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Tim C. Luetkens, MD

Academic Title:

Assistant Professor

Primary Appointment:

Microbiology and Immunology

Additional Title:

Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology and Microbiology Director R&D, Fannie Angelos Cellular Therapeutics GMP Laboratory

Education and Training

2012-2013 University of Cambridge/UK, Postdoc
2008-2012 University of Hamburg, Germany, Postdoc
2009-2011 Centre for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg, Graduate Program Molecular Biology
2002-2008 University of Hamburg, Germany, M.D.

Research/Clinical Keywords

Cellular immunotherapies, protein engineering

Highlighted Publications

  1. Deep dissection of the antiviral immune profile of patients with COVID-19. Atanackovic D, Avila SV, Lutfi F, de Miguel-Perez D, Fan X, Sanchez-Petitto G, Vander Mause E, Siglin J, Baddley J, Mannuel HD, Alkhaldi H, Hankey KG, Lapidus R, Kleinberg M, Rabin J, Shanholtz C, Rolfo C, Rapoport AP, Dahiya S, Luetkens T. Commun Biol. 2021 Dec 16;4(1):1389.
  2. Successful transfer of anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunity using convalescent plasma in an MM patient with hypogammaglobulinemia and COVID-19. Luetkens T, Metcalf R, Planelles V, Zheng Y, Larragoite ET, Spivak ES, Spivak AM, Steinbach M, Blaylock RC, Avila SV, Hankey KG, Martins TB, Slev PR, Mannuel HD, Sajadi M, Rapoport AP, Atanackovic D. Blood Adv. 2020 Oct 13;4(19):4864-4868.
  3. Atanackovic D, Yousef S, Shorter C, Tantravahi SK, Steinbach M, Iglesias F, Sborov D, Radhakrishnan SV, Chiron M, Miles R, Salama M, Kröger N, Luetkens T. In Vivo Vaccination Effect in Multiple Myeloma Patients Treated with the Monoclonal Antibody Isatuximab. Leukemia. 2020 Jan;34(1):317-321.
  4. Radhakrishnan SV*, Luetkens T* (corresp. author), Scherer SD, Davis P, Vander Mause ER, Olson M, Yousef S, Panse J, Abdiche Y, David Li K, Miles RR, Matsui W, Welm AL, Atanackovic D. CD229 CAR T cells eliminate multiple myeloma and tumor propagating cells without fratricide. Nat Commun. 2020 Feb 7;11(1):798. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-14619-z.

Research Interests

Cellular immunotherapies have revolutionized the treatment of cancer and changed academic and industry research paradigms. Our goal is to solve some of the key problems faced by these new technologies, such as frequent immune escape and paucity of suitable target antigens.

We are using state-of-the-art protein and cell engineering approaches, such as CRISPR, label-free kinetics, antibody phage display, and CAR/TCR/synNotch T cell engineering.

Links of Interest