Dr. Lea Krutzke

Dr. Lea Krutzke is a group leader in the Department of Gene Therapy (Head: Prof. Dr. Stefan Kochanek). Lea Krutzke received her PhD in 2016 by the International Graduate School in Molecular Medicine at the University of Ulm. Her research focuses on cancer immunotherapy using oncolytic viruses in general and oncolytic adenoviruses in particular.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and the therapeutic potential of standard-of-care treatments are often exhausted. Lately, drugs that are based on genes, tissues or cells, so called Advanced Therapy Medicinal Products (ATMPs), have been intensively investigated as alternative new treatment strategies. Cancer immunotherapy using oncolytic viruses is one of these promising approaches. It is based on viral infection of cancer cells and virus replication-induced cell lysis, followed by the spread of viral progeny and infection of neighboring cells. Further, the virus itself as well as the release of tumor-associated antigens due to lysis of tumor cells is aimed to induce a tumor-directed activation of the patient’s immune system. However to date the efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy is still limited due to poor tumor targeting by the viruses and insufficient activation of the immune system. Lea’s research group focuses on the improvement of both aspects by (i) genetic and chemical modification of the virus surface to realign its cell specificity and (ii) arming of the virus with immunostimulatory transgenes.

Furthermore, during the last three years Lea has been intensively involved in basic research about the SARS-CoV2 virus and the analysis and further development of Covid19 vaccines.