Vorstand 2021-2022 Über uns

Christine S. Falk, Dr. rer.nat., is full professor for Transplant Immunology and director of the Institute of Transplant Immunology at Hannover Medical School (MHH) since 2011. In her research, she focusses on mechanisms of ischemia/reperfusion injury and its consequences for innate and adaptive immunity, especially tissue-resident T and NK cells in the context of solid organ transplantation, primarily lung, heart and kidney transplantation. Christine Falk graduated with her PhD from the Institute of Immunology at Ludwig-Maximilians University in Munich, Germany, in the field of tumor immunology and continued her work on T and NK cell recognition of solid tumors as postdoctoral fellow at the Institute of Molecular Immunology, Helmholtz Centre for Environment and Health (HMGU) in Munich. In 2004, she received her Venia Legendi at LMU for Human Immunology with a strong focus on the influence of the tumor microenvironment on anti-tumor immunity. From 2006 to 2010, she worked at the German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ) in Heidelberg, Germany, as group leader of the Research Group “Immune Monitoring” with a strong interest in the improvement of cancer immunotherapy by understanding the mechanisms involved in treatment resistance.
Christine Falk has a long-term research interest in transplant and tumor immunology and the interface to infectious diseases in solid organ transplantation. Major aspects of her research are tissue-resident lymphocytes and the identification of “common denominators” of tumor vs. organ rejection and protection from infection. She published more than 110 peer articles in international peer-reviewed journals and received the Walter Schulz award for Tumor Immunology. At MHH, she is trust lecturer of the DFG, member of dissertation and research committees. Since 2014, she serves as board member of the German Cancer Aid Foundation (Dt. Krebshilfe), member for the Erwin-Schrödinger Prize of the “Science Award of the German Stifterverband”, and editorial board member of several journals and since 2019 as member of the Hochschulrat of the Leibniz University, Hannover.

Carsten Watzl studierte Biologie in Heidelberg. Während seiner Promotion am Deutschen Krebsforschungszentrum in Heidelberg in der Abteilung von Peter Krammer beschäftigte er sich mit der Signaltransduktion des CD95 (APO-1/Fas) Rezeptors. Als Postdoktorand ging er in die USA, um in der Gruppe von Eric Long am NIH (National Institutes of Health) die Funktion von Natürlichen Killerzellen zu untersuchen. Anschließend kam er als Nachwuchsgruppenleiter am Institut für Immunologie der Universität Heidelberg zurück nach Deutschland, wo er sich weiter mit dem Thema der Natürlichen Killerzellen beschäftigte und an der medizinischen Fakultät der Universität Heidelberg habilitierte. Im Jahre 2008 gründete er den Arbeitskreis NK Zelle innerhalb der DGfI und war bis 2015 der Sprecher des Arbeitskreises. Er folgte im Jahre 2011 einen Ruf an das Leibniz Institut für Arbeitsforschung an der TU Dortmund (IfADo), wo er als wissenschaftlicher Direktor die Abteilung Immunologie leitet.