Maximilian Schaettler

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Gavin P. Dunn, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Research summary
Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is the most common malignant primary brain tumor and has almost universally poor prognosis regardless of treatment option. Immunotherapies such as adoptive cell transfers or patient-specific neoantigen vaccines represent potentially exciting new avenues for treatment but have not proven effective treatment options. My work is focused upon characterizing the immunogenomic landscape within human malignant brain tumors with a particular emphasis on neoantigen-specific T cells. Through multi-sector sequencing analysis on a cohort of GBMs and secondary brain metastases we have described the intratumoral distribution of variants, neoantigens, and T cell clonotypes. We are beginning to define the antigen specificity for the dominant T cell clones infiltrating these tumors with the goal of defining the top immunogenic candidates. Additionally, I have generated a preclinical system to model cellular therapy targeting tumor-specific neoantigens in a mouse model of GBM.

Graduate publications
Schaettler MO, Richters MM, Wang AZ, Skidmore ZL, Fisk B, Miller KE, Vickery TL, Kim AH, Chicoine MR, Osbun JW, Leuthardt EC, Dowling JL, Zipfel GJ, Dacey RG, Lu HC, Johanns TM, Griffith OL, Mardis ER, Griffith M, Dunn G. 2022 Characterization of the Genomic and Immunologic Diversity of Malignant Brain Tumors through Multisector Analysis. Cancer Discov, 12(1):154-71.

Bender DE, Schaettler MO, Sheehan KC, Johanns TM, Dunn GP. 2021 Cytokine Profiling in Plasma from Patients with Brain Tumors Versus Healthy Individuals using 2 Different Multiplex Immunoassay Platforms. Biomark Insights, 16():11772719211006666.

Fu Y, Liu CJ, Kobayashi DK, Johanns TM, Bowman-Kirigin JA, Schaettler MO, Mao DD, Bender D, Kelley DG, Uppaluri R, Bi WL, Dunn IF, Tao Y, Luo J, Kim AH, Dunn GP. 2020 GATA2 Regulates Constitutive PD-L1 and PD-L2 Expression in Brain Tumors. Sci Rep, 10(1):9027.

Liu CJ, Schaettler M, Blaha DT, Bowman-Kirigin JA, Kobayashi DK, Livingstone AJ, Bender D, Miller CA, Kranz DM, Johanns TM, Dunn GP. 2020 Treatment of an aggressive orthotopic murine glioblastoma model with combination checkpoint blockade and a multivalent neoantigen vaccine.. Neuro Oncol, 22(9):1276-1288.

Gang M, Marin ND, Wong P, Neal CC, Marsala L, Foster M, Schappe T, Meng W, Tran J, Schaettler M, Davila ML, Gao F, Cashen AF, Bartlett NL, Mehta-Shah N, Kahl B, Kim M, Cooper ML, DiPersio JF, Berrien-Elliott MM, Fehniger TA. 2020 CAR-modified memory-like NK cells exhibit potent responses to NK-resistant lymphomas. Blood, 136(20):2308-2318.