2024
Aug 2024: Luca's resource article is published
Luca's resource paper describing a new iPSC line derived from a patient with 6q27 syndrome is now published in Stem Cell Resource. Please contact us if you are interested in using this line for your own work. OA link here
July 2024: Fred's paper is published!
Fred's paper on the role of Elp1 in cerebellum development has now been published in Neurobiology of Disease. Congrats Fred! OA link here
June 2024: FIGHT4MB awarded from Fight Kids Cancer
Our collaboration grant on generating and testing new Group 4 medulloblastoma models has been awarded funding from Fight Kids Cancer. Press release describing our project and others awarded funding at the KiTZ is here
June 2024: The Kutscher Lab attends ISPNO in Philly
Luca and Jan give oral presentations on their respective PhD projects, Lena chairs the medulloblastoma session, and Piyush presents a poster on his work on understanding medulloblastoma heterogeneity.
May 2024: Vuslat joins the lab
Vuslat joins our lab as a graduate student assistant. She will work with Lisa on understanding the molecular mechanisms of UBC development. Welcome!
April 2024: Zoë and Anna join the lab!
Anna and Zoë will work with Luca on improving our cerebellar organoid protocols in their internship, as part of their MSc in Neuroscience. Welcome!
March 2024: Fred's Elp1 paper published on bioRxiv
Our paper describing the function of Elp1 in developing cerebellar granule neuron progenitors is up on bioRxiv. Please let us know what you think!
Loss of the Familial Dysautonomia gene Elp1 in cerebellar granule cell progenitors leads to ataxia in mice + short explanation
Feb. 2024: collaboration papers published on bioRxiv!
Two new collaboration papers from our group have been published on bioRxiv, using single-cell RNA-seq to understand the tumor cell types that comprise Group 3/4 medulloblastoma and to determine the somatic evolution of oncogene-'driven' Group 3/4 medulloblastoma. Looking forward to your feedback!
Paper 1: Gene regulatory network landscape of Group 3/4 medulloblastoma + short overview
Paper 2: Medulloblastoma oncogene aberrations are not involved in tumor initiation, but essential for disease progression and therapy resistance + short overview
2023
Nov. 2023: Tamina successfully defends her MSc
Tamina successfully defended her MSc thesis and is now a Master of Science! Congrats Tamina!!
Nov 2023: Jana and Franzi join the lab
Jana and Franzi join the lab as a technician and techician trainee, respectively. They will both work jointly between the Kutscher and Zuckermann groups - welcome!
Nov 2023: Lexi presents her summer undergraduate research
Lexi successfully presented her summer research at the Undergraduate Vanderbilt Research Fair. Congrats Lexi!
© dkfz.de
Oct 2023: Fred presents his work at the EMBO Organoids conference.
Fred, Luca, and Lena attended the 2023 EMBO Organoids conference in Heidelberg. Fred presented his work on using cerebellum organoids to investigate ELP1 function.
© dkfz.de
Oct 2023: Konstantin and Piyush's paper published in Neuro-oncology.
Konstantin and Piyush's co-first author paper on mapping pediatric brain tumors to their developmental origins in the cerebellum has now been published in Neuro-Oncology. Congrats to both!!! Open access link to the paper here.
Sept 2023: Fred presents at the annual GSCN in Ulm.
Fred presented his PhD work on the functional role of the hereditary prediposition gene ELP1 in SHH-medulloblastoma using iSPC and organoid-based models. His talk took place at the annual German Stem Cell Network in Ulm.
© dkfz.de
Aug. 2023: Luise joins for a rotation project.
Luise joins the lab for a rotation project as part of her MSc in Neuroscience program. She will examine non-apoptotic cell death in the developing mouse.
Aug 2023: Lisa presents at the Cerebellum GRS and GRC.
Lisa presented her PhD work on the development of unipolar brush cells at the Cerebellum Gordon Research Seminar (talk) and Gordon Research Conference (poster) in Maine.
© dkfz.de
June 2023: Lisa awarded travel scholarship from the Kind-Philipp-Stiftung
Lisa received a Travel Scholarship from the Kind-Philipp-Stiftung für pädiatrisch-onkologische Forschung (Kind-Philipp Foundation for pediatric oncology research). She will travel to Maine this summer to present her graduate research at the Cerebellum Gordon Research Conference. Congrats Lisa!
June 2023: Lena presents at the SNOPeds meeting
Lena presented the work from the lab on the developmental origins of medulloblastoma at the SNOPeds biennial meeting in Washington, DC. She discussed Lisa, Tamina, and Piyush's work on the normal development of unipolar brush cells and the biological underpinnings of Group 3/4 medulloblastoma using single-cell RNA- and ATACseq. Jan also presented his work on the mechanism of PLAG-family member driven oncogenesis in gliomas.
© dkfz.de
May 2023: Welcome Lexi to the lab!
Lexi Scheuing joins us for a summer internship. Lexi will work with Patricia and Luca to investigate the cellular origins of Group 4 medulloblastoma. Welcome Lexi!
May 2023: Jan awarded a travel scholarship from the German Cancer Aid
Jan received a travel scholarship from the German Cancer Aid for his summer research stay with our collaborators at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in the US. Congrats Jan!
Feb 2023: Tamina joins the lab for her MSc thesis
Tamina joins us as an MSc thesis as part of her degree requirements for her Molecular Bioscience - Neuroscience degree. She will work with Piyush to investigate gene regulation in medulloblastoma. Welcome Tamina!
2022
Dec 2022: Lena joins the lab as an MSc intern
Welcome Lena to the lab! Lena joins us as an intern as part of her MSc degree. She will work with Piyush to analyze the genomic data from our PDX models and investigate mechanisms of i17q chromosome alterations.
Nov 2022: Marie-Claire joins the lab as a HiWi
Welcome Marie-Claire! She joins us as a student helper and will take care of our mouse genotyping, working closely with Laura in the lab.
Nov 2022: Luca joins the lab as a postgraduate Erasmus student
We welcome Luca to the lab! He joins us from the Tiberi lab as an Erasmus student following his successful MSc thesis. He will work with Fred to investigate SHH-medulloblastoma initation.
Jul 2022: Successful retreat with Peggy's and Angelika's labs
We had a great day exchanging exciting science and a fun afternoon of laser tag with Peggy Wei's and Angelika Feldmann's lab at our B3 retreat!
© dkfz.de
2021
Dec 2021: Joint cerebellum papers uploaded to bioRxiv
Our collaborative papers have been uploaded to bioRxiv. Congrats to co-first author Piyush for all his hard work! Check out the tweetorial from the Kaessmann lab and the papers on the publication page. Looking forward to all feedback!
Oct 2021: Magdalena successfully completes her Master's thesis!
Congratulations! Magdalena successfully defended her Master's thesis. She will continue working in the lab making in vitro Group 4 medulloblastoma tumor models before continuing with her PhD in Vienna.
Aug 2021: Chiara joins our group as a joint technician with Marc Zuckermann's group
Welcome Chiara!
July 2021: Jan joins our group as a joint-PhD student with David Jones's group
Jan Vaillant has joined our group as a PhD student. He will study the role of oncogenic transcription factors during development and in gliomas, working jointly between our group and David Jones's group. Welcome Jan!
March 2021: Magdalena joins us for her Master's thesis project
Magdalena has joined our group to conduct her Master's thesis. She will generate neural stem cells of different brain regions from induced pluripotent stem cells, and then test which cell types have the capacity to transform after overexpression of oncogenes. Welcome Magdalena!
Jan 2021: snATAC-seq of the developing mouse cerebellum up on bioRxiv
Our collaboration work with Henrik Kaessmann's and Stefan Pfister's lab is up on bioRxiv! Ioannis Sarropoulos and Mari Sepp in Henrik's lab led the work. They characterized the major cerebellar cell types and identified cis-regulatory elements acting in these cell types during development. Please check it out!
Jan 2021: Cedar joins for a rotation project!
Cedar Schloo has joined us for a rotation project as part of their Masters in Neuroscience program. They will work on characterizing viral induction efficiencies in neural epithelial stem cells in vitro. Welcome Cedar!
2020
Nov 2020: Virtual Escape Room game night
We had a virtual going-away party for Mackenna, who is finishing her thesis and heading back to the Netherlands to complete her MD requirements. We played a virtual escape room and were told we were the top five to finish, although we didn't see an official leaderboard. We wish Mackenna all the best with her future studies!
© dkfz.de
Sept 2020: Welcome Fred and Lisa!
Fred Manz and Lisa Spänig have joined our group as new PhD students. Fred will investigate the function of the hereditary predisposition gene ELP1 in hiPSCs. Lisa will investigate the development of cerebellar unipolar brush cells. Welcome!
Aug 2020: Bcor paper published in Genes and Development
Our paper on the role of Bcor in medulloblastoma has been published in Genes and Development. Link to the paper here.
Jul 2020: Mackennna joins the lab!
Mackenna has joined our lab from LUMC for her Masters thesis. She'll work on understanding how mutations in Elp1 affect cerebellum development. Welcome Mackenna!
Jul 2020: Isabell passed her TA exams!
Isabell has successfully passed her TA exams and officially joins us as our new technician, shared with Marc Zuckermann's group. Congrats Isabell!
© dkfz.de
April 2020: Isabell joined the lab
Isabell joined our lab as a technician trainee at the beginning of April. She will work with us and Dr. Marc Zuckermann's group. Welcome Isabell!
Feb 2020: Bcor paper on bioRxiv
Our latest paper about the role of Bcor in medulloblastoma is now on bioRxiv. Please check it out!