Super-resolution microscopy to visualize CAR-T cell receptome and function (A05)

• Subject Area: Biophysics ; Biochemistry ; Hematology, Oncology ; Immunology ; Cell Biology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 452881907

It is still not trivial to reliably detect the CAR receptor and especially to quantify the number of the receptors per cell. In this project we visualize how changes in design and way of gene transfer influence the ability of CAR-modified T cells to destroy target cells. We will apply single-molecule sensitive super-resolution microscopy methods including dSTORM to determine absolute antigen thresholds required to initiate different T cell effector functions, we will delineate how CAR-T cells can be adjusted to fit diverging medical needs and we will depict how introduction of a CAR or a TCR knockout influence the composition and interaction of the T cell receptome.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 338: LETSIMMUN - Lymphocyte Engineering for Therapeutic Synthetic Immunity
• Applicant Institution: Technische Universität München (TUM)
• Project Heads: Dr. Thomas Nerreter; Professor Dr. Markus Sauer