Bertram Bengsch

Research Statement

AI generated · Oct 29, 2026

Bertram Bengsch's research centers on the biology of T-cell exhaustion and its role in chronic infection, cancer, and inflammatory disease. His most-cited first-author work links bioenergetic insufficiency driven by PD-1 signaling to the early onset of CD8 T-cell exhaustion, while a companion study uses epigenomically guided mass cytometry to define disease-specific features of exhausted CD8 T cells. Earlier first-author work characterized coexpression of inhibitory receptors such as PD-1, 2B4, CD160, and KLRG1 on HCV-specific CD8 T cells, tying this phenotype to antigen recognition and differentiation. As senior author, he has extended this line into spatial profiling of neuroinflammation and microglia–T-cell interactions in COVID-19 brains and into T-cell exhaustion and residency dynamics in hepatocellular carcinoma. Beyond these lead-author studies, Bengsch contributed as a middle author to consortium work on TOX as a transcriptional and epigenetic programmer of CD8 T-cell exhaustion and on epigenetic stability limiting reinvigoration by PD-1 blockade, both of which helped shape the exhaustion field. His later senior-author work includes a report that SARS-CoV-2 vaccination can elicit CD8 T-cell-dominant hepatitis. No software, datasets, or patents are indexed beyond his publications. Across these studies, the through-line is a sustained effort to connect the molecular and metabolic state of exhausted T cells to clinical outcomes in viral infection and cancer.

Most Cited Works

Rapid and stable mobilization of CD8+ T cells by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine

Valerie Oberhardt, Hendrik Luxenburger, Janine Kemming, Isabel Schulien, Kevin Ciminski, Sebastian Giese, Benedikt Csernalabics, Julia Lang-Meli, Iga Janowska, Julian Staniek, Katharina Wild, Kristi Basho, Mircea Stefan Marinescu, Jonas Fuchs, Fernando Topfstedt, Ales Janda, Oezlem Sogukpinar, Hanna Hilger, Katarina Stete, Florian Emmerich, Bertram Bengsch, Cornelius F Waller, Siegbert Rieg, Sagar, Tobias Boettler, Katharina Zoldan, Georg Kochs, Martin Schwemmle, Marta Rizzi, Robert Thimme, Christoph Neumann-Haefelin, Maike Hofmann

Research Areas

Cancer Immunotherapy and BiomarkersHepatocellular Carcinoma Treatment and PT-cell and B-cell ImmunologyColorectal Cancer Treatments and StudiesHepatitis B Virus Studies

Affiliations & Education

Employment

2006–2026
University Medical Center Freiburg(DE)
Professor · Internal Medicine II

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Sources

Research Statement

Most Cited Works

Rapid and stable mobilization of CD8+ T cells by SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccine

Research Areas

Affiliations & Education

Employment

Characterization of pre-existing and induced SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8+ T cells

T-cell dysfunction in the glioblastoma microenvironment is mediated by myeloid cells releasing interleukin-10

T-cell exhaustion and residency dynamics inform clinical outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma

Identification and characterization of HIV-specific resident memory CD8 + T cells in human lymphoid tissue