Carsten Watzl

Watzl

EFIS Treasurer

Carsten Watzl studied Biology in Heidelberg. During his PhD work at the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg in the department of Peter Krammer, he focused on the signal transduction of the CD95 (APO-1/Fas) receptor (back then he was called Carsten Scaffidi). As a postdoctoral researcher he investigated the regulation of Natural Killer cells in the lab of Eric Long at the NIH (NIAID). In 2002 he returned to Germany as head of a junior research group at the Institute for Immunology at the University of Heidelberg where he continued to work on the topic of Natural Killer cells. In 2011, he became the scientific director of the Department of Immunology at the Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo) at TU Dortmund.
During his work on the signal transduction of the CD95 (APO-1/Fas) receptor he described two pathways of CD95-mediated apoptosis in a publication that has been cited more than 2400 times. He then focused on the signal transduction in Natural Killer cells, where he investigated the interplay of activating and inhibitory surface receptors on the molecular level. His recent work has focused on the molecular mechanisms of NK cell cytotoxicity and the serial killing activity of NK cells. As an additional research focus he is investigating the influence of aging on the immune system.
Carsten Watzl has received several scientific awards. He was the founder and speaker of the Study Group on Natural Killer Cells of the German Society for Immunology (2008 – 2015), an elected member of the DFG Review Board in Immunology (2016-2020) and Secretary General of the German Society for Immunology (2013-2024).