Genentech: Christian Hammer | Senior Principal Scientist, Cancer Immunology & Human Genetics

Scientists / Our Scientists

"The work of a Human Geneticist, while exciting and impactful, can be highly theoretical and somewhat detached from the very reason you entered science in the first place. At Genentech, I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity to do discovery research while at the same time collaborating with brilliant interdisciplinary colleagues along the full translational spectrum from bench to bedside."

Years at Genentech

Publications at Genentech

Awards & Honors

With a background in complex trait genomics, I joined Genentech in 2017 after post-doctoral work at the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine in Göttingen, Germany, and at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland. As a scientist in our Cancer Immunology and Human Genetics departments I investigate how inherited genetic variation in immune-relevant genes shape patients’ responses to cancer immunotherapies.

Featured Publication

Antigen presentation in cancer: insights into tumour immunogenicity and immune evasion.

Nat Rev Cancer 21, 298–312 (2021).

Jhunjhunwala, S., Hammer, C. & Delamarre, L.

View Abstract

Genetic variation associated with thyroid autoimmunity shapes the systemic immune response to PD-1 checkpoint blockade.

Nat Commun 12, 3355 (2021).

Khan, Z., Hammer, C., Carroll, J. et al.

View Abstract

MiDAS—Meaningful Immunogenetic Data at Scale.

PLOS Computational Biology 17(7): e1009131.

Migdal M, Ruan DF, Forrest WF, Horowitz A, Hammer C.

View Abstract

The majority of genetics research in oncology has concentrated on the role of tumor somatic mutations, as well as inherited risk variants, in disease susceptibility and response to targeted treatments. The advent and success of cancer immunotherapies, however, have opened new perspectives for the investigation of the role of inherited genetic variation in co-determining outcome and safety. It is increasingly likely that the entirety of germline genetic variation impacting how our immune system responds to cancer accounts for some of the observed variability in responses to immune checkpoint blockade.

My group focuses on large-scale analyses of germline genetic data from patients treated with immunotherapies, and on integrated analyses of germline and tumor genomic features to identify novel drug targets and biomarkers for precision medicine approaches. We also have a special interest in immunogenetic (HLA & KIR) variation, and how this connects to T and NK cell functions in cancer immunology.

NKG2A and HLA-E define an alternative immune checkpoint axis in bladder cancer

Cancer Cell, ISSN: 15356108

Bérengère Salomé; John P. Sfakianos; Daniel Ranti; Jorge Daza; Christine Bieber; Andrew Charap; Christian Hammer; Romain Banchereau; Adam M. Farkas; Dan Fu Ruan; Sudeh Izadmehr; Daniel Geanon; Geoffrey Kelly; Ronaldo M. de Real; Brian Lee; Kristin G. Beaumont; Sanjana Shroff; Yuanshuo A. Wang; Ying-chih Wang; Tin Htwe Thin; Monica Garcia-Barros; Everardo Hegewisch-Solloa; Emily M. Mace; Li Wang; Timothy O'Donnell; Diego Chowell; Ruben Fernandez-Rodriguez; Mihaela Skobe; Nicole Taylor; Seunghee Kim-Schulze; Robert Sebra; Doug Palmer; Eleanor Clancy-Thompson; Scott A. Hammond; Alice O. Kamphorst; Karl-Johan Malmberg; Emanuela Marcenaro; Pedro Romero; Rachel Brody; Mathias Viard; Yuko Yuki; Maureen Martin; Mary Carrington; Reza Mehrazin; Peter Wiklund; Ira Mellman; Sanjeev Mariathasan; Jun Zhu; Matthew D. Galsky; Nina Bhardwaj; Amir Horowitz

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Christian Hammer

Senior Principal Scientist, Cancer Immunology & Human Genetics

Featured Publication

Antigen presentation in cancer: insights into tumour immunogenicity and immune evasion.

Genetic variation associated with thyroid autoimmunity shapes the systemic immune response to PD-1 checkpoint blockade.

MiDAS—Meaningful Immunogenetic Data at Scale.