Dr. Christina Mayerhofer

E: christina.mayerhofer@uniklinik-freiburg.de
Medical Center – University of Freiburg
Center for Pediatrics
Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology
Breisacher Str. 62
79106 Freiburg
Germany

Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Hematology and Oncology
Metabolism
Genetics
Epilepsy and Neuromuscular Disorders
Cardiology
Health Care Research and Evidence-Based Medicine
Core Facilities

TEAM

Open positions for doctoral candidates and Post-Docs with background in cell biology or molecular medicine: As a junior research group we are offering a dynamic and open-minded environment.

If you are excited about the interface between biomedical research and clinical application, and want to contribute to improvements of leukemia therapy while learning state-of-the-art methods and contribute to collaborative science, we encourage you to apply!

RESEARCH THEMES

Our research program addresses the unmet clinical need to overcome chemoresistance in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Despite initial clinical successes, many AML patients face early relapse due to the ability of residual leukemia cells to adapt and evade therapy. The underlying cellular processes of disease relapse are poorly defined.

Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that allow leukemia cells to persist under therapeutic stress and the development of innovative strategies to disrupt these mechanisms.

Utilizing state-of-the-art technologies including ribosome profiling, single-cell analysis, in vivo models, and patient-derived xenografts (PDX) our research team investigates how metabolic changes and translational regulation contribute to chemoresistance and clonal heterogeneity in AML.

This approach bridges basic science with translational medicine: we systematically identify vulnerabilities in the survival strategies of AML cells and transform these insights into new therapeutic interventions. Our vision is to advance treatments and outcomes for AML patients.

FUNDING

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
Deutsche Konsortium für Translationale Krebsforschung (DKTK)

SELECTED RECENT PUBLICATIONS

Mayerhofer C, Crompton E, Mayerhofer E, Kristiansen T, Fukushima T, Keyes S, Sharda A, Li D, Da Silva C, Shrestha D, Kiem A, Feuchtinger T, Scadden DT, Miller PG. Studying clonal heterogeneity of acute myeloid leukemia under nutrient and chemotherapy stress. Blood Adv. 2026 Feb 24;10(4):1272-1277. doi: 10.1182/bloodadvances.2025016618. PMID: 41351481; PMCID: PMC12925107.

Mayerhofer C, Li D, Kristiansen T, Mayerhofer E, Sharda A, Schiroli G, Gustafsson K, He L, Mazzola M, Keyes S, Kiem A, Crompton E, Xu Y, Korm S, Dou Z, Vidoudez C, Miller PG, van Gastel N, Graubert TA, Scadden DT. OGFOD1 enables AML chemo- and nutrient stress resistance by regulating protein synthesis. Cell Metab. 2025 Oct 7;37(10):2014-2029.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.cmet.2025.08.008. Epub 2025 Sep 16. PMID: 40961937; PMCID: PMC12490346.

Mayerhofer C, Scadden DT. Niche-generated taurine is leukemic fuel. Cell Res. 2025 Nov;35(11):787-788. doi: 10.1038/s41422-025-01136-1. PMID: 40490473; PMCID: PMC12589462.

He L, Zhao T, Leong WZ, Sharda A, Mayerhofer C, Mei S, Bonilla GM, Menendez-Gonzalez JB, Gustafsson K, Fukushima T, Kristiansen TA, Lee JW, Xu Y, Chen L, Xia J, Orozco LA, Budnik B, Sadreyev R, Dou Z, Sykes DB, Scadden DT. PSTK inhibition activates cGAS-STING, precipitating ferroptotic cell death in leukemic stem cells. Blood. 2025 Apr 24;145(17):1903-1914. doi: 10.1182/blood.2024026040. PMID: 39912669.

Mayerhofer C, Freedman RA, Parsons HA, Partridge AH, Miller PG. Clonal Hematopoiesis in Women With Breast Cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2025 Mar;43(7):861-867. doi: 10.1200/JCO-24-01848. Epub 2025 Jan 17. PMID: 39823557; PMCID: PMC11867839.

Schiroli G, Kartha V, Duarte FM, Kristiansen TA, Mayerhofer C, Shrestha R, Earl A, Hu Y, Tay T, Rhee C, Buenrostro JD, Scadden DT. Cell of origin epigenetic priming determines susceptibility to Tet2 mutation. Nat Commun. 2024 May 21;15(1):4325. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-48508-6. PMID: 38773071; PMCID: PMC11109152.

Kristiansen T*, Mayerhofer C*, Gustafsson K, Scadden DT. Stromal Cell Isolation from Hematopoietic Organs. J Vis Exp. 2024 Jan 26;(203):10.3791/66231. doi: 10.3791/66231. PMID: 38345255; PMCID: PMC12143487.

Miller PG, Sperling AS, Mayerhofer C, McConkey ME, Ellegast JM, Da Silva C, Cohen DN, Wang C, Sharda A, Yan N, Saha S, Schluter C, Schechter I, Słabicki M, Sandoval B, Kahn J, Boettcher S, Gibson CJ, Scadden DT, Stegmaier K, Bhatt S, Lindsley RC, Ebert BL. PPM1D modulates hematopoietic cell fitness and response to DNA damage and is a therapeutic target in myeloid malignancy. Blood. 2023 Dec 14;142(24):2079-2091. doi: 10.1182/blood.2023020331. PMID: 37595362; PMCID: PMC10733824.

Erlacher M, Andresen F, Sukova M, Stary J, De Moerloose B, Bosch JVWT, Dworzak M, Seidel MG, Polychronopoulou S, Beier R, Kratz CP, Nathrath M, Frühwald MC, Göhring G, Bergmann AK, Mayerhofer C, Lebrecht D, Ramamoorthy S, Yoshimi A, Strahm B, Wlodarski MW, Niemeyer CM. Spontaneous remission and loss of monosomy 7: a window of opportunity for young children with SAMD9L syndrome. Haematologica. 2024 Feb 1;109(2):422-430. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2023.283591. PMID: 37584291; PMCID: PMC10828767.

Mayerhofer C, Sedrak MS, Hopkins JO, Li T, Tayob N, Faggen MG, Sinclair NF, Chen WY, Parsons HA, Mayer EL, Lange PB, Basta AS, Perilla-Glen A, Lederman RI, Wong AR, Tiwari A, McAllister SS, Mittendorf EA, Gibson CJ, Burstein HJ, Kim AS, Freedman RA, Miller PG. Clonal hematopoiesis in older patients with breast cancer receiving chemotherapy. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2023 Aug 8;115(8):981-988. doi: 10.1093/jnci/djad065. PMID: 37042724; PMCID: PMC10407695.

Mayerhofer C, Niemeyer CM, Flotho C. Current Treatment of Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia. J Clin Med. 2021 Jul 13;10(14):3084. doi: 10.3390/jcm10143084. PMID: 34300250; PMCID: PMC8305558.