INTERNATIONAL SPEAKER
Prof Hedda Wardermann
German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DFKZ), Germany
Hedda Wardemann is Head of the Division of B Cell Immunology at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. She studied biology at the University of Freiburg and completed her PhD at the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology. After postdoctoral work and a faculty position at Rockefeller University, she led a junior research group at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology before joining DKFZ in 2014. Her research focuses on the evolution, specificity and function of human B cell responses in infection, cancer and autoimmunity. Using single-cell technologies, antibody repertoire analysis and spatial proteomics, her team investigates immune memory, vaccine responses and the role of B cells in health and disease. Wardemann has contributed key insights into malaria and SARS-CoV-2 immunity and their relevance for vaccine design. She was elected to Academia Europaea in 2019 and is internationally recognised for her leadership in human immunology.