Scientists / Our Scientists

Christoph Spiess

Distinguished Scientist and Director, Drug Discovery, Antibody Technology

Postdoc Mentor

"Scientific creativity is the key to innovative and transformative drug development."

Years at Genentech

Publications at Genentech

Awards & Honors

I joined Genentech as a Scientist in Fall of 2007 after my graduate and postdoctoral studies focusing on protein folding. My scientific research shifted after joining the Antibody Engineering Department, and I meanwhile support drug development by protein engineering. In part, I was attracted to Genentech by the collaborative research environment that is providing the opportunity to engage with a diverse group of scientists to effectively and rigorously solve scientific problems with creative approaches.

My group is involved, among other things, in the development of technologies to produce bispecific antibodies for research and clinical development. It has provided me with the opportunity to establish new technologies to advance bispecific antibodies from research into Early or Clinical Development in a variety of disease indications.

Postdoctoral Mentor

Being a postdoctoral mentor is providing me with the opportunity to pursue research that is not linked to the immediate need of a pipeline project, but has the potential to become an impactful technology for future drug development. The scientific resources and expertise at Genentech allow us to pursue the most challenging questions with focus and creativity.

Featured Publication

Bispecific antibodies with natural architecture produced by co-culture of bacteria expressing two distinct half-antibodies.

Nat Biotechnol. 2013 Aug;31(8):753-8.

Spiess C, Merchant M, Huang A, Zheng Z, Yang NY, Peng J, Ellerman D, Shatz W, Reilly D, Yansura DG, Scheer JM.

View Abstract

My laboratory is focused on developing technologies for next generation protein therapeutics. While traditional monoclonal antibodies are successful therapeutics, protein engineering provides the opportunity to endow them with novel functionalities. This allows them to overcome limitations of existing medicines and design next generation biotherapeutic formats with superior activity or increased therapeutic index. Bispecific antibodies are one possibility to expand the mode of action of traditional monoclonal antibodies. They combine the binding specificity of two antibodies into a single moiety. With collaborators across the company, we are applying their utility across different disease areas to recruit cytotoxic effector cells to tumor cells or serve as ligand mimetic to activate signaling pathways.

In addition, we are also interested in improving antibody delivery to cellular compartments and tissues previously poorly accessible to antibodies.

T cell-Dependent Bispecific Therapy Enhances Innate Immune Activation and Antibody-Mediated Killing

Cancer immunology research,

Rickvinder Besla; Elicia M. Penuel; Geoffrey Del Rosario; Ely Cosino; Szymon Myrta; Michael P. Dillon; Greg A. Lazar; Dorothee Nickles; Christoph Spiess; Shang-Fan Yu; Andrew G. Polson

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Christoph Spiess

Distinguished Scientist and Director, Drug Discovery, Antibody Technology

Featured Publication

Bispecific antibodies with natural architecture produced by co-culture of bacteria expressing two distinct half-antibodies.