de la Rosa Lab

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.

23.07.2026 - Hannover — **23.07.2026 — Hannover — 8^th lab anniversary**
Von links nach rechts: oben — Svea Matthiesen (Postdoc), Alina Bakker (Doktorandin), Cathrin Gerhard (TA), Clara Vazquez Garcia (Postdoc), Ata Ul Wakeel Ahmad (Doktorand), Dennis Doorduijn (Postdoc)
unten — Kathrin de la Rosa (Gruppenleiterin), Emre Mert Ipekoglu (Doktorand), Casper Silvis (Doktorand), Mikhail Lebedin (Postdoc), Lisa Spatt (TA)

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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.

July 24, 2026 / bioRxiv

Efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated homology independent sequence replacement in vivo and non-dividing primary cells

Tu Ngoc Dang
Alexandra Roman
Anja Zimmer
Mikhail Lebedin
Ella Bahry
Claudia Marti Grifol
Markus Esser
Seren Sevim Wunderlich
Duncan C. Miller
Sebastian Diecke
Ralf Kuehn

December 19, 2025 / Nature Communications

Recombination junctions from antibody isotype switching classify immune and DNA repair dysfunction

Clara Vázquez García
Benedikt Obermayer
Baerbel Keller
Mikhail Lebedin
Christoph Ratswohl
Hassan Abolhassani
Antonia Busse
Michela Di Virgilio
Stephan Mathas
Dorothee Speiser
Dieter Beule
Qiang Pan-Hammarström
Klaus Warnatz
Kathrin de la Rosa

September, 2025 / Antiviral Research

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

Mikhail Lebedin
Nikolai Petrovsky
Kairat Tabynov
Kaissar Tabynov
Yuri Lebedin

October 15, 2024 / Journal of Immunology

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 / Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology

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 / Science Immunology

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 / Frontiers in Immunology

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 / Scientific Reports

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

D. Stern
T.C. Meyer
F. Treindl
H.W. Mages
M. Krüger
M. Skiba
J.P. Krüger
C.M. Zobel
M. Schreiner
M. Grossegesse
T. Rinner
C. Peine
A. Stoliaroff-Pépin
T. Harder
N. Hofmann
J. Michel
A. Nitsche
S. Stahlberg
A. Kneuer
A. Sandoni
U. Kubisch
M. Schlaud
A. Mankertz
T. Schwarz
V.M. Corman
M.A. Müller
C. Drosten
K. de la Rosa
L. Schaade
M.B. Dorner
B.G. Dorner

October, 2023 / BIOspektrum

Pandemieforschung: von Autoantikörpern und Impfstoff-Innovationen

K. de la Rosa

Science October 08, 2025

Five Berlin-based leading minds honored

Five scientists from the Max Delbrück Center have been named among the 100 most important minds in Berlin science in 2025 by the newspaper Tagesspiegel: Simone Spuler, Clara Vázquez García, Thoralf Niendorf, Gabriele Schiattarella and Ana Pombo.

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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

BSc Student
February 2023 – May 2023

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

PhD student
August 2021 – November 2021

Subsequent position: self-employed science journalist and blogger

Carlotta Caramel

Erasmus student
March 2021 – September 2021

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

Anthony Marchand

MSc student
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

Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Kathrin de la Rosa

Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC),

Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI),

Professor of Personalized Immunotherapy Hannover Medical School (MHH),

Centre for Individualized Infection Medicine (CiiM)

Contact

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

Kathrin.delaRosa@mdc-berlin.de