Immunotherapy × Spatial Biology × Bioinformatics — rebuilding immune networks for next‑generation cancer care.
Dr. Carsten Krieg is a translational immunologist whose work bridges the worlds of immunotherapy, systems bioinformatics, and high‑dimensional spatial biology. His research deciphers how immune networks—rather than isolated biomarkers—govern cancer progression and therapeutic response. By integrating single‑cell and spatial proteomic technologies with advanced computational pipelines, his lab seeks to define the immune architecture underlying successful immunotherapy and to design the next generation of immune‑based therapeutics.
“What defines a productive immune network—and how can we rebuild it when it fails?”
We integrate experimental and computational methods to move beyond static biomarker discovery. Through spatial multi‑omics, machine learning, and translational clinical collaborations, we reconstruct the spatial and temporal dynamics of immune ecosystems across cancer, neurodegeneration, and autoimmune disease.
At the intersection of spatial biology, computational modeling, and therapeutic design, our work builds on the discovery that the balance between inflammatory and suppressive immune circuits determines response to checkpoint blockade. Studies in Nature Medicine (2018) identified monocyte signatures predictive of anti–PD‑1 therapy success, laying the groundwork for a new generation of precision immunotherapies.
IMC + MSI A multi‑modal computational pipeline co‑developed by the lab integrates Imaging Mass Cytometry (IMC) with Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) to model analyte–cell type associations across tissue architectures. MIMIC enables researchers to correlate metabolic, proteomic, and cellular layers in diseases such as MASLD—a powerful framework for studying tumor microenvironments.
We uncovered that complement downregulation rewires the tumor microenvironment, driving an inflammatory state that renders colorectal cancer susceptible to immune checkpoint therapy.
From engineering IL‑2 superkines (Nature, 2012) to characterizing the pharmacokinetics and immune effects of N‑803 (IL‑15) in humans (J Immunol, 2022), we have helped enable cytokine‑based strategies that expand cytotoxic T and NK cells for cancer therapy.
Griner J*, Gerber R*, Other Guglietta Lab Authors, Lewin D, Krieg C, Robinson M, Guglietta S. Immune cells undergo spatial and glycomic reprogramming during MASLD progression. (October 10, 2025)
Why it matters. MASLD (formerly NAFLD/NASH) advances from inflammation and fibrosis to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We asked how immune‑cell N‑glycosylation is rewired in situ during this transition—and whether spatial glycan organization encodes immune network failure.
Takeaway. Immune glycan remodeling is a spatially organized hallmark of MASLD and MASLD‑HCC, offering a practical path to biomarker discovery and therapeutic targeting of glycosylation pathways in metabolically diseased liver.
Our dual focus on cancer and neuroinflammation reflects a broader goal: to translate immune network biology into multi‑disease therapeutic strategies.
At the interface of bioinformatics and immunopathology, we co‑developed the CyTOF Workflow (F1000Res, 2017) and MIMIC (bioRxiv, 2025) to transform complex single‑cell and spatial datasets into reproducible biological insight—powering collaborative studies across MUSC and national consortia.
By reconstructing immune networks, we aim to predict therapy outcomes, uncover new drug targets, and rationally design immunotherapies for cancer and beyond.
At MUSC, Dr. Krieg mentors trainees across disciplines and chairs collaborative committees that link computational scientists, clinicians, and immunologists to accelerate translational breakthroughs.
Medical University of South Carolina
68 President Street, Charleston, SC 29425