Prof. Thomas Winkler is Associate Professor for Genetics at the Nikolaus-Fiebinger Centre for Molecular Medicine of the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, where his research focuses on understanding the genetic mechanisms for the early B-cell development and how defects in this may lead to loss of self-tolerance and the development of autoimmunity. In addition, his laboratory has a strong interest in understanding antibody- and B-lineage cell mediated protection against viral infections using cytomegalovirus as a model system in mice and in translational approaches for the benefit of patients.

Prof. Winkler has studied Biology at the University of Erlangen and did his PhD work in the laboratory of Prof. Jochen Kalden, a world-renowned rheumatologist and autoimmune Immunologist. After that he did post-doctoral work on B cell Immunology at the Basel Institute for Immunology, a triple Nobel-Prize awarded Swiss academic Institute. Following his post-doctoral research he became principal investigator at the Division of Molecular Medicine, at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, where in 2001 he was appointed Associate Professor for Genetics.

Prof. Winkler is a renowned Molecular Immunologist in the field of of research with antibody-producing B cells, and among other competitive grants has been awarded highly competivite Collaborative Research Centre (SFB) grants of the German Research Foundation, and of the Bavarian Immunotherapy Network (BayImmuNet: www.bayimmunet.de/en/).
Prof. Thomas Winkler has published several dozens scientific papers, including seminal papers in high-impact Journals, like Science, J. Exp. Med., PNAS, Immunity and Blood.