Prof. Dr. Thomas Höfer
Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
und Bioquant Zentrum, Universität Heidelberg
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
69120 Heidelberg
Phone: +49 (6221) 54-51380
E-mail: t.hoefer@dkfz.de
Research Area
Theoretical Systems Biology
Position and Status
Head of DKFZ Division, Theoretical Systems Biology Professor of Theoretical Systems Biology (W3)
Scholarships and awards
2021 – present Visiting professor Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
2019/2020 - Visiting professorship, École Normale Supérieur, Paris
2018 - Offered professorship at Imperial College London and Head of the Integrative Biology section, MRC London Institute of Medical Science (not realized)
2011 - Reinhart Heinrich Lecture, International Study Group for Systems Biology
1994 - 1996 - Jowett Senior Scholar, Balliol College Oxford
1994 - Landahl Award, Society for Mathematical Biology
1993 - 1996 - PhD scholarship, Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds
1991 - 1993 - Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes
University training and degree
09/1992 - 08/1993 - Diplom (MSc) dissertation, jointly with James D. Murray and Reinhart Heinrich
09/1988 - 07/1992 - Diplom (MSc) studies in Biophysics, Humboldt University Berlin
Advanced academic qualifications
1996 - PhD, with Philip Maini, mathematical sciences, Mathematical Institute, Center of Mathematical Biology, University of Oxford, UK
Postgraduate professional career
2021 – present Visiting professor Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford
2013 - present - Professor (W3), Faculty of Biosciences, Heidelberg University
2011 - present - Head of Division, Theoretical Systems Biology, DKFZ
2007 - 2011 - Group leader (tenured), Modeling of Biological Systems, DKFZ
2002 - 2006 - Junior Professor (W1), Theoretical Biophysics, Humboldt University Berlin
2000 - 2002 - Group leader, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin
1997 - 2000 - Postdoctoral researcher, Institute of Biology, Humboldt University Berlin
1996 - 1997 - Guest scientist, Max Planck Institute of Complex Biological Systems, Dresden
Coordinating functions and editorial work
2023 - Review panel chair, Data Science, Max Delbrück Center of Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, Germany
2022 – present - Co-organizer, Quantitative Biology and Integrative Genomics Seminar, DKFZ
2018 – 2022 - Coordinator, German research consortium TIDY – The tissue dynamics toolbox (funded by Federal Ministry for Education and Research)
2020 - Review panel member, Cellular Genetics program, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Cambridge, UK
2019 - present - Editorial board, Cell Systems
2015 - present - Coordinator, European (ERA CoSysMed) research consortium OPTIMIZE- NB – Optimizing first-line therapies of aggressive neuroblastoma by systems medicine strategies
2013 - present - Editorial board, European Journal of Immunology
2013 - present - Steering committee, Cluster of Excellence CellNetworks (EXC81)
2013 - 2017 - Coordinator, E:Bio Research consortium ImmunoQuant – Multi-scale Modelling of Innate Immune Responses to Viral Infection (funded by Federal Ministry for Education and Research)
2000 - 2006 - Steering committee, DFG Collaborative Research Centre, Theoretical Biology (SFB 618), Humboldt University Berlin
Most important publications
- Körber, V., Stainczyk, S. A., Kurilov, R., Henrich, K.-O., Hero, B., Brors, B., Westermann, F. & Höfer, T. Neuroblastoma arises in early fetal development and its evolutionary duration predicts outcome. Nature Genetics 55, 619-630 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-023- 01332-y
- Sacirbegovic, F., Günther, M., Greco, A., Zhao, D., Wang, X., Zhou, M., Rosenberger, S., Oberbarnscheidt, M. H., Held, W., McNiff, J., Jain, D., Höfer, T. & Shlomchik, W. D. Graft- versus-host disease is locally maintained in target tissues by resident progenitor-like T cells. Immunity 56, 369-385.e366 (2023). DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2023.01.003
- Morcos, M. N. F., Li, C., Munz, C. M., Greco, A., Dressel, N., Reinhardt, S., Sameith, K., Dahl, A., Becker, N. B., Roers, A., Höfer, T. & Gerbaulet, A. Fate mapping of hematopoietic stem cells reveals two pathways of native thrombopoiesis. Nature Communications 13, 4504 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31914-z
- Kuchen, E. E., Becker, N. B., Claudino, N. & Höfer, T. Hidden long-range memories of growth and cycle speed correlate cell cycles in lineage trees. eLife 9, e51002 (2020). https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.51002
- Pei, W., Shang, F., Wang, X., Fanti, A.-K., Greco, A., Busch, K., Klapproth, K., Zhang, Q., Quedenau, C., Sauer, S., Feyerabend, T. B., Höfer, T. & Rodewald, H.-R. Resolving Fates and Single-Cell Transcriptomes of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Clones by PolyloxExpress Barcoding. Cell Stem Cell 27, 383-395.e388 (2020). DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2020.07.018
- Körber, V., Yang, J., Barah, P., Wu, Y., Stichel, D., Gu, Z., Fletcher, M. N. C., Jones, D., Hentschel, B., Lamszus, K., Tonn, J. C., Schackert, G., Sabel, M., Felsberg, J., Zacher, A., Kaulich, K., Hübschmann, D., Herold-Mende, C., von Deimling, A., Weller, M., Radlwimmer, B., Schlesner, M., Reifenberger, G., Höfer, T. & Lichter, P. Evolutionary Trajectories of IDHWT Glioblastomas Reveal a Common Path of Early Tumorigenesis Instigated Years ahead of Initial Diagnosis. Cancer Cell 35, 692-704.e612 (2019). DOI: 10.1016/j.ccell.2019.02.007
- Ryl, T., Kuchen, E. E., Bell, E., Shao, C., Flórez, A. F., Mönke, G., Gogolin, S., Friedrich, M., Lamprecht, F., Westermann, F. & Höfer, T. Cell-Cycle Position of Single MYC-Driven Cancer Cells Dictates Their Susceptibility to a Chemotherapeutic Drug. Cell Systems 5, 237-250.e238 (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cels.2017.07.005
- Busch, K., Klapproth, K., Barile, M., Flossdorf, M., Holland-Letz, T., Schlenner, S. M., Reth, M., Höfer, T. & Rodewald, H.-R. Fundamental properties of unperturbed haematopoiesis from stem cells in vivo. Nature 518, 542-546 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature14242
- Buchholz, V. R., Flossdorf, M., Hensel, I., Kretschmer, L., Weissbrich, B., Gräf, P., Verschoor, A., Schiemann, M., Höfer, T. & Busch, D. H. Disparate Individual Fates Compose Robust CD8+ T Cell Immunity. Science 340, 630-635 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1235454
- Schulz, E. G., Mariani, L., Radbruch, A. & Höfer, T. Sequential Polarization and Imprinting of Type 1 T Helper Lymphocytes by Interferon-γ and Interleukin-12. Immunity 30, 673-683 (2009). DOI: 10.1016/j.immuni.2009.03.013