He will take up his new position at University Hospital Basel on 1 December 2026. Lukas Jeker is a research group leader in the Department of Biomedicine and was tenure-track assistant professor of experimental transplantation immunology and nephrology at the University of Basel from 2017 to 2024.

Lukas Jeker studied medicine at the University of Basel and in Paris, and obtained doctorates in both medicine and immunology. From 2007 to 2010, he was a postdoc researcher at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where he subsequently worked as assistant adjunct professor until 2014. In 2013, he was awarded a professorship by the Swiss National Science Foundation. In 2016, he completed his habilitation in experimental medicine at the University of Basel.

Jeker’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of immune regulation and the development of new types of cell therapies. A particular area of focus is on what is known as epitope engineering: using modern techniques, cells are modified in such a way that they are protected against certain therapeutic attacks. This opens up new prospects for stem cell transplantation, the treatment of blood cancer and, in the long term, for the development of strategies that enable immunological tolerance in organ transplants. Jeker's appointment will further strengthen the focus on cell therapies in Basel.

Jeker received a prestigious Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) for his research and the Jonas Memorial Award (USA) for his work on the topic of cellular immunotherapies. In 2020, he also founded the biotechnology company Cimeio Therapeutics, which develops his research findings for clinical application.

Jeker Lab