Vorstand 2025-2026 Über uns

Hansjörg Schild studied Human Biology in Marburg and received his PhD in Human Biology in 1990 from the Philipps University Marburg and the Max-Planck Institute for Biology in Tübingen (Germany) working in the group of Hans-Georg Rammensee. After a 3-year postdoc with Mark Davis at Stanford University (USA) from 1990 – 1993 (supported by a fellowship from the German Research Council), he worked as a group leader at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. In 1996 he moved to Tübingen and stayed as a group leader at the Institute for Cell Biology, Dept. of Immunology (Head Prof. Rammensee) until 2003. In 2003 he accepted the offer to head the Institute for Immunology at the University Medical Centre in Mainz as full professor. Hansjörg contributed significantly to the understanding of MHC class I antigen presentation pathways and antigen recognition by cytotoxic T cells. His work now focuses on the understanding of immune regulatory mechanisms and the development of antigen-specific immunotherapies. Hansjörg was the chairman of the Immunology Research Center in Mainz from 2008 until 2017, when he became the Vice-Dean for Research at the University Medical Centre. Since 2020, he also holds the position as Deputy Chief Scientific Officer. Since 2018 he is also the speaker of the Collaborative Research Center 1292 of the German Research Council (DFG) and a selected member of the board of Directors of the Helmholtz Institute for Translational Oncology in Mainz. Hansjörg has been a member of the DFG review board 204 (Microbiology, Virology, Immunology) and the German Society for Immunology, serves in several scientific advisory boards and is, since 2018, a member of the committee for research infrastructures of the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat). He also serves as a reviewer and member of selection panels of many international grant agencies, scientific award panels and major scientific journals. Hansjörg authors more than 200 publications in scientific journals, holds several international patents and has cofounded Immatics Inc. in 2000.

Reinhold Förster ist seit 2001 ordentlicher Professor für Immunologie und Leiter des Instituts für Immunologie an der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.

Prof. Förster ist ein international anerkannter Experte für Chemokine. Mit Hilfe von Gen-Targeting in Mäusen hat er grundlegende Arbeiten über die Funktion von Chemokinrezeptoren wie CXCR5, CCR9 und CCR7 sowie ACKR4 veröffentlicht. Er identifizierte molekulare Mechanismen, die die Wanderung von Immunzellen zu und ihre Positionierung in lymphatischen Organen steuern, und untersuchte die Rolle des steady-state turnover dendritischer Zellen in der Induktion peripherer Toleranz. Darüber hinaus untersuchten er und seine Kollegen mit Hilfe der 2-Photonen-In-vivo-Mikroskopie die Zell-Zell-Interaktionen beim Priming von Immunzellen und bei der Abtötung zytotoxischer T-Zellen. Dadurch konnten sie grundlegend neue Erkenntnisse über die Prozesse gewinnen, die die Ansiedlung von Immunzellen in den Lymphknoten steuern. In jüngerer Zeit untersuchte er Immunantworten nach Immunisierung mit COVID-19-Impfstoffen und bei COVID-19-Patienten.

Reinhold Förster war Mitglied in sechs DFG-geförderten Sonderforschungsbereichen und ist Co-Sprecher des Exzellenz-Clusters RESIST (resolving infection susceptibility) an der Medizinischen Hochschule Hannover.