Tobias Lenz

Tobias Lenz is a Heisenberg-Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Hamburg, since 2021. He leads the Evolutionary Immunogenomics research unit at the Institute of Animal Cell and Systems Biology under the Faculty of Mathematics, Computer Science and Natural Sciences. Previously, he was a research group leader at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology (2014–2021), a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School (2011–2014), and a PhD student at the Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology (2005–2009).

Research Focus: Dr. Lenz’s work centers on evolutionary immunogenomics, particularly the evolution of optimal immune responses and dynamics in antigen presentation. His studies explore the evolutionary genomics of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and human population genetics. Key areas include HLA variation in diseases (e.g., HBV-related HCC, HIV-1, cancer immunotherapy), ancient DNA studies in medieval populations, and bioinformatics pipelines for MHC genotyping.

Publications: His 15 most recent articles span evolutionary genomics, HLA disease associations, ancient DNA, and bioinformatics methodologies. Notable trends include investigations into MHC allele expression, immune checkpoint-related autoimmunity, and local reference genome impacts on population genomics.

Labs & Collaborations: He heads the Evolutionary Immunogenomics unit, collaborating with institutions like Harvard Medical School, Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Biology, and Springer Nature. His team includes Sabine Baumann as a research assistant.