Arber lab

Our overall goal is to develop novel targeted immunotherapies for patients with hematologic malignancies. The group develops adoptive T cell therapies with native or engineered receptors and evaluates combinatorial strategies. The objective is to efficiently target tumor cells, mitigate immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment factors, favor tumor-targeted migration and longevity of transferred T cells, control potential toxicities, identify novel personalized targets, and move developments to the clinic. ...

Research projects

To redirect human T specificity to target hematologic malignancies by genetic engineering (chimeric antigen receptors, transgenic T cell receptors, others)

To develop combinatorial approaches to engineered T cell therapy targeting both the tumor cells and their microenvironment (e.g. engineer tumor-directed migration, resistance to immune inhibitory signals)

To engineer signaling switches in T cells that revert tumor-associated immune inhibitory signals.

To assess tumor microenvironment modulation upon adoptive transfer of engineered T cells, including omics and spatial technologies

To evaluate 3D culture systems to better model the tumor microenvironment in vitro and use them to evaluate transgenic T cell function

To identify immunogenic tumor neo-antigens in patients with hematologic malignancies and to isolate their neo-antigen specific TCRs for personalized medicine applications.

We apply principles from immunology, hematology, cancer and systems biology, use gene transfer and editing technologies to engineer T cells, and collaborate with experts in protein engineering, gene editing, proteomics/ peptidomics, immunomonitoring, bioinformatics, bioengineering, clinical hematology and immuno-oncology.

Team

Other members

Selected Publications

Development of the fluorescent probe CenSpark for labeling centrioles and cilia.

Pourroy C, Hatzopoulos GN, Reymond L, (...), Grigoriev I, Akhmanova A, Gönczy P

Nature chemical biology – 2026 Apr 15

Unveiling the molecular architecture of T cells and immune synapses with cryo-expansion microscopy.

Lemaître F, Mercey O, Mean I, (...), Guichard P, Hamel V, Wolf B

Cell reports – 2026 Apr 1

CAR-modified marrow infiltrating lymphocytes efficiently target malignant plasma cells with very low antigen density.

Camviel N, Gambarotto D, Andre V, (...), Gottardo R, Manley S, Arber C

Molecular therapy – 2026 Feb 6

Computational design of synthetic receptors with programmable signalling activity for enhanced cancer T cell therapy.

Rath JA, Rudden LSP, Nouraee N, (...), Chatzi Souleiman A, Barth P, Arber C

Nature biomedical engineering – 2025 Oct 28

Enrichment of CD7(+)CXCR3(+) CAR T-cells in infusion products is associated with durable remission in relapsed or refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Bartolini R, Trueb L, Daoudlarian D, (...), Pantaleo G, Arber C, Obeid M

Annals of oncology : official journal of the European Society for Medical Oncology – 2025 Mar 23

Novel strategies to manage CAR-T cell toxicity.

Mulvey A, Trueb L, Coukos G, Arber C

Nature reviews. Drug discovery – 2025 Feb 3

Antibody-peptide conjugates deliver covalent inhibitors blocking oncogenic cathepsins.

Petruzzella A, Bruand M, Santamaria-Martínez A, (...), Arber C, Correia BE, Oricchio E

Nature chemical biology – 2024 May 29

Hematopoietic cell transplantation and cellular therapies in Switzerland. Evolution over 25 years. A report from the stem cell transplantation and cellular therapies working groups of the SBST 1997-2021.

Passweg JR, Baldomero H, Ansari M, (...), Wannesson L, Halter JP, Swiss Blood Stem Cell Transplantation Group (SBST)

Hematological oncology – 2023 Dec 6

Reductive carboxylation epigenetically instructs T cell differentiation.

Jaccard A, Wyss T, Maldonado-Pérez N, (...), Romero P, Ho PC, Wenes M

Nature – 2023 Sep 20

Computational design of dynamic receptor-peptide signaling complexes applied to chemotaxis.

Jefferson RE, Oggier A, Füglistaler A, (...), Villarreal AR, Arber C, Barth P

Nature communications – 2023 May 19

Related news

Events

🌱 Third AGORA Sustainability Day | May 21st

Events

Symposium on Translational Cancer Research | March 9th

Events

International Day of Women and Girls in Science | February 11th

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🌱 Second AGORA Sustainability Day | May 21st

Events

AGORA PRS Seminar | April 29th

Events

LabLinks: Tumor immunology and immunotherapy | November 11&12th

Events

13th Faculty & Staff Annual Retreat, Swiss Cancer Center Leman | September 26 & 27

Events

Ludwig Distinguished Lecture, Prof. Michael Dustin | December 16th

Events

AGORA Progress Report Series, June 7th