Braun
  • F. Fauchere
  • K. Vanshylla
  • L. Loyal
  • L. Henze
  • B. Kruse
  • M. Dingeldey
  • K. Jürchott
  • M. Mangold
  • A. Maraj
  • A. Braginets
  • C. Böttcher
  • A. Nitsche
  • K. de la Rosa
  • C. Ratswohl
  • B. Sawitzki
  • P. Holenya
  • U. Reimer
  • L.E. Sander
  • F. Klein
  • F. Paul
  • J. Bellmann-Strobl
  • A. Thiel
  • C. Giesecke-Thiel
/ Sci Adv

Precise CRISPR/Cas-mediated gene repair with minimal off-target and unintended on-target mutations in human hematopoietic stem cells

  • N.T. Tran
  • E. Danner
  • X. Li
  • R. Graf
  • M. Lebedin
  • K. de la Rosa
  • R. Kühn
  • K. Rajewsky
  • V.T. Chu
/ Front Immunol

A barcoded flow cytometric assay to explore the antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 spike and its variants

  • N. Vesper
  • Y. Ortiz
  • F. Bartels-Burgahn
  • J. Yang
  • K. de la Rosa
  • M. Tenbusch
  • S. Schulz
  • S. Finzel
  • H.M. Jäck
  • H. Eibel
  • R.E. Voll
  • M. Reth
/ Med

A public health antibody screening indicates a 6-fold higher SARS-CoV-2 exposure rate than reported cases in children

  • M. Hippich
  • L. Holthaus
  • R. Assfalg
  • J.M. Zapardiel Gonzalo
  • H. Kapfelsperger
  • M. Heigermoser
  • F. Haupt
  • D.A. Ewald
  • T.C. Welzhofer
  • B.A. Marcus
  • S. Heck
  • A. Koelln
  • J. Stock
  • F. Voss
  • M. Secchi
  • L. Piemonti
  • K. de la Rosa
  • U. Protzer
  • M. Boehmer
  • P. Achenbach
  • V. Lampasona
  • E. Bonifacio
  • A.G. Ziegler
/ Open Biol

A homology independent sequence replacement strategy in human cells using a CRISPR nuclease

  • E. Danner
  • M. Lebedin
  • K. de la Rosa
  • R. Kühn
/ Sci Immunol

Incomplete genetic reconstitution of B cell pools contributes to prolonged immunosuppression after measles

  • V.N. Petrova
  • B. Sawatsky
  • A.X. Han
  • B.M. Laksono
  • L. Walz
  • E. Parker
  • K. Pieper
  • C.A. Anderson
  • R.D. de Vries
  • A. Lanzavecchia
  • P. Kellam
  • V. von Messling
  • R.L. de Swart
  • C.A. Russell

News

Struktur eines Proteins
Press Release No. 32 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 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 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 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

📺 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 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

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.
de la Rosa / Piazza
Press Release No. 38 Berlin

ERC funding for pioneering research

Two MDC scientists – Kathrin de Rosa and Ilaria Piazza – have earned ERC Starting Grants to fuel their pioneering research. They are seeking answers to questions that may one day change the way we approach vaccines and think about how small molecules influence gene expression and disease.
Kathrin de la Rosa
Science

Engineer of the immune system

Immunologist Kathrin de la Rosa investigates how the body’s own B cells protect us from infectious diseases. In the laboratory, she hopes to modify these cells in such a way that they produce powerful antibodies against pathogens which have overwhelmed our immune system until now.
Human blood with red blood cells, T cells (orange) and platelets (green)
Science

The immune system is almost always involved

Some 1,000 participants came together at this year’s German Society for Immunology conference in Munich. The Helmholtz initiative Immunology & Inflammation also organized its own symposium, and two MDC researchers received awards.

Alumni

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

Research Topics