What is your current professional position and where is it located?
I work as a laboratory engineer at AG Fuchs at CRTD.

What is the focus of your current research and what aspects are you interested in?
The focus of my work is on translating the research scale to a large-scale manufacturing process for iPSC-derived allogeneic macrophages as a future cell therapy against solid tumors. This involves also appropriate quality controls to ensure that patients receive a safe therapy.
Beside this, I am involved in patient studies such as virus-specific T cell therapy at the GMP facility. It is a good feeling to contribute to the cure of patients.

Have you set yourself a specific goal in your SaxoCell project?
My primary goal and the first step is the large-scale production of allogeneic macrophages under optimal conditions to ensure maximum yield and viable, functional cells. Of course, the next and long-term goal to be achieved is the treatment of patients with this cell therapy.

Please finish the following sentence: "SaxoCell is for me..."
... a great way to combine knowledge from different groups in Saxony with industry partners and optimize this knowledge for the main goal - the treatment of patients with an innovative ATMP!

Outside of academics, what are some of your hobbies or interests?
I love traveling to new places and other countries. But I also like going to concerts, horse riding, generally doing sports, especially the training for my next half marathon as a good balance to the work.

What is an important lesson or piece of advice you would give to your younger self?
Leave your comfort zone. Otherwise, you will never know what is behind this.

If you could have a conversation with a famous person (from past or present), who would it be and what would you ask them?
I would like to talk with two great women in Science and Nobel Prize winner - Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna. I would ask them how they could manage their career with private life, family, friends and personal goals. Especially in stressful times. How they find a good balance between this.
But this question I would also ask to all the great scientific women in the Saxocell cluster!

What was your favourite cartoon series to watch as a child?
My favourite cartoon series during Christmas time was “Weihnachtsmann & Co.kg”. Perfect for snowy days.

What is one technology or innovation that you could not live without?
I couldn't imagine life without Spotify and other music streaming services now. They have changed my daily life because I can listen to my favorite music and podcasts whenever I want.

Steven C. Currall discusses the potential benefits and challenges of collaborations between academia and major technology companies. While these partnerships can provide access to vast resources and innovative tools, they also present risks such as conflicts of interest and ethical concerns. The author emphasizes the importance of establishing formal procedures to address conflicts and ensure mutual benefits. Drawing from past experiences, Currall highlights that successful collaborations acknowledge potential issues and proactively work towards resolving them.

Background: Understanding the role of cancer hotspot mutations is essential for unraveling mechanisms of tumorigenesis and identifying therapeutic vulnerabilities. Correcting cancer mutations with base editing is a novel, yet promising approach for investigating the biology of driver mutations.
Results: Here, we present a versatile platform to investigate the functional impactof cancer hotspot mutations through adenine base editing in combination with transcriptomic profiling. Using this approach, we correct TP53 hotspot mutations in cancer cell lines derived from diverse tissues, followed by mRNA sequencing to evaluate transcriptional changes. Remarkably, correcting these mutations not only reveals the dependency on mutant allele expression but also restores highly conserved tumor-suppressive transcriptional programs, irrespective of tissue origin or co-occurring mutations, highlighting a shared p53-dependent regulatory network. Our findings demonstrate the utility of this base editing platform to systematically interrogate the functional consequences of cancer-associated mutations and their downstream effects on gene expression.
Conclusions: This work establishes a robust framework for studying the transcriptional dynamics of cancer hotspot mutations and sheds light on the conserved biological processes reinstated by p53 correction, offering potential avenues for future targeted therapies.

On August 20, SaxoCell and DOCS came together at ARCOTEL HafenCity Dresden for an inspiring evening of exchange between clinicians and scientists. Engaging talks opened up new perspectives on cell and gene therapy, sparking enthusiasm across disciplines. The evening concluded with a relaxed BBQ at the Hafenmeisterei by the water, offering plenty of room for lively discussions and networking in a great summer atmosphere.

If you are interested in more information about any of these events or about the role of SaxoCell at these conferences, please do not hesitate to contact us.