Academic Career and Research Areas

Professor Busch (b. 1966) conducts research into infection immunology with the goal of identifying therapeutically useful defense mechanisms. His work centers on antigen-specific T cells and the development of new technologies to make immune cells usable for diagnostic and cell therapy applications.

After studying medicine in Mainz and Freiburg (1993) and completing his doctorate (1993), Professor Busch commenced his clinical infectiological training in pediatrics (Würzburg, 1993-1996). He subsequently went to Yale University supported by a DFG scholarship (1996-1999). Having qualified as a lecturer in 2003, Professor Busch completed his residency in medical microbiology and epidemiology of infection (2005) at TUM. He heads the focus group “Clinical Cell Processing and Purification” at the TUM Institute for Anvanced study and co-initiated two sucessful start-ups (STAGE cell therapeutics GmbH and T Cell Factory B.V.). Prof. Busch is Chairman of the Board of the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and a member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Since 2009, he has been Director of the Institute of Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Hygiene at TUM.

Awards

  • Science Day Award, Helmholtz Zentrum München (2008)
  • Wilhelm Vaillant Award (2003)
  • Robert Koch Post-doctoral Award (2002)
  • Sir Hans Krebs Prize, Society of Friends of the Hannover Medical School (2002)
  • Gerhard Hess Research Award, DFG (2000)

Buchholz VR, Flossdorf M, Hensel I, Kretschmer L, Weissbrich B, Graf P, Verschoor A, Schiemann M, Hofer T, Busch DH: "Disparate individual fates compose robust CD8+ T cell immunity". Science. 2013; 340: 630-5. 

Abstract

Knabel M, Franz TJ, Schiemann M, Wulf A, Villmow B, Schmidt B, Bernhard H, Wagner H, Busch DH: “Reversible MHC multimer staining for functional isolation of T cell populations and effective adoptive transfer”. Nature Medicine. 2002; 8: 631-637.

Abstract