Prof. Dr. André Martins
We warmly welcome Professor Dr. André Martins to the W3 professorship in Advanced Preclinical Metabolic Imaging and cell Engineering, who started his new position at the Faculty of Medicine on January 24, 2022.
Martins (b. 1984) graduated with a Master of Science degree in Biochemistry from the University of Coimbra (Portugal) in 2008. In 2013, he obtained a double PhD in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Coimbra and the University of Orléans. From November 2013, Martins spent a postdoctoral period at the University of Texas at Dallas (USA) and UT Southwestern Medical Center. In 2019, his path led him to the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tübingen, Germany, as a research group leader. In Tübingen, he led the research group "Hyperpolarized Metabolism and Multi-Imaging Sciences" at the Werner Siemens Imaging Center, which transitioned into an independent Sofja Kovalevskaja research group at the faculty in 2020 (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation). With his appointment, the research group changed its name to "Advanced Preclinical Metabolic Imaging and Cell Engineering".
The W3 professorship, which is partially funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, focuses on the development of non-invasive metabolic sensors and technologies for clinical diagnostics and therapy. The goal of Martins and his team is to functionally enable non-invasive monitoring, prediction, selection, and image-guided tumor metabolic therapies. The research will support image-guided responses to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapies, cellular immunotherapies (e.g., CAR T cells or adoptive T cell transfer), and combinatorial therapies.
Martins' research focuses on understanding relevant human pathology and physiology paradigms through precise non-invasive biomedical imaging. He and his team use highly translational molecular and metabolic imaging techniques to determine the role of metabolism in various diseases in vivo. This research occurs at the interface between various scientific fields of oncology, biomedical imaging, and basic sciences (biophysics, biochemistry, chemistry). His team is also involved in developing the next generation of non-invasive hybrid metabolic sensors for biomedical imaging. Martin's research has received several awards, most recently the coveted 2020 Sofja Kovalevskaja Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
In addition, Martins is part of the iFIT cluster of excellence. He is currently involved in setting up a biochemical/biomedical laboratory in the iFIT facilities to develop the next generation of hybrid probes for metabolic imaging, genetically engineered smart cells and metabolic modulators.
Away from his daily research routine, he prefers to spend his time traveling with his family, preferably on two wheels. He also enjoys reading a good book on quiet evenings, listening to music, and attending music festivals in the summer (as long as there is no pandemic). Sometimes you can also see him jogging along the Neckar River or working out with friends at UKFit.