T cell responses are enormously diverse. Even among T cells responding to the same antigen, T cells have a range of different specialized roles in the response. This relates to differences in e.g. their cytokine production, longevity, migratory behavior, and capacity to kill, proliferate and self-renew.

Understanding how and when T cells diversify to adopt these different roles paves the way for influencing T cell fates in the context of immunotherapy.

Our lab combines advanced flow cytometry, single-cell omics, functional assays, in vitro work, in vivo studies in mice and analyses on human samples to study the diversification of T cells. Our work at the LIT focuses on T cell immunotherapy of cancer and inflammatory diseases. We aim 1) to device simple and cost-effective strategies to obtain high-granular information on a T cell’s functional state to further develop human immunomonitoring and 2) to advance our understanding of T cell diversification and effector mechanisms to engineer T cells with optimal properties.

Different models of T cell diversification

A complete list of publications can be found on PubMed:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=carmen+gerlach&sort=date

Here is a selection of the most important publications from the last few years:

Masopust D, Awasthi A, Bosselut R, Brooks DG, Buggert M, Chamoto K, Cui W, Dong C, Farber DL, Gebhardt T, Gerlach C, Goldrath A, Greenberg PD, Hale JS, Hayday A, Homann D, Iannacone M, Jameson SC, Jenkins MK, Joshi NS, Kaech SM, Kallies A, Kamphorst AO, Kaplan MH, Klenerman P, Künzli M, Lanzavecchia A, Lauer GM, Lugli E, Luster AD, Mackay LK, McElrath MJ, Mueller SN, Ndhlovu Z, Ndung’u T, Ohashi PS, Oxenius A, Pantaleo G, Pepper M, Picker LJ, Quarnstrom CF, Reyes-Terán G, Roederer M, Rosato PC, de Oca GS, Sallusto F, Schumacher TN, Schwartz DM, Shin EC, Soerens AG, Thommen DS, Vezys V, Viola JPB, Walker BD, Watts TH, Weaver CT, Wherry EJ, Xue HH, Youngblood B, Ahmed R. Guidelines for T cell nomenclature. Nat Rev Immunol. 2025 Nov 18. PMID: 41254224

Comet NR, Gerlach C. The T cell subsetting challenge. Trends Immunol. 2025 Jul;46(7):505-507. PMID: 40527649

Pokharel J*, Shryki I*, Zwijnenburg AJ, Sandu I, Krumm L, Bekiari C, Avramov V, Heinbäck R, Lysell J, Eidsmo L, Harris H, Gerlach C. The cellular microenvironment regulates CX3CR1 expression on CD8⁺ T cells and the maintenance of CX3CR1⁺ CD8⁺ T cells. Eur J Immunol. 2024 Jan; 54(1):e2350658. Epub 2023 Oct 19. PMID: 37816219

Zwijnenburg AJ, Pokharel J, Varnaitė R, Zheng W, Hoffer E, Shryki I, Comet NR, Ehrström M, Gredmark-Russ S, Eidsmo L, Gerlach C. Graded expression of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 marks differentiation states of human and murine T cells and enables cross-species interpretation. Immunity. 2023 Aug 8;56(8):1955-1974.e10. PMID: 37490909

Pokharel J, Gerlach C. Linking asymmetric cell division, CD8⁺ T cell fate, and signal strength. Cell Rep. 2023 May 12;42(5):112548. PMID: 37178121

Van Gisbergen KPJM, Gerlach C. No-shows in T cell responses are frequent for clones of low T cell receptor affinity. Eur J Immunol. 2023 Jan 21:e2250305. PMID: 36680414

Al-Khabouri S, Gerlach C. T cell fate-mapping and lineage-tracing technologies probing clonal aspects underlying the generation of CD8 T cell subsets. Scand J Immunol. 2020 Dec;92(6):e12983. PMID: 33037653

Zwijnenburg AJ, Gerlach C. Exploiting allelic variation in CD8+ T cells. Immunity. 2019 May 21;50(5):1119-1121. PMID: 31117005

Eidsmo L, Gerlach C. Heavy water shedding light on antigen-specific T cell responses. Trends Immunol. 2018 Mar;39(3):170-172. PMID: 29396015

Gerlach C*, Moseman EA*, Loughhead SM*, Alvarez D, Zwijnenburg AJ, Waanders L, Garg R, de la Torre, JC, von Andrian UH. The chemokine receptor CX3CR1 defines three antigen-experienced CD8 T cell subsets with distinct roles in immune surveillance and homeostasis. Immunity. 2016 Dec 20;45(6):1270-1284. PMID: 27939671

Rohr JC, Gerlach C, Kok L, Schumacher TN. Single cell behavior in T cell differentiation. Trends Immunol. 2014 Apr;35(4):170-7. PMID: 24657362

Gerlach C*, Rohr JC*, Perié L, van Rooij N, van Heijst JW, Velds A, Urbanus J, Naik SH, Jacobs H, Beltman JB, de Boer RJ, Schumacher TN. Heterogeneous differentiation patterns of individual CD8⁺ T cells. Science. 2013 May 3;340(6132):635-9. PMID: 23493421

Gerlach C, van Heijst JW, Schumacher TN. The descent of memory T cells. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2011 Jan; 1217:139-53. PMID: 21251009

Gerlach C, van Heijst JW, Swart E, Sie D, Armstrong N, Kerkhoven RM, Zehn D, Bevan MJ, Schepers K, Schumacher TN. One naïve T cell, multiple fates in CD8⁺ T cell differentiation. J Exp Med. 2010 Jun 7;207(6):1235-46. PMID: 20479114

van Heijst JW, Gerlach C, Swart E, Sie D, Nunes-Alves C, Kerkhoven RM, Arens R, Correia-Neves M, Schepers K, Schumacher TN. Recruitment of antigen-specific CD8⁺ T cells in response to infection is markedly efficient. Science. 2009 Sep 4;325(5945):1265-9. PMID: 19729659

Here are some of our current and recent collaboration partners:

Group of Sara Gredmark Russ (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/viruses-and-their-interactions-with-the-immune-system-sara-gredmark-russ-group

Group of Liv Eidsmo (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

https://ki.se/en/people/liv-eidsmo

Group of Nir Yosef (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel)

https://www.weizmann.ac.il/immunology/yosef/

Group of Aaron Streets (UC Berkeley, USA) https://vcresearch.berkeley.edu/faculty/aaron-streets

Group of Randall Johnson (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

https://ki.se/en/research/research-areas-centres-and-networks/research-groups/effects-of-hypoxia-in-physiological-and-pathological-contexts-hypoxia-inducible-factors-hif-randall-johnsons-group#tab-start

Group of Soren Degn (Aarhus University, Denmark)

https://degnlab.au.dk/

Group of Karin Larsson (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden)

https://ki.se/en/people/karin-larsson

Group of Ulrich von Andrian (Harverd Medical School, USA)

https://vonandrian.hms.harvard.edu/people/ulrich-von-andrian

Center for Cellular Cancer Therapy (C3T).

Consortium focused on education, networking and recruitment of postdocs and junior PIs to expand competence and create a multidisciplinary environment for innovative adoptive cell therapies. Funded by a Swedish Research Council initiative for Centers of Excellence.

Prof. Carmen Gerlach

Head of Research Group | Tailored T-cell diversity

Email: carmen.gerlach@lit.eu

Research Team

Prof. Carmen Gerlach

Head of Research Division | Tailored T-Cell Diversity

Dr. Agata Rakszewska

Postdoctoral Scientist