Christoph Spiess

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 to potentially overcome limitations or enhance their activities. Bispecific antibodies are one possibility to expand the mode of action of traditional monoclonal antibodies by combining 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 T-cells to tumor cells, to simultaneously neutralize two disease mediators or to serve as ligand mimetic to activate signaling pathways.

In addition, we are also interested in trying to improve antibody delivery to cellular compartments and tissues previously poorly accessible to antibodies, as well as improving and predicting viability of therapeutic antibody candidates.

• Stanford University; (USA), Postdoctoral Fellow – 2007
• University of Konstanz (Germany), Ph.D. – 1999
• University of Konstanz (Germany), Diploma – 1995

• Emmy-Noether postdoctoral fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) –
• Graduate program of the Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes –