Maria Brauer

Maria Brauer is a Postdoctoral Scientist and Scientific Project Manager at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, with a focus on immunotherapy and immunoprevention. She also leads a project at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) since October 2023. Her work bridges computational biology and experimental immunology to advance cancer vaccines.

• Education: MSc in Regenerative Biology and Medicine (2015), BSc in Molecular Biotechnology (2013), both from Dresden University of Technology.

Her research interests revolve around identifying HPV-derived T cell epitopes for therapeutic vaccines and studying how the acidic tumor microenvironment influences MHC-epitope interactions. She combines in silico predictions with mass spectrometry and functional T cell assays.

Key publication trends include computational tools for MHC binding prediction (e.g., MHCflurry), characterization of tumor neoantigens, and mechanistic studies of immune evasion mechanisms like pH-dependent epitope instability.

• Scientific Award: Stipend for Women after Maternity Leave or Child Care Times, DZIF (2023).