Sascha Rutz
Principal Scientist, Cancer Immunology
"These are exciting times to be an immunologist! We are making rapid advances in our fundamental understanding of how anti-tumor immunity is regulated, and to see firsthand how these collective insights are transforming cancer therapy is deeply satisfying."
I have been studying how T cells regulate and balance their production of pro-inflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokines, with a particular focus on the IL-17 and IL-10 families of cytokines. I joined Genentech as a Postdoc in 2009 and uncovered pathways for the transcriptional regulation of IL-22, a cytokine critical for host defense at mucosal surfaces and tissue repair. I quickly became interested in how the ubiquitin system controls various aspects of T cell biology at the post-translational level, examples of which are the role of the deubiquitinase DUBA as a cell-intrinsic suppressor of IL-17 production, and the essential function of BAP1 for thymic development and proliferation of T cells. In addition to uncovering new biology, I have always been eager to develop and adapt new technologies to study T cell immunity. Recently, the advent of single cell sequencing and CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing has fundamentally changed our ability to monitor and manipulate immune responses.
In 2014, I started my own research program in the Department of Cancer Immunology applying cellular immunology, single cell sequencing, gene-editing, proteomics, and mouse models to study anti-tumor T cell immunity. My group currently focusses on regulatory T cell biology and T cell therapies. I also maintain a strong research interest in the regulation of T cell immunity by the ubiquitin system.
Featured Publication
Optimized RNP transfection for highly efficient CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knockout in primary T cells.
Journal of Experimental Medicine, ISSN: 15409538 00221007
Akiko Seki; Sascha Rutz
Current areas of research in my group are aimed at:
- Understanding the role of regulatory T cells in anti-tumor immunity and discovering novel ways of targeting them therapeutically.
- Developing gene-editing tools for T cell engineering and target identification screens.
- Identifying novel mechanisms through which the ubiquitin pathway regulates T cell immunity.
- Degrees Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany, Ph.D. in Biology / Immunology – 2008
- Free University, Berlin, Germany, M.Sc. in Biochemistry – 2002