de la Rosa Lab
Cancer & Immunology / Immune Mechanisms and Human Antibodies
Profile
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.
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
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)
Publications
News
Alumni
Anthony Marchand
MSc Student
September 2019 – March 2020
September 2019 – March 2020
Subsequent position: PhD Student, protein engineering, EPFL (École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne), Switzerland
Špela Knez
Erasmus student
April 2019 – August 2019
Subsequent position: PhD student, biotechnology and immunology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
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
