Prof. Dr. Christian Buchholz

Position & Role in STACCATO

Head of Molecular Biotechnology and Gene Therapy at PEI in Langen, Germany. Main supervisor of ESR9, ESR10, Co-supervisor of ESR6. Leader of WP3.

Background

Christian Buchholz studied microbiology in Munich and started his scientific career at the Max-Planck-Institut for Biochemistry where he obtained his PhD in the Department for Virology in 1993. He performed postdoctoral studies at the Institute for Molecular Biology of the University of Zurich and the Centre for Protein Engineering at the MRC in Cambridge, UK. Since 1999 he heads the Section of Molecular Biotechnology and Gene Therapy at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut and became Associate Professor for Biochemistry at the Goethe-University in Frankfurt in 2007.

His research interests focus on the engineering of the surface of viral vectors to understand the molecular events during viral cell entry and to improve their applicability in modern molecular medicine. Recently, his team succeeded in engineering receptor-targeted lentiviral and AAV vectors. These vectors are modified in their receptor usage being unable to employ their natural receptor but instead use a cell surface molecule of interest for cell entry. They offer great potential for applications in drug delivery, especially cancer immunotherapy.

Key Publications

Pfeiffer A, Thalheimer FB, Hartmann S, Frank AM, Bender RR, Danisch S, Costa C, Wels WS, Modlich U, Stripecke R, Verhoeyen E, Buchholz CJ. 2018. In vivo generation of human CD19-CAR T cells results in B cell depletion and signs of cytokine release syndrome. EMBO Mol Med 10, e9158.

Hartmann J, Schüßler-Lenz M, Bondanza A, Buchholz CJ. 2017. Clinical development of CAR T cells – challenges and opportunities in translating innovative treatment concepts. EMBO Mol Med 9, 1183–1197.

Bender RR, Muth A, Schneider IC, Friedel T, Hartmann J, Plückthun A, Maisner A, Buchholz CJ. 2016. Receptor-Targeted Nipah Virus Glycoproteins Improve Cell-Type Selective Gene Delivery and Reveal a Preference for Membrane-Proximal Cell Attachment. PLoS Pathog. 12, e1005641.

Buchholz CJ, Friedel T, Büning H. 2015. Surface-Engineered Viral Vectors for Selective and Cell Type-Specific Gene Delivery. Trends. Biotechnol. 33, 777–790.

Münch RC, Muth A, Muik A, Friedel T, Schmatz J, Dreier B, Trkola A, Plückthun A, Büning H, Buchholz CJ. 2015. Off-target-free gene delivery by affinity-purified receptor-targeted viral vectors. Nat Commun. 6:6246.

Zhou Q, Schneider IC, Edes I, Honegger A, Bach P, Schönfeld K, Schambach A, Wels WS, Kneissl S, Uckert W, Buchholz CJ. 2012. T-cell receptor gene transfer exclusively to human CD8(+) cells enhances tumor cell killing. Blood 120, 4334–4342.

Anliker B, Abel T, Kneissl S, Hlavaty J, Caputi A, Brynza J, Schneider IC, Münch RC, Petznek H, Kontermann RE, Koehl U, Johnston IC, Keinänen K, Müller UC, Hohenadl C, Monyer H, Cichutek K, Buchholz CJ. 2010. Specific gene transfer to neurons, endothelial cells and hematopoietic progenitors with lentiviral vectors. Nat. Methods 7, 929–935.