Within this multidisciplinary project we combine expertise in immunology with analytical chemistry with the aim to develop novel methods to analyse how the CBM complex controls metabolic reprogramming in pathological B cells, integrating standard immunological techniques with mass spectrometry-based metabolomics and imaging mass spectrometry.

CARD11 gain-of-function mutations are found in diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and a deeper understanding of how metabolism is controlled in these cells could help to identify new vulnerabilities amenable for medical intervention. We seek to not only study intracellular changes in metabolite levels but to extend our studies to the microenvironment. How activated B cells alter their microenvironment is currently poorly understood but could have broad implications for the function of other tissue resident cells as well. We seek to test the hypothesis that these highly proliferating B cells impact the metabolic composition of the surrounding tissue by consuming nutrients as well as through the secretion of metabolic waste products through multimodal imaging.

https://www.klinchem.med.tum.de/de/ag_ruland

https://www.bio.nat.tum.de/ach/prof-nicole-strittmatter/