Toni Cathomen

Prof. Dr.
Alumni

Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy &
Center for Chronic Immunodeficiency
Medical Center – University of Freiburg

Hugstetter Straße 55
79106 Freiburg i. Brsg.

Current position

Professor and Director, Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy,
Medical Center – University of Freiburg

Academic training

1987 – 1992 Study of Biology (Diploma), University of Zurich, Switzerland

Scientific qualifications

1992 – 1997 PhD Thesis in Molecular Biology, University of Zurich, Switzerland (Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Martin A. Billeter)

Postgraduate Positions

since 2012 Director, Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy, Medical Center - University of Freiburg,
Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy, University of Freiburg
2009 – 2012 Associate Professor of Experimental Hematology,
Hannover Medical School
2003 – 2009 Assistant Professor of Molecular Virology, Charité Medical School, Berlin
2002 – 2003 Senior Research Associate, The Salk Institute, San Diego, USA
1998 – 2002 Postdoctorate, The Salk Institute, San Diego, USA
1997 – 1998 Postdoctorate, University of Zurich, Switzerland

Miscellaneous (Honors, Awards)

2021 - 2022 President of the German Society for Gene Therapy (DG-GT e.V.)
2015 Emil-von-Behring Award, German Society for Transfusion Medicine and Immunohematology
1999 - 2001 Fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation
1998 - 1999 Fellowship from the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences
1996 Junior Award, Union of the Swiss Societies for Experimental Biology

link to all publications from T. Cathomen: Pubmed

Publications based on CRC1160 funding

Kessler S, Burke B, Andrieux G, Schinköthe J, Hamberger L, Kacza J, Zhan S, Reasoner C, Dutt TS, Kaukab Osman M, Henao-Tamayo M, Staniek J, Villena Ossa JF, Frank DT, Ma W, Ulrich R, Cathomen T, Boerries M, Rizzi M, Beer M, Schwemmle M, Reuther P, Schountz T, Ciminski K. 2024. Deciphering bat influenza H18N11 infection dynamics in male Jamaican fruit bats on a single-cell level. Nat Commun. 2024 May 27;15(1):4500. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48934-6.

Klermund J, Rhiel M, Kocher T, Chmielewski KO, Bischof J, Andrieux G, El Gaz M, Hainzl S, Boerries M, Cornu TI, Koller U, Cathomen T. 2024. On- and off-target effects of paired CRISPR-Cas nickase in primary human cells. Mol Ther. S1525-0016(24)00147-3. doi: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.03.006.

Torella L, Klermund J, Bilbao-Arribas M, Tamayo I, Andrieux G, Chmielewski KO, Vales A, Olagüe C, Moreno-Luqui D, Raimondi I, Abad A, Torrens-Baile J, Salido E, Huarte M, Hernaez M, Boerries M, Cathomen T, Zabaleta N, Gonzalez-Aseguinolaza G. 2024. Efficient and safe therapeutic use of paired Cas9-nickases for primary hyperoxaluria type 1. EMBO Mol Med. 2024 Jan 5. doi: 10.1038/s44321-023-00008-8.

Dettmer-Monaco V, Weißert K, Ammann S, Monaco G, Lei L, Gräßel L, Rhiel M, Rositzka J, Kaufmann MM, Geiger K, Andrieux G, Lao J, Thoulass G, Schell C, Boerries M, Illert AL, Cornu TI, Ehl S, Aichele P, Cathomen T. 2024. Gene editing of hematopoietic stem cells restores T-cell response in familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. Jan;153(1):243-255.e14. doi: 10.1016/j.jaci.2023.08.003.

Baik R, Cromer MK, Glenn SE, Vakulskas CA, Chmielewski KO, Dudek AM, Feist WN, Klermund J, Shipp S, Cathomen T, Dever DP, Porteus MH. 2024. Transient inhibition of 53BP1 increases the frequency of targeted integration in human hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Nat Commun. 2024 Jan 2;15(1):111. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-43413-w.

Rhiel M, Geiger K, Andrieux G, Rositzka J, Boerries M, Cathomen T, Cornu TI. 2023. T-CAST: An optimized CAST-Seq pipeline for TALEN confirms superior safety and efficacy of obligate-heterodimeric scaffolds. Front Genome Ed. Feb 20;5:1130736. doi: 10.3389/fgeed.2023.1130736.

Weissert, K., S. Ammann, T. Kogl, V. Dettmer-Monaco, C.  Schell, T. Cathomen, S. Ehl, and P. Aichele. 2022. Adoptive T cell therapy cures mice from active hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). EMBO Mol Med: e16085. doi: 10.15252/emmm.202216085.

Konig, S., M. Fliegauf, M. Rhiel, B. Grimbacher, T. I. Cornu, T. Cathomen, and C. Mussolino. 2022. Allele-Specific Disruption of a Common STAT3 Autosomal Dominant Allele Is Not Sufficient to Restore Downstream Signaling in Patient-Derived T Cells. Genes (Basel) 13: pii: genes13101912. doi: 10.3390/genes13101912.

Bexte, T., J. Alzubi, L. M. Reindl, P. Wendel, R. Schubert, E. Salzmann-Manrique, I. von Metzler, T. Cathomen, and E. Ullrich. 2022. CRISPR-Cas9 based gene editing of the immune checkpoint NKG2A enhances NK cell mediated cytotoxicity against multiple myeloma. Oncoimmunology 11: 2081415. doi: 10.1080/2162402X.2022.2081415.

Aichele P, Neumann-Haefelin C, Ehl S, Thimme R, Cathomen T, Boerries M, Hofmann M. 2022. Immunopathology caused by impaired CD8+ T-cell responses. Eur J Immunol. Jan 31. doi: 10.1002/eji.202149528. Online ahead of print.

Turchiano G, Andrieux G, Klermund J, Blattner G, Pennucci V, El Gaz M, Monaco G, Poddar S, Mussolino C, Cornu TI, Boerries M, Cathomen T. 2021. Quantitative evaluation of chromosomal rearrangements in gene-edited human stem cells by CAST-Seq. Cell Stem Cell. 28(6):1136-1147.e5.

Dettmer, V., K. Bloom, M. Gross, K. Weissert, Aichele, S. Ehl, and T. Cathomen. 2019. Retroviral UNC13D gene transfer restores cytotoxic activity of T cells derived from familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis type 3 patients in vitro. Hum Gene Ther. 30(8): 975-984.

Simone A. Haas, Viviane Dettmer, Toni Cathomen, Hämostaseologie 2017;37: 45–52

Mussolino C, Alzubi J, Pennucci V, Turchiano G, Cathomen T. 2017. Genome and Epigenome Editing to Treat Disorders of the Hematopoietic System. Hum Gene Ther. 28(11):1105-1115.

Dettmer V, Cathomen T, and Hildenbeutel M. 2017. Genom-Editierung – neue Wege im klinischen Alltag (Review). BIOspektrum 23, 155-8.

Cornu TI, Mussolino C, Cathomen T. 2017. Refining strategies to translate genome editing to the clinic. Nat Med. 23(4):415-423. Review.

Mussolino C, Mlambo T, Cathomen T. 2015. Proven and novel strategies for efficient editing of the human genome. Curr Opin Pharmacol.  24:105-12.