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

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

Group Leader

Dr. Kathrin de la Rosa
Dr. Kathrin de la Rosa
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1016.1

Technical Assistants

Cathrin Gerhard
Cathrin Gerhard
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1017
Lisa Spatt
Lisa Spatt
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1018

PhD student

Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad
Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad
Emre Mert Ipekoglu
Emre Mert Ipekoglu
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1017
Mikhail Lebedin
Mikhail Lebedin
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1061
+49 30 9406-2109
Christoph Ratswohl
Christoph Ratswohl
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1020
Casper Silvis
Casper Silvis
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1061
+49 30 94062109
Clara Vazquez Garcia
Clara Vazquez Garcia
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1018

Graduate and Undergraduate

Dunja Vukcevic
31.1: Max-Delbrück-Haus
Room: 1017

Image Gallery

(← swipe left)

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

in 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
in 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
in 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
in 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
in 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
in 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
in 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
in Nature

Public antibodies to malaria antigens generated by two LAIR1 insertion modalities

  • K. Pieper
  • J. Tan
  • L. Piccoli
  • M. Foglierini
  • S. Barbieri
  • Y. Chen
  • C. Silacci-Fregni
  • T. Wolf
  • D. Jarrossay
  • M. Anderle
  • A. Abdi
  • F.M. Ndungu
  • O.K. Doumbo
  • B. Traore
  • T.M. Tran
  • S. Jongo
  • I. Zenklusen
  • P.D. Crompton
  • C. Daubenberger
  • P.C. Bull
  • F. Sallusto
  • A. Lanzavecchia
in Blood

Disturbed B-lymphocyte selection in autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome

  • A. Janda
  • K. Schwarz
  • M. van der Burg
  • W. Vach
  • H. Ijspeert
  • M.R. Lorenz
  • M. Elgizouli
  • K. Pieper
  • P. Fisch
  • J. Hagel
  • R. Lorenzetti
  • M. Seidl
  • J. Roesler
  • F. Hauck
  • E. Traggiai
  • C. Speckmann
  • A. Rensing-Ehl
  • S. Ehl
  • H. Eibel
  • M. Rizzi
in Nature

A LAIR1 insertion generates broadly reactive antibodies against malaria variant antigens

  • J. Tan
  • K. Pieper
  • L. Piccoli
  • A. Abdi
  • M. Foglierini
  • R. Geiger
  • C.M. Tully
  • D. Jarrossay
  • F.M. Ndungu
  • J. Wambua
  • P. Bejon
  • C. Silacci Fregni
  • B. Fernandez-Rodriguez
  • S. Barbieri
  • S. Bianchi
  • K. Marsh
  • V. Thathy
  • D. Corti
  • F. Sallusto
  • P. Bull
  • A. Lanzavecchia

News

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.
de la Rosa lab
Science

MDC welcomes immunologist Kathrin de la Rosa

On July 1, 2018, a new research group on Immune Mechanisms and Human Antibodies began its work at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC). The group is led by biologist Kathrin de la Rosa and is being funded by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Alumni

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