Kirstin A. Zettlitz, Ph.D.
- Antibody Engineering
- Antibody Fragment-based Theranostics: Radiolabeled Antibodies for ImmunoPET and Radioimmunotherapy of Cancer
- Dual-modality ImmunoPET/fluorescence Imaging for Surgical Guidance in Prostate and Pancreatic Cancer
- Development of Anti-CD20 ImmunoPET for Imaging of B Lymphocytes
- Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology & Theranostics
“My research rationale and curiosity have always been driven by the immense promise of antibodies for cancer therapy, and especially by efforts to improve, personalize and expand our understanding of targeted therapies.”
Kirstin A. Zettlitz, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the Department for Immunology & Theranostics, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute of City of Hope.
Dr. Zettlitz's research interest focuses on antibody engineering and antibody-based theranostics for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases. This includes the radioactive labeling of antibody fragments for molecular imaging applications, such as immuno-PET/CT and dual-modality immuno-PET/fluorescence imaging. For radioimmunotherapy, the same antibody fragments are labeled with therapeutic radionuclides.
Dr. Zettlitz received her B.Sc. and M.Sc in technical biology (Dipl. Biol. t.o.) at University of Stuttgart, Germany. She received her Dr. rer. nat. (Ph.D. equivalent) in antibody engineering from the Institute of Cell Biology and Immunology at University of Stuttgart, Germany.
She conducted her postdoctoral research in antibody engineering and molecular imaging in the laboratory of Dr. Anna M. Wu in the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at the University of California Los Angeles.
She joined City of Hope in 2018 as assistant research professor and was promoted to assistant professor in 2021.
Location
Duarte Cancer Center
Duarte, CA 91010
Education & Experience
Degrees
- 2010, Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering/Immunology, University of Stuttgart, Germany
- 2007, M.Sc., Technical Biology, University of Stuttgart, Germany
- 2000, B.Sc., Technical Biology, University of Stuttgart, Germany
Fellowship
- 2016 Postdoctoral, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Professional Experience
- 2021-present, Assistant Professor, Department of Immunology & Theranostics, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute, Duarte CA
- 2020-2021, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Immunology & Theranostics, Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute, Duarte CA
- 2018-2020, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Molecular Imaging & Therapy, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA
- 2016-2018, Assistant Researcher, Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
- 2010-2016, Postdoctoral Scholar at Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Awards & Memberships
Awards
- 2013, World Molecular Imaging Congress, Student Travel Stipend Award
- 2012, World Molecular Imaging Congress, Student Travel Stipend Award, Late Breaking Abstract
- 2012, World Molecular Imaging Congress, Student Travel Stipend Award
- 2009, IBC Antibody Engineering & Therapeutics, Student Poster Scholarship
Memberships
- Antibody Society
- Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer, SITC
- World Molecular Imaging Society, WMIS
Publications
- Zettlitz KA, Salazar FB, Yamada RE, Trinh KR, Vasuthasawat A, Timmerman JM, Morrison SL, Wu AM. 89Zr-ImmunoPET Shows Therapeutic Efficacy of Anti-CD20-IFNα Fusion Protein in a Murine B-cell Lymphoma Model. Mol Cancer Ther. 2022 Apr 1;21(4):607-615. doi: 10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0732. PubMed PMID: 35086952; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8983440.
- Tsai WK, Zettlitz KA, Dahlbom M, Reiter RE, Wu AM. Evaluation of [131I]I- and [177Lu]Lu-DTPA-A11 Minibody for Radioimmunotherapy in a Preclinical Model of PSCA-Expressing Prostate Cancer. Mol Imaging Biol. 2020 Oct;22(5):1380-1391. doi: 10.1007/s11307-020-01518-4. PubMed PMID: 32661830; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7688013.
- Zettlitz KA, Tsai WK, Knowles SM, Salazar FB, Kobayashi N, Reiter RE, Wu AM. [89Zr]A2cDb Immuno-PET of Prostate Cancer in a Human Prostate Stem Cell Antigen Knock-in (hPSCA KI) Syngeneic Model. Mol Imaging Biol. 2020 Apr;22(2):367-376. doi: 10.1007/s11307-019-01386-7. PubMed PMID: 31209779; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6920577.
- Gamache RF, Zettlitz KA, Tsai WK, Collins J, Wu AM, Murphy JM. Tri-functional platform for construction of modular antibody fragments for in vivo18F-PET or NIRF molecular imaging. Chem Sci. 2020 Jan 7;11(7):1832-1838. doi: 10.1039/c9sc05007h. PubMed PMID: 34123276; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8148382.
- Gamache RF, Zettlitz KA, Tsai WK, Collins J, Wu AM, Murphy JM. Tri-functional platform for construction of modular antibody fragments for in vivo18F-PET or NIRF molecular imaging. Chem Sci. 2020 Jan 7;11(7):1832-1838. doi: 10.1039/c9sc05007h. PubMed PMID: 34123276; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8148382.
- Zettlitz KA, Waldmann CM, Tsai WK, Tavaré R, Collins J, Murphy JM, Wu AM. A Dual-Modality Linker Enables Site-Specific Conjugation of Antibody Fragments for 18F-Immuno-PET and Fluorescence Imaging. J Nucl Med. 2019 Oct;60(10):1467-1473. doi: 10.2967/jnumed.118.223560. Epub 2019 Mar 15. PubMed PMID: 30877181; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6785789.
- Zettlitz KA, Tavaré R, Tsai WK, Yamada RE, Ha NS, Collins J, van Dam RM, Timmerman JM, Wu AM. 18F-labeled anti-human CD20 cys-diabody for same-day immunoPET in a model of aggressive B cell lymphoma in human CD20 transgenic mice. Eur J Nucl Med Mol Imaging. 2019 Feb;46(2):489-500. doi: 10.1007/s00259-018-4214-x. Epub 2018 Nov 19. PubMed PMID: 30456475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6580847.
- Richter F, Zettlitz KA, Seifert O, Herrmann A, Scheurich P, Pfizenmaier K, Kontermann RE. Monovalent TNF receptor 1-selective antibody with improved affinity and neutralizing activity. MAbs. 2019 Jan;11(1):166-177. doi: 10.1080/19420862.2018.1524664. Epub 2018 Oct 2. PubMed PMID: 30252601; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6343807.
- Zhang M, Kobayashi N, Zettlitz KA, Kono EA, Yamashiro JM, Tsai WK, Jiang ZK, Tran CP, Wang C, Guan J, Wu AM, Reiter RE. Near-Infrared Dye-Labeled Anti-Prostate Stem Cell Antigen Minibody Enables Real-Time Fluorescence Imaging and Targeted Surgery in Translational Mouse Models. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Jan 1;25(1):188-200. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-18-1382. Epub 2018 Oct 9. PubMed PMID: 30301826; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6559730.
- Kim HK, Javed MR, Chen S, Zettlitz KA, Collins J, Wu AM, van Dam RM, Keng PY. On-demand radio synthesis of N-succinimidyl-4-[18F]fluorobenzoate ([18F]SFB) on the electrowetting-on-dielectric microfluidic chip for 18F-labeling of protein. RSC Advance. 2019; 9(55):32175-32183. doi: 10.1039/C9RA06158D.