Draft:Carolin Daniel

Carolin Daniel (1977 in Hardheim) is a German immunologist and since 2022 head of the Research Unit Type 1 Diabetes Immunology (TDI) at Helmholtz Munich. Since 2019 she holds a professorship for immune modulation at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.

Career

Carolin Daniel studied Nutritional Sciences at the Justus Liebig University Giessen. In 2002, she completed her studies with diploma thesis in the field of physiology at the Max-Planck Institute for Physiological and Clinical Research (now: Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research) in Bad Nauheim. From 2003 to 2007, she pursued her doctorate at the Goethe University Frankfurt and Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, supported by a fellowship of the European Graduate School of the German Research Foundation (DFG). In 2007, she received her Ph.D. in natural sciences (Dr. phil. nat.) in the field of immunopharmacology with her dissertation titled New immunopharmacologic strategies for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease: in vivo investigations with the TNBS- and Oxazolone-model in mice .

After one year as a postdoctoral researcher in the Goethe University Frankfurt, she received a Leopoldina Postdoctoral Fellowship of the National Academy of Sciences (Germany) and continued her research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute / Harvard Medical School from 2008 till 2012. She then joined Helmholtz Munich as a "Helmholtz Young Investigator," where she led the Immune Tolerance in Diabetes research group at the Institute for Diabetes Research (IDF). In 2016, she received a professorship grant from the Helmholtz Association's Excellence Program, and since 2019, holds a professorship for immune modulation at the Division of Clinical Pharmacology at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. In 2022, she was appointed head of the newly established research unit, Type 1 Diabetes Immunology (TDI) at Helmholtz Munich.

Since 2021, she has served as the spokesperson for the International Helmholtz Research School for Diabetes, established in collaboration with the Diabetes Institute at the University of Alberta, Canada. In 2023, she became the LMU spokesperson for the Transregional Collaborative Research Center (TRR 355) of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and its training program "Treg Cells and Beyond," coordinated at the University of Mainz.

Research

Daniel’s primary research interest focuses on understanding the impact of immunoprotective regulatory T cells (Tregs), a subset of CD4+ T cells, in diabetes with a specific focus on childhood autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes. Her research explores both the classical role of Tregs in maintaining immune homeostasis and their non-classical functions in regulating tissue homeostasis and metabolic tissue function. Together with her research team, she utilizes human immune cells from different stages of islet autoimmunity, as well as next-generation murine and humanized in vivo models. The aim of her research is to harness the dual potential of Tregs to develop Treg-based, innovative precision immunotherapies that can decelerate or halt autoimmune progression, while simultaneously fostering metabolic tissue function and regeneration to fight diabetes.

Main research topics:

• Autoantigen-specific T cell and Treg responses
• Personalized immunological models of human disease
• Treg impairments during islet cell autoimmunity
• Next-generation miRNA targeting strategies
• Novel drug candidates to control type 1 diabetes autoimmunity
• Immuno-metabolic crosstalk in target tissues of diabetes

Prices (selection)

• 2008: Fritz-Külz Prize of the German Association for Pharmacology and Toxicology.
• 2018: Georges-Köhler Prize of the German Society for Immunology (DGfI) · 2017: Ernst-Friedrich-Pfeiffer Prize of the German Diabetes Association (DDG)
• 2019: Nils-Ilja-Richter Prize of the German Association for Autoimmune Diseases (DGfAE)
• 2020: Early Career Research Price in Vaccinology R&D of the International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) with the contribution of Vaccines Europe
• 2021: International Isil Berat Barlan Award for Women Scholars in Immunology of the European Congress of Immunology (ECI)
• 2021: Research Prize of the Heinz Bürger-Büsing-Foundation for the study of diabetes
• 2021: Ferdinand-Bertram Prize of the German Diabetes Association (DDG)

Publications (selection)

• Nolting J, Daniel C, Reuter S, Stuelten C, Li P, Sucov H, Kim BG, Letterio JJ, Kretschmer K, Kim HJ, von Boehmer H. Retinoic acid can enhance conversion of naive into regulatory T cells independently of secreted cytokines. J Exp Med 2009, 206(10), 2131–2139. doi: 10.1084/jem.20090639
• Daniel C, Wennhold K, Kim HJ, von Boehmer H.Enhancement of antigen-specific Treg-vaccination in vivo. PNAS 2010, 107(37), 16246-16251. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1007422107
• Daniel C, Weigmann B, Bronson R, von Boehmer H. Prevention of type 1 diabetes in mice by tolerogenic vaccination with a strong agonist insulin mimetope. J Exp Med 2011, 208(7), 1501–1510. doi: 10.1084/jem.20110574
• von Boehmer H and Daniel C. Therapeutic opportunities for manipulating Tregs in autoimmunity and cancer. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2013, 12, 51–63. doi: 10.1038/nrd3683
• Serr I, Fürst RW, Achenbach P, Scherm MG, Gökmen F, Haupt F, Sedlmeier E-M, Knopff A, Shultz L, Willis RA, Ziegler A-G, Daniel C. Type 1 diabetes vaccine candidates promote human Foxp3+Treg induction in humanized mice. Nat Commun 2016, 7, 10991. doi: 10.1038/ncomms10991
• Serr I, Fürst RW, Ott VB, Scherm MG, Nikolaev A, Gökmen F, Kälin S, Zillmer S, Bunk M, Weigmann B, Kunschke N, Loretz B, Lehr CM, Kirchner B, Haase B, Pfaffl MW, Waisman A, Willis RA, Ziegler AG, Daniel C. miRNA92a targets KLF2 and PTEN signaling to promote human T follicular helper precursors in T1D islet autoimmunity. PNAS 2016, 113(43), E6659-E6668. doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.aag1782
• Kalin S, Becker M, Ott VB, Serr I, Hosp F, Mollah MMH, Keipert S, Lamp D, Rohner-Jeanrenaud F, Flynn VK, Scherm MG, Nascimento LFR, Gerlach K, Popp V, Dietzen S, Bopp T, Krishnamurthy P, Kaplan MH, Serrano M, Woods SC, Tripal P, Palmisano R, Jastroch M, Bluher M, Wolfrum C, Weigmann B, Ziegler AG, Mann M, Tschop MH, Daniel C. A Stat6/Pten Axis Links Regulatory T Cells with Adipose Tissue Function. Cell Metab 2017, 26 (3), 475-492, e477. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.08.008
• Serr I, Scherm MG, Zahm AM, Schug J, Flynn VK, Hippich M, Kälin S, Becker M, Achenbach P, Nikolaev A, Gerlach K, Liebsch N, Loretz B, Lehr C-M, Kirchner B, Spornraft M, Haase B, Segars J, Küper C, Palmisano R, Waisman A, Willis RA, Kim W-U, Weigmann B, Kaestner KH, Ziegler AG, Daniel C. A miRNA181a/NFAT5 axis links impaired T cell tolerance induction with autoimmune type 1 diabetes. Sci Transl Med 2018, 10(422), eaag1782. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aag1782
• Becker M, Serr I, Salb VK, Ott VB, Mengel L, Blüher M, Weigmann B, Hauner H, Tschöp MH, Daniel C. Short-term cold exposure supports human Treg induction in vivo. Mol Metab 2019, 28, 73-82. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2019.08.002
• Scherm MG, Serr I, Zahm AM, Schug J, Bellusci S, Manfredini R, Salb VK, Gerlach K, Weigmann B, Ziegler AG, Kaestner KH, Daniel C. miRNA142-3p targets Tet2 and impairs Treg differentiation and stability in models of type 1 diabetes. Nat Commun 2019, 10, 5697. doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-13587-3
• Becker M, Joseph S, Garcia-Carrizo F, Tom R, Opaleva D, Serr I, Tschöp M, Schulz T, Hofmann S, Daniel C. Regulatory T cells require IL6 receptor alpha signaling to control skeletal muscle function and regeneration. Cell Metab 2023, 35 (10), 1736-1751. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2023.08.010
• Becker M, Dirschl SM, Scherm MG, Serr I, Daniel C. Niche-specific control of tissue function by regulatory T cells-Current challenges and perspectives for targeting metabolic disease. Cell Metab 2024, 36(2):229-239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2023.12.019

Weblinks

• Carolin Daniel Helmholtz Munich
• Type 1 Diabetes Research Unit (TDI)
• Carolin Daniel Research Gate
• Carolin Daniel PubMed