Sebastian Kruse, PhD

Jan 2019 - Dec 2019
Postdoctoral scientist, Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg

2015 - 2019
PhD student, Junior Research Group Immunotherapy and Immunoprevention, DKFZ, Heidelberg

2012 - 2015      
MSc Biological Sciences, Focus Disease Biology, University of Konstanz

Jan 2014 - Jun 2014     
ERASMUS exchange term, “Tumor Immunology”, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

Sep 2013 - Nov 2013     
Research Internship, “Tumor Immunology & Cancer Stem Cells”, University Hospital Bern, Bern, Switzerland

2009 - 2012         
BSc Biological Sciences, University of Konstanz

Development of an optimal vaccination approach for minimal epitope-based therapeutic vaccines against HPV-induced malignancies in a humanized mouse model

In this project, we used HPV16 epitopes that were confirmed by mass spectrometry to be presented to the immune system on human cancer cells. These epitopes were used in several vaccine formulations to induce high numbers of specific cytotoxic T cells in a mouse model that was humanized for major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I and class II molecules. In addition, a suitable tumor model for these mice was developed in this project. The final goal was to compare the tested vaccine formulations for mediating anti-tumor effects. Testing human epitopes in a humanized model system is expected to increase the translatability of the findings to the clinical setting.

Therapeutic vaccination using minimal HPV16 epitopes in a novel MHC-humanized murine HPV tumor model.
Kruse S, Büchler M, Uhl P, Sauter M, Scherer P, Lan TCT, Zottnick S, Klevenz A, Yang R, Rösl F, Mier W, Riemer AB.
OncoImmunology 2018, 8(1): e1524694.