Our Team

 / Staff

Daniela Wesch

wesch
+49 431 500 31056
+49 431 500 31004
Daniela.Wesch@uksh.de
Orcid logo
Daniela 
Wesch
, Prof. Dr. rer. nat.
Research Group Leader
Daniela was born in Mannheim, and studied biology in Kaiserslautern and Mainz. She performed her PhD at the Institute of Immunology & Serology, University of Heidelberg and the Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen. During her PhD thesis, she worked on the role of T cells in HIV infection, and discovered that γδ T cells require the help of CD4 T helper cells for their proliferation. Thereafter, she focused intensively on γδ T cells as a link between innate and adaptive immunity and their role in infection and tumor immunology during her postdoctoral work, which culminated in her habilitation at the Institute of Immunology at the Christian-Albrechts University of Kiel. As an Associate Professor and group leader “Cellular Tumor Immunology” at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH), Campus Kiel, she investigates on the characterization of cytotoxic and regulatory properties of T cells, the understanding of different tumor escape mechanisms influencing anti-tumor response of T cells and the optimization of T cell cytotoxicity by bispecific antibody constructs with a focus on γδ T cells. She has authored over 100 publications and her research group has cooperation with different universities, with pharmaceutical companies and biotechs. Her work together with PD Dr. Hans-Heinrich Oberg is fundamental to provide better insights into the role of tumor-infiltrating γδ T lymphocytes in immune response and will help to translate novel γδ T-cell-based immunotherapies into the clinical application.