Andrea Schmidts

Andrea Schmidts is an Assistant Professor leading an Emmy Noether research group at TranslaTUM and the Department of Medicine III, Technical University of Munich School of Medicine. Her work focuses on overcoming cancer resistance to CAR-T cell therapy through CRISPR-based high-throughput screening and advanced gene editing techniques to engineer resilient CAR-T cells for clinical translation.

Dr. Schmidts completed medical training at Freiburg and Aberdeen Universities, followed by hematology/oncology specialization starting in 2013. Her 2017-2022 research at Harvard Medical School established foundational work in adoptive cell therapies. Her current research program bridges basic science and clinical application in cancer immunotherapy.

Her research interests center on CAR-T cell resistance mechanisms, with emphasis on dual-targeting strategies for antigen escape, cytokine signaling modulation (particularly IFNγ pathways), and novel engineering approaches including non-cleavable hinges and switchable CAR systems. Recent work integrates generative AI for de novo binder design and nucleocytosolic delivery systems for programmable editors.

Analysis of her 2020-2025 publications reveals dominant themes: overcoming antigen escape in multiple myeloma through TACI/BCMA dual-targeting, stromal penetration in solid tumors via mesothelin CAR-T cells secreting bispecific molecules, and toxicity management through IFNγ pathway modulation. Her work spans hematologic malignancies and solid tumors with strong clinical trial orientation.

Key awards include:

• Emmy Noether-Program, German Research Foundation (2022)
• John Hansen Research Grant, DKMS (2020)
• Research Fellowship, German Cancer Aid (2018)
• Scholar, German National Academic Foundation (2008)

As head of the CAR-T Cell Therapies group at TranslaTUM, she directs translational research from bench to bedside, utilizing TUM's Preclinical Imaging Core and collaborating with clinical oncology teams. Her work includes developing early-phase clinical trials for relapsed/refractory malignancies and engineering next-generation CAR-T platforms with improved safety profiles.