Prof. Dr. med. Robert Zeiser
Stv. Ärztlicher Direktor | Klinik für Innere Medizin ICurriculum Vitae
Personal Data
| Title | Prof. Dr. med. |
| First name | Robert |
| Name | Zeiser |
| Current position | Full Professor (W3) |
| Current institution(s)/site(s), country | Department of Hematology and Oncology, Medical Center – University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany |
| Identifiers/ORCID | ORCID-ID: 0000-0001-6565-3393 |
Qualifications and Career
| Stages | Periods and Details |
|---|---|
| Degree programme | 1995-2001, Medical Study at University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany |
| Doctorate | 2001, Prof. Dr. Schaefer, Dissertation in Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany |
Stages of academic/professional career
| 2023: Deputy Director of the Dept. Internal Medicine I Director of the Division of Stem Cell Transplantation 2019: Director of the Division of Tumor Immunology 2016: W3 Full Professorship 2013: Heisenberg Professorship 2010: Consultant physician, Dept. of Hematology and Oncology, Freiburg 2007-2010: Assistant Physician, Dept. of Hematology and Oncology, Freiburg 2005-2007: Postdoctorate, Stanford University School of Medicine (Lab of Dr Negrin), BMT Department, USA 2001-2004: Internship in Internal Medicine, Dept. of Hematology and Oncology, Freiburg |
Activities in the Research System
Committees and faculty responsibilities:
2021 - ongoing SFB 1479 “OncoEscape”: Speaker
2019 - ongoing SFB/TRR 167: PI, Member in the SFB Board
2018 - ongoing SFB 1160: PI, Member in the SFB Board
2023 - ongoing German Cancer Aid: Grants committee (Fachausschuss Nachwuchsförd.)
2024 - ongoing José Carreras Leukämie-Stiftung: Grants committee
2014 - 2023 SFB 850: PI and Vice-Speaker
2009 - 2013 SFB 620: PI
Editorial Boards:
Since 2016 Associate Editor of the Journal Blood; American Society of Hematology
Reviewer activities:
Cell, Science, Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Immunology, New England Journal of Medicine, Lancet Haematology, Blood, J Exp. Med., JCI
Mentoring: Mentor at six mentoring programs (SGBM, SUCCESS, IMBS, IRTG, B. Ottenstein Program, IMMediate Advanced Clinician Scientist (ACS) - Program), Several former AG Zeiser students have leadership positions in academia including two full professorships.
Organisation of scientific meetings: Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology
educational session in 2018-2023, For 2024: Educational session on Immunology and Host
defence. European Hematology association (EHA), educational sessions on stem cell
transplantation 2022, 2023 and 2024.
Scientific Results
Category A
Braun LM, Giesler S, Andrieux G, Riemer R, Talvard-Balland N, Duquesne S, Rückert T, Unger S, Kreutmair S, Zwick M, Follo M, Hartmann A, Osswald N, Melchinger W, Chapman S, Hutchinson J, Haferkamp S, Torster L, Kött J, Gebhardt C, Hellwig D, Karantzelis N, Wallrabenstein T, Lowinus T, Yücel M, Brehm N, Rawluk J, Pfeifer D, Bronsert P, Rogg M, Mattern S, Heikenwälder M, Stefano S, Malek N, Singer S, Schmitt-Graeff A, Ceteci F, Greten F, Blazar BR, Boerries M, Köhler N, Duyster J, Ihorst G, Lassmann S, Keye P, Minguet S, Schadendorf D, Ugurel S, Rafei-Shamsabadi D, Thimme R, Hasselblatt P, Bengsch B, Schell C, Pearce EL, Meiss F, Becher B, Funke-Lorenz C, Placke JM*, Apostolova P*, Zeiser R*. (2025) Adiponectin reduces immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced inflammation without blocking anti-tumor immunity. Cancer Cell 43, 1-23, 2025 doi.org/10.1016/j.ccell.2025.01.004
Vinnakota JM, Adams RC, Athanassopoulos D, Schmidt D, Biavasco F, Zähringer A, Erny D, Schwabenland M, Langenbach M, Wenger V, Salié H, Cook J, Mossad O, Andrieux G, Dersch R, Rauer S, Duquesne S, Monaco G, Wolf P, Blank T, Häne P, Greter M, Becher B, Henneke P, Pfeifer D, Blazar BR, Duyster J, Boerries M, Köhler N, Chhatbar CM, Bengsch B, Prinz M, Zeiser R. (2024) Anti-PD-1 cancer immunotherapy induces central nervous system immune-related adverse events by microglia activation. Science Translational Medicine 16(751): eadj9672. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adj9672.
Vinnakota JM, Biavasco F, Schwabenland M, Chhatbar C, Adams RC, Erny D, Duquesne S, El Khawanky N, Schmidt D, Fetsch V, Zähringer A, Salié H, Athanassopoulos D, Braun LM, Javorniczky NR, Ho JNHG, Kierdorf K, Marks R, Wäsch R, Simonetta F, Andrieux G, Pfeifer D, Monaco G, Capitini C, Fry TJ, Blank T, Blazar BR, Wagner E, Theobald M, Sommer C, Stelljes M, Reicherts C, Jeibmann A, Schittenhelm J, Monoranu CM, Rosenwald A, Kortüm M, Rasche L, Einsele H, Meyer PT, Brumberg J, Völkl S, Mackensen A, Coras R, von Bergwelt-Baildon M, Albert NL, Bartos LM, Brendel M, Holzgreve A, Mack M, Boerries M, Mackall CL, Duyster J, Henneke P, Priller J, Köhler N, Strübing F, Bengsch B, Ruella M, Subklewe M, von Baumgarten L, Gill S, Prinz M, Zeiser R. (2024) Targeting TGFβ-activated kinase-1 activation in microglia reduces CAR T immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome. Nature Cancer 5:1227-1249, doi: 10.1038/s43018-024-00764-7.
Ho JNHG, Schmidt D, Lowinus T, Ryoo J, Dopfer EP, Gonzalo Núñez N, Costa-Pereira S, Toffalori C, Punta M, Fetsch V, Wertheimer T, Rittmann MC, Braun LM, Follo M, Briere C, Vinnakota JM, Langenbach M, Koppers F, Shoumariyeh K, Engel H, Rückert T, Märklin M, Holzmayer S, Illert AL, Magon F, Andrieux G, Duquesne S, Pfeifer D, Staniek J, Rizzi M, Miething C, Köhler N, Duyster J, Menssen HD, Boerries M, Buescher JM, Cabezas-Wallscheid N, Blazar BR, Apostolova P, Vago L, Pearce EL, Becher B, Zeiser R. (2022) Targeting MDM2 enhances antileukemia immunity after allogeneic transplantation via MHC-II and TRAIL-R1/2 upregulation. Blood. 140(10):1167-1181. doi: 10.1182/blood.2022016082
Zeiser, R., Polverelli N, Ram R, Hashmi SK, Chakraverty R, Middeke JM, Musso M, Giebel S, Uzay A, Langmuir P, Hollaender N, Gowda M, Stefanelli T, Lee SJ, Teshima T, Locatelli F; REACH3 Investigators. (2021) Ruxolitinib for Glucocorticoid-Refractory Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease. New England Journal of Medicine 385(3), 228-238; doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2033122
Zeiser, R., von Bubnoff N, Butler J, Mohty M, Niederwieser D, Or R, Szer J, Wagner EM, Zuckerman T, Mahuzier B, Xu J, Wilke C, Gandhi KK, Socié G, for the REACH2 Trial Group. (2020) Ruxolitinib for Glucocorticoid-Refractory Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease. New England Journal of Medicine 382(19), 1800-1810; doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1917635
Uhl F, Chen S, O`Sullivan D, Edwards-Hicks J, Richter G, Haring E, Andrieux G, Halbach S, Apostolova P, Büscher J, Duquesne S, Melchinger W, Sauer B, Shoumariyeh K, Schmitt-Gräff A, Kreutz M, Lübbert M, Duyster J, Brummer T, Boerries M, Madl T, Blazar BR, Groß O, Pearce EL, Zeiser R (2020). Metabolic reprogramming of donor T cells enhances graft-versus-leukemia effects in mice and humans. Science Translational Medicine 12(567); doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.abb8969
Mathew NR, Baumgartner F, Braun L, David O´Sullivan, Thomas S, Waterhouse M, Müller TA, Hanke K, Taromi S, Apostolova P, Illert AL, Melchinger W, Duquesne S, Schmitt-Graeff A, Osswald L, Yan K-L., Weber A, Tugues S, Spath S, Pfeifer D, Follo M, Claus R, Lübbert M, Rummelt C, Bertz H, Wäsch R, Haag J, Schmidts A, Schultheiss M, Bettinger M, Thimme R, Ullrich E, Tanriver Y, Vuong GL, Arnold R, Hemmati P, Wolf D, Ditschkowski M, Jilg C, Wilhelm K, Leiber C, Gerull S, Halter J, Lengerke C, Pabst T, Schroeder T, Kobbe G, Rösler W, Doostkam S, Meckel S, Stabla K, Metzelder SK, Halbach S, Brummer T, Hu Z, Dengjel J, Hackanson B, Schmid C, Holtick U, Scheid C, Spyridonidis A, Stölzel F, Ordemann F, Müller LP, Sicre-de-Fontbrune F, Ihorst G, Kuball J, Ehlert JE, Feger D, Wagner EV, Cahn JY, Schnell J, Kuchenbauer F, Bunjes D, Chakraverty R, Richardson S, Gill S, Kröger N, Ayuk F, Vago L, Ciceri F, Müller AM, Kondo T, Teshima T, Klaeger S, Kuster B, Kim D, Weisdorf D, van der Velden W, Dörfel D, Bethge W, Hilgendorf I, Hochhaus A, Andrieux G, Börries M, Busch H, Magenau J, Reddy P, Labopin M, H. Antin J, Henden AS, Hill GR, Kennedy GA, Bar M, Sarma A, McLornan D, Mufti G, Oran B, Rezvani K, Sha O, Negrin RS, Nagler A, Prinz M, Burchert A, Neubauer A, Beelen D, Mackensen A, von Bubnoff N, Herr W, Becher B, Socié G, Caligiuri MA, Ruggiero E, Bonini C, Häcker G, Duyster J, Finke J, Pearce E, Blazar BR, Zeiser, R. (2018) Sorafenib promotes graft-versus-leukemia activity in mice and humans through IL-15 production in FLT3-ITD-mutant leukemia cells. Nature Medicine 24(3), 282-291; doi:10.1038/nm.4484
Schwab L.*, Goroncy L*, Palaniyandi S*, Gautam S, Triantafyllopoulou A, Mocsai A, Reichardt W, Karlsson FJ, Radhakrishnan SV, Hanke K, Schmitt-Gräff A, Freudenberg M, von Loewenich FD, Wolf P, Leonhardt F, Baxan N, Pfeifer D, Schmah O, Schönle A, Martin SF, Mertelsmann R, Duyster J, JFinke J, Prinz M, Henneke P, Häcker H, Hildebrandt GC*, Häcker G*, Zeiser, R.* (2014) Neutrophil granulocytes recruited upon translocation of intestinal bacteria enhance graft-versus-host disease via tissue damage. Nature Medicine 20(6), 648-654; doi:10.1038/nm.3517 *equal contribution
Wilhelm K, Ganesan J, Müller T, Dürr C, Grimm M, Beilhack A, Krempl CD, Sorichter S, Gerlach UV, Jüttner E, Zerweck A, Gärtner F, Pellegatti P, Di Virgilio F, Ferrari D, Kambham N, Fisch P, Finke J, *Idzko M, Zeiser, R.* (2010) Graft-versus-host disease is enhanced by extracellular ATP activating P2X7R. Nature Medicine 16(12), 1434-1438; doi:10.1038/nm.2242 *equal contribution
Academic Distinctions - Awards and prizes:
2025 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz-Preis 2025 (DFG)
2025 Donnall Thomas Lecture Award (ASTCT)
2024 Mechthild Harf Science Award (DKMS/EBMT)
2023 ERC Advanced grant (EU)
2023 Member of the grants committee of the German Cancer Aid (DKH)
2022 DGIM Disease prevention Award (DGIM)
2021 CIBSS Award (Cluster of Excellence CIBSS)
2021 Deutscher Krebspreis (German Cancer Award, DKG)
2020 Preis der Berlin-Brandenburgischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (BBAW)
2019 Paul Martini Award (Paul Martini Foundation)
2017 Richtzenhain Cancer Research Award (DKFZ)
2016 ERC Consolidator grant (EU)
2015 Jon van Rood Award (European Soc. for Blood & Marrow Transplantation)
2014 Artur Pappenheim Award (Dt. Gesellschaft für Hämatologie/Onkologie)
2013 Heisenberg Professorship (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft)
2011 Theodor Frerichs Award (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Innere Medizin)
2007 BBMT Editorial award for the best publication in 2007 (ASBMT)
2006 Scholar Award (American Society of Hematology)