Matthias Eberl MSc, PhD

Professor Matthias Eberl has always been interested in the molecular and cellular basis of host-pathogen relationships and the underlying modulation of complex immune responses. During Matthias Ph.D., Eberl established a screening method to identify CD4+ T cell antigens from cDNA libraries of the helminth parasite Schistosoma mansoni. Eberl then extended these studies during a two-year postdoc and investigated the cellular and humoral immune response to schistosomes upon infection and vaccination.

Matthias' research since 2000 has concentrated on defining the role of human gamma/delta T cells in bridging innate and adaptive immune responses. gamma/delta T cells are the prototype of 'unconventional' lymphocytes in that they are not restricted by classical MHC and display characteristics of 'conventional' T cells, NK cells, and myeloid cells. Normally only constituting a minor population in human blood, they occupy a unique niche in microbial recognition and contribute to tumor surveillance.

More recently we have started to characterize early immune responses in acutely infected patients and define pathogen-specific signatures of cellular and soluble biomarkers ('immune fingerprints'). Matthias research is placed at the interface of basic, translational, and clinical research and benefits greatly from interdisciplinary collaborations with immunologists, microbiologists, biochemists, epidemiologists, and clinicians. Besides implications for the diagnosis and treatment of microbial infections, this work has direct consequences for vaccine design and cancer immunotherapy.