Our researchers - Professor Hans J Stauss

Hans is the Director of the UCL Institute of Immunity & Transplantation. The main focus of his research is the analysis of antigen-specific T lymphocyte responses and the development of immunotherapy for the treatment of cancer, chronic infection and autoimmune conditions. In order to generate therapeutic T cells of desired specificity, his group has been amongst the pioneering labs developing TCR gene therapy using conventional and regulatory T cells. Hans' group has developed strategies to improve the expression and function of therapeutic TCR, and used animal models to test the efficacy in vivo. His current interest remains the molecular and cellular analysis of engineered T cells and the development of novel T cell therapies for the treatment of cancer. 

Hans is also interested in using genetic engineering to regulate the metabolic activity of gene modified T cells, with the goal to enhance effector T cell differentiation and memory formation in vivo. His group uses the CRISPR technology to perform targeted gene editing to disrupt genes that might impair the function of therapeutic T cells. His particular interest is the development TCR and CAR gene transfer into regulatory T cells to achieve antigen-specific immune suppression for the treatment of transplant rejection and autoimmune conditions.