Friederike Herbst-Nowrouzi, PhD

Dr. Friederike Herbst-Nowrouzi is an experienced stem cell and molecular cancer biologist with over 15 years of working in translational oncology and hematopoietic gene therapy. She completed her Diploma degree in Biochemistry, specializing in Toxicology, Pharmacology, and Cancer Biology, at the Eberhard-Karls University in Tübingen, Germany.

Driven by her interest in cancer research and stem cells, she joined the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg to contribute to the understanding of benign and malignant hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). She earned her Ph.D. from the Ruperto-Carola-University in Heidelberg, during which she established various in vitro and in vivo assays for assessing the stability and efficacy of vectors used in human gene therapy trials. She also focused on characterizing the activity and heterogeneity of HSPCs and identifying driving mechanisms for clonal selection.

In her role as Team Lead and Lab Head at DKFZ & NCT (National Center for Tumor Diseases, Heidelberg), Dr. Herbst-Nowrouzi led efforts to identify new druggable vulnerabilities in precision oncology. Her team discovered intracellular mechanisms that regulate both normal and malignant HSCs (hematopoietic stem cells). She collaborated closely with academic and pharmaceutical partners to assess heterogeneity and functional properties of tumor-initiating cells in solid cancers, leading to target discovery and pre-clinical drug development programs.

At UPenn, Dr. Herbst-Nowrouzi will contribute to CCI's vision by leveraging her expertise in hematology and oncology to drive the development and application of novel cellular immunotherapeutic approaches. Specifically, she will focus on innovative gene editing strategies in HSPCs.