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Research groups
Zita Aretz
PhD
Postdoctoral Scientist
Research interest:
My research focuses on understanding the mechanisms that control cross-presentation, a process by which certain immune cells termed dendritic cells take up material from other cells such as cancer cells and present their antigens to T cells to elicit an immune response. I use in vitro model systems to study how these cells develop and function, and I apply immunopeptidomics to identify which antigenic peptides from tumors are presented.
The overall goal is to better understand how immune cells decide what to present to the immune system, and how this process can be exploited to improve immune responses against cancer.
Background:
I completed my PhD at Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences, based at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, where I studied T cell immunotherapy and engineering the CD8 co-receptor to improve T cell specificity and safety. Before that I completed my MSc in Biomedical Sciences at University College London and my BSc in Biophysics at Humboldt University Berlin and.