Towards novel cellular therapies using single cell multiomics

Supervisor: Dr. Carsten Marr

Enrolled since 2019

I studied biology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (2014-2019). For my master thesis, I joined the group of Fabian Theis at the Institute of Computational Biology (ICB), Helmholtz Center Munich, to study pancreatic beta cell heterogeneity using single cell transcriptomic data. In December 2019, started my PhD at ICB in the group of Dr. Carsten Marr. 

Breakthroughs in single cell omics, a discipline that focuses on the analysis of individual cells, have revolutionized our understanding of complex cell biology in recent years. State-of-the-art technologies now routinely allow sequencing thousands of individual cells. This generates massive amounts of data that, with the help of sophisticated computational techniques, provide unprecedented insights into the molecular underpinnings of cellular identity and function. Cellular therapies have gained increasing attention as a promising approach for the treatment of a variety of diseases, yet persistent challenges involve refining their performance while ensuring widespread scalability. In my PhD, I explore and analyze single cell data with the goal of contributing to the safety and efficacy of cellular therapies employing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells or pluripotent stem cells (PSCs).

Current Position

Computational Biologist - Therapeutics Research & Development

with Cellarity - Munich, Germany

Publications

  • Gottschlich, A.*, Thomas, M.*, Grünmeier, R.*, … Marr, C. and Kobold, S., 2023. Single-cell transcriptomic atlas-guided development of CAR-T cells for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia. Nature Biotechol, 41(11): 1618-1632.
  • Märkl F, Benmebarek MR, …., Thomas M, Gottschlich A, Klaus R, Marr C, …., Kobold S. (2023) Bispecific antibodies redirect synthetic agonistic receptor modified T cells against melanoma. J Immunother Cancer. 11(5):e006436.
  • Tritschler S, Thomas M, Böttcher A, Ludwig B, Schmid J, Schubert U, Kemter E, Wolf E, Lickert H, Theis FJ. (2022) A transcriptional cross species map of pancreatic islet cells. Mol Metab. 66:101595.
  • Lesch S, Blumenberg V, …., Thomas M, Marr C, ….., Endres S, Kobold S. T cells armed with C-X-C chemokine receptor type 6 enhance adoptive cell therapy for pancreatic tumours. (2021) Nat Biomed Eng. 5(11):1246-1260.
  • Cadilha BL, Benmebarek MR, …., Thomas M, Marr C, …., Kobold S. (2021) Combined tumor-directed recruitment and protection from immune suppression enable CAR T cell efficacy in solid tumors. Sci Adv. 7(24):eabi5781.