Arber Lab members

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

Functional characterization of engineered T cells and animal studies.

Background

I graduated from my apprenticeship as a biology laboratory technician at the Center of integrative genomics (CIG). I worked with several groups at CIG, and gained experience in neuroscience in Pr Franken’s & Pr Dion’s group, in genomic science with Pr Gambetta’s group and in metabolism with Pr Thorens’ group. I joined the Arber lab in May 2022.

Postdoctoral Researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest 

My research is focused on characterising engineered T cells in the leukemia microenvironment.        

Background 

Having completed both my Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Life Sciences at EPFL, my academic journey has been dedicated to understanding the intricacies of the interaction between the immune system and cancer cells. During my studies, I conducted an internship in a biotech start-up in Geneva, assessing the functionality of a dendritic cell cancer vaccine. Building on this foundation, I pursued my studies with a PhD at Imperial College London where I investigated the role of bone marrow macrophages during Acute Myeloid Leukemia. I joined the Arber Lab as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in September 2023.

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

Discovery and validation of novel T cell receptors targeting neoantigens in hematologic malignancies.

Background 

I earned a Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and Genetics from Middle East Technical University (Turkey) and a Master in Molecular Mechanisms of Disease from the Radboud University (the Netherlands). During my master’s, as a graduate research assistant, I worked on a dendritic cell vaccine for treatment of gynecological cancer patients at Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (the Netherlands) and on CRISPRbased gene regulation with CAR signaling in T cell engineering at Refuge Biotechnologies in the United States. I joined the Arber lab as a PhD student in December 2021.

Postdoctoral Researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest 

Development of new strategies to confer resistance to NK cell mediated rejection of allogenic CAR T cells for acute leukemia.        

Background 

I acquired my Bachelor’s in Biochemistry from the Autonomous University of Madrid (Spain). During my Final Degree Project I worked on TAP-independent antigen presentation at the CBMSO (Spain). The next year I graduated with a master’s degree in molecular Biomedicine at the same university. For my master’s Project I worked on strategies to enhance T cell activation within the tumor microenvironment using DGKα inhibitors at CNB (Spain). I obtained my PhD at CIMA, University of Navarre (Spain). My thesis research focused on nonsense-mediated decay as a novel tumor immune escape pathway to suppress the presentation of potent neoantigens. I joined Arber’s Lab in July 2023 as a Postdoc. 

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I am dedicated to advancing the in vitro evaluation of novel engineered CAR T cells by developing a 3D microfluidic system that recapitulates key tumor microenvironment features of multiple myeloma. 

Background 

I graduated as B.Sc. in Biological Sciences from the University of Konstanz and gathered experience in the field of translational sciences during an internship at the Novartis Institute for BioMedical Research (Basel). I performed my M.Sc. studies at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where I specialized in the domain of cancer research during two M.Sc. related projects at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. I joined the Arber lab as a PhD student in December 2022. 

PhD student CONTACT ME

Research interest 

I am examining novel engineering techniques to address current unmet needs in the development of universal CAR T cells against acute myeloid leukemia.

Background 

I earned my Bachelor in Biomedical Sciences at the National University of Singapore and joined industry to develop biologics against solid tumors. I later obtained my Master in Medical Immunosciences from the University of Bonn (Germany). I completed my master’s thesis at the Roche Innovation Center in Zürich where I worked on the integration of CRISPR/Cas9 and scRNAseq platforms to identify novel targets for cancer immunotherapy.

Postdoctoral Researcher CONTACT ME

Research interest

My research is focused on engineering T cells that target and modulate the tumor microenvironment in multiple myeloma.

Background

I obtained my Bachelor’s in Biology from the University of Freiburg (Germany) where I worked on myeloid cell migration at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics. Thereafter, I graduated with a Master’s in Biomedicine from the Karolinska Institute (Sweden) with a research stay at the University of California, Irvine (USA) where I investigated immunosuppressive myeloid cells in breast cancer. I joined the Arber Lab in November 2018 as a PhD student.

Technician CONTACT ME

Research interest

Functional characterization of engineered T cells.

Background

I earned my Master in Biology from the University of Neuchâtel (Switzerland). Since then, I worked eleven years in the biomedical research area (immunology, immunooncology, microbiology and parasitology), of which four were spent in Barcelona. Before joining the Arber lab in 2021, I worked for a biotherapeutics company developing bispecific and monoclonal antibodies to treat cancers and autoimmune diseases where I set up a large variety of protein and cell-based assays (binding, ADCC, redirected lysis, T cell activation, proliferation assays).

Research associate CONTACT ME

Research interest

I am exploring the molecular and structural foundations of T cell/target cell interactions. To explore both the natural and engineered immune cell synapse, I am pioneering techniques in live and super-resolution microscopy. 

Background

My academic journey took me through medical studies in Dresden, Germany, followed by postgraduate medical training in internal medicine and oncology across Hanover and Tübingen, Germany. I achieved specialization in Medical Oncology in Switzerland in 2020. My doctoral dissertation was centered around experimental cardio-physiology, investigating the molecular intricacies of myocardial infarction and inflammation. Subsequent to my doctorate, research stints at Dartmouth in New Hampshire, USA, and at the EPFL School of Life Sciences in Switzerland sparked my fascination with the cellular and molecular underpinnings of interactions between immune cells and tumor cells. Presently, I am associated with the CHUV oncology department, where I serve as a clinician in the immune-oncology clinic. The majority of my current efforts are concentrated at the University of Geneva, where I contribute as a visiting scientist in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology.