Welcome on board, Prof. Dr. Lisa Sevenich!

We warmly welcome Prof. Dr. Lisa Sevenich to her new W2 professorship for Experimental Neuroonco-Immunology and are more than happy that she will join our Cluster of Excellence!

Sevenich (born in 1980) completed her biology studies with a focus on molecular immunology, cell biology, molecular biology and genetics at the University of Freiburg. After completing her PhD at the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Biology in Freiburg, Lisa Sevenich spent her postdoctoral period from 2010-2015 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, USA. During this time, she developed a particular interest in the role of the tumor microenvironment in metastasis. This work was supported by a DFG research grant and a grant from the Center for Metastasis Research. In 2015, she received funding from the prestigious Max Eder Junior Research Group Leader Program of the German Cancer Aid and has since headed a research group at the Georg-Speyer-Haus, Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy in Frankfurt am Main. Her scientific focus is on the mechanistic investigation of interactions between tumor cells and the brain's own and systemic immune cells in brain metastasis.

In 2019, her work on T-cell biology in brain metastases was awarded the Beug Prize for Metastasis Research. From 2022-2023, she was scientific spokesperson of the Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI) cross-sectional programme "Metastasis: Mechanisms of the metastatic cascade and development of individualized therapeutic approaches". Sevenich places a particular focus on the elucidation of resistance mechanisms to standard and immunotherapy in cerebral tumors. To this end, she uses a broad spectrum of preclinical models and patient samples to understand complex cellular interactions that prevent an anti-tumor immune response by means of high-resolution imaging and multi-omics analyses. Her goal of developing immunotherapeutic approaches that specifically overcome barriers to therapeutic efficacy in the long term ties directly into the iFIT Cluster of Excellence's mission to identify targets and develop novel treatment strategies through functional and multiparametric studies.    

In addition to her scientific work, Lisa  is a passionate amateur sportswoman and enjoys exploring her surroundings on gravel and racing bikes or on long hikes.

We look forward to working with you in the future, Lisa, and are very excited about the results of your upcoming research!