LIT PhD Student Awarded Prestigious Scholarship

The scholarship has been granted for her outstanding research on “Dissecting enhancer regulation in CD8 T cells” and will support her studies for the next three years.

About the research project:

Despite more than fifty years of research into gene regulation, numerous aspects remain to be explored due to the complex nature of gene-regulatory networks. It has become more and more clear that various types of non-coding gene-regulatory elements (GREs) play a crucial role in fine-tuning gene expression. In recent years, many GRE-gene interactions have been predicted in silico, however, experimental validations are still largely missing.

Julia’s work focuses on identifying non-coding gene regulatory elements, specifically enhancers, in human CD8 T cells and decoding their impact on development, phenotype and function of different CD8 T cell subsets to understand gene regulation better. To pursue this goal, she is using novel techniques such as single-cell CRISPR activation and interference screens, as well as classical assays.”

About Julia Englbrecht:

Julia began her academic journey at the Technical University of Munich, where she studied biology. During her master’s program, she focused on genetics, medical biology, and neurobiology.

For her PhD, she joined Dr. Schmidl’s research group, which specializes in epigenetic immuno-oncology. In her project, Julia is working to introduce new and advanced CRISPR techniques in the lab. These techniques will help her in screening and manipulating non-coding gene regulatory elements associated with immune checkpoint genes. This research will have the potential to enhance immunotherapy by enabling precise control over gene expression.

The LIT congratulates Julia Englbrecht on this success!

Read more about the doctoral scholarships by the “Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes”:

https://www.studienstiftung.de/en/doctoral-scholarships/doctoral-scholarships