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Faculty of MedicineCenter for Biochemistry

Welcome to the Walczak Lab

We are an international group with laboratories based at the University of Cologne and at University College London.

Research in the Walczak Laboratory is focused on the study of the functional interplay between cell death, ubiquitin and inflammation in cancer, (auto-)immunity and infectious diseases. The group is particularly interested in unravelling the mechanisms of how this functional interplay, when triggered by different death receptor-ligand systems, affects the (patho-)physiology in cancer, (auto-)immunity and the body’s response to infection. By gaining a better understanding of this functional interplay, the Walczak lab aims to devise novel therapies for these diseases.

Henning Walczak, PhD

Alexander von Humboldt Professor for Biochemistry, Center for Biochemistry, Medical Faculty, University of Cologne.

Professor of Cancer Biology, Centre for Cell Death, Cancer and Inflammation, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London.

Research Focus

Cancer biologist and immunologist Henning Walczak investigates cell death and ubiquitin in inflammation, cancer and immunity.

Human cancer cells undergoing TRAIL-induced cell death.

Selected publications

  1. Chen YG, Rieser E, Bhamra A, Surinova S, Kreuzaler P, Ho MH, Tsai WC, Peltzer N, de Miguel D, Walczak H. LUBAC enables tumor-promoting LTβ receptor signaling by activating canonical NF-κB. Cell Death and Differentiation, Epub ahead of print, 2024.
  2. Albert MC, Uranga-Murillo I, Arias M, De Miguel D, Peña N, Montinaro A, Varanda AB, Theobald SJ, Areso I, Saggau J, Koch M, Liccardi G, Peltzer N, Rybniker J, Hurtado-Guerrero R, Merino P, Monzón M, Badiola JJ, Reindl-Schwaighofer R, Sanz-Pamplona R, Cebollada-Solanas A, Megyesfalvi Z, Dome B, Secrier M, Hartmann B, Bergmann M, Pardo J, Walczak H. Identification of FasL as a crucial host factor driving COVID-19 pathology and lethality. Cell Death and Differentiation, 31:544-557, 2024.
  3. Oda H, Manthiram K, Chavan PP, Rieser E, Veli Ö, Kaya Ö, Rauch C, Nakabo S, Kuehn HS, Swart M, Wang Y, Çelik NI, Molitor A, Ziaee V, Movahedi N, Shahrooei M, Parvaneh N, Alipour-Olyei N, Carapito R, Xu Q, Preite S, Beck DB, Chae JJ, Nehrebecky M, Ombrello AK, Hoffmann P, Romeo T, Deuitch NT, Matthíasardóttir B, Mullikin J, Komarow H, Stoddard J, Niemela J, Dobbs K, Sweeney CL, Anderton H, Lawlor KE, Yoshitomi H, Yang D, Boehm M, Davis J, Mudd P, Randazzo D, Tsai WL, Gadina M, Kaplan MJ, Toguchida J, Mayer CT, Rosenzweig SD, Notarangelo LD, Iwai K, Silke J, Schwartzberg PL, Boisson B, Casanova JL, Bahram S, Rao AP, Peltzer N, Walczak H, Lalaoui N, Aksentijevich I, Kastner DL. Biallelic human SHARPIN loss of function induces autoinflammation and immunodeficiency. Nature Immunology, 25:764-777, 2024.
  4. Montinaro A, Areso Zubiaur I, Saggau J, Kretz AL, Ferreira RMM, Hassan O, Kitzig E, Müller I, El-Bahrawy MA, von Karstedt S, Kulms D, Liccardi G, Lemke J, Walczak H. Potent pro-apoptotic combination therapy is highly effective in a broad range of cancers. Cell Death and Differentiation, 29:492-503, 2022.
  5. von Karstedt S, Walczak H. An unexpected turn of fortune: targeting TRAIL-Rs in KRAS-driven cancer. Cell Death and Discovery, 6: 14. eCollection, 2020.
  6. Annibaldi A, Walczak H. Death Receptors and Their Ligands in Inflammatory Disease and Cancer. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 12:a036384, 2020.
  7. Peltzer N, Walczak H. Cell Death and Inflammation - A Vital but Dangerous Liaison. Trends in Immunology 40: 387-402, 2019.
  8. Peltzer N, Darding M, Montinaro A, Draber P, Draberova H, Kupka S, Rieser E, Fisher A, Hutchinson C, Taraborrelli L, Hartwig T, Lafont E, Haas TL, Shimizu Y, Böiers C, Sarr A, Rickard J, Alvarez-Diaz S, Ashworth MT, Beal A, Enver T, Bertin J, Kaiser W, Strasser A, Silke J, Bouillet P, Walczak H. LUBAC is essential for embryogenesis by preventing cell death and enabling haematopoiesis. Nature, 557: 112-117, 2018.  
  9. Lafont E, Draber P, Rieser E, Reichert M, Kupka S, de Miguel D, Draberova H, von Mässenhausen A, Bhamra A, Henderson S, Wojdyla K, Chalk A, Surinova S, Linkermann A, Walczak H. TBK1 and IKKε prevent TNF-induced cell death by RIPK1 phosphorylation. Nature Cell Biology, 20: 1389-1399, 2018.
  10. Taraborrelli L, Peltzer N, Montinaro A, Kupka S, Rieser E, Hartwig T, Sarr A, Darding M, Draber P, Haas TL, Akarca A, Marafioti T, Pasparakis M, Bertin J, Gough PJ, Bouillet P, Strasser A, Leverkus M, Silke J, Walczak H. LUBAC prevents lethal dermatitis by inhibiting cell death induced by TNF, TRAIL and CD95L. Nature Communications, 9: 3910, 2018.
  11. von Karstedt S, Montinaro A, Walczak H. Exploring the TRAILs less travelled: TRAIL in cancer biology and therapy. Nature Reviews Cancer, 17: 352-366, 2017.

More publications