Autoantigen Discovery
High-throughput display and screening platforms to pinpoint the exact self-antigens targeted by autoreactive B cells and antibodies across autoimmune and neuroinflammatory diseases.
Stanford Institute for Immunity, Transplantation, and Infection (ITI)
Stanford Division for Immunology and Rheumatology
Tracing autoimmunity back to the B cell that started it.
The Lanz Lab studies how self-reactive B cells and antibodies drive autoimmune and neuroimmunological disease — and why Epstein–Barr virus keeps turning up as a common trigger. We combine high-throughput antigen discovery with structural biology to find out exactly what these cells are attacking, and how they got past the checkpoints meant to stop them.
Autoantigen discovery
EBV & autoimmunity
B cell tolerance
Structural immunology
Neuroimmunology
Research
What we study, and why it matters
Autoimmune and neuroinflammatory diseases frequently share a common initiating event: the breakdown of B cell tolerance to a self-antigen. Our laboratory develops methods to identify the responsible autoantigens, characterize their molecular recognition by autoreactive B cells and antibodies, and describe the underlying molecular mechanisms. Viral infections are often inciting triggers that cause the loss of tolerance.
EBV & Autoimmunity
Epstein–Barr virus infection precedes multiple sclerosis and is linked to lupus and other autoimmune disease. We map the molecular mechanisms — molecular mimicry, bystander activation, latent reprogramming — that connect it to loss of tolerance.
B Cell Tolerance
Most self-reactive B cells are deleted or silenced before they can cause any damage. We study how autoreactive clones slip past central and peripheral tolerance checkpoints to become pathogenic.
Structural Immunology
Solving autoantibody–antigen complexes — combining crystallography, cryo-EM, and computational structure prediction — to see, at atomic resolution, how self-recognition happens.
Neuroimmunology
Extending these tools to diseases of the central nervous system — multiple sclerosis, NMO, MOGAD, and autoimmune encephalitis — where the role of B cells and antibodies are still incompletely understood.
Biobank & Patient Cohorts
A large biobank of samples from patients with autoimmune diseases is the basis for many of our projects. It enables us to validate our experimental data with real disease cohorts and translate our findings into therapies for patients.
1
Discover
Phage & yeast display screens against patient serum and CSF
2
Validate
Confirm hits across biobanked patient and control cohorts
3
Resolve
Structural & computational modeling of the antigen–antibody interface
4
Translate
Turn mechanism into diagnostic and therapeutic hypotheses
Team
Who's behind the bench
A highly motivated team of scientists and physicians with expertise spanning immunology, neurology, structural biology, and computational biology.
Tobias Lanz, MD
Principal InvestigatorTobias is a neurologist turned immunologist, with a passion for solving the mysteries of autoimmune and neuroimmunological diseases, and developing novel therapies for patients.
Alison Barrett, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar Stanford profile
Saurabh Gawde, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Frederik Bartels, MD
Postdoctoral Scholar Stanford profile
Neda Sattarnezhad, MD
Postdoctoral Scholar Stanford profile
Soyeon Kim
Graduate Student
Heidi Wong
Lab Manager
Alexandros Comanescu
Tilini Wijeratne, PhD
Luca Braunger, MD
Tahj Moore
Publications
Must Reads
2026
2025
2022
2022
Recent Reviews
2024
2023
Full Publication List
Lab News
Recent updates
September 2026
Welcome to the new lab website
Our new website goes live, replacing the previous page.
March 2025
The Lanz Lab's first paper is out
Thank you Neda, and our collaborators at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, Sweden! In a large international cohort of MS patients and population controls, we show that antibodies against EBV EBNA1 and its human molecular mimics convey significantly increased risk for MS, and genetic risk factors synergistically add additional risk.
February 2025
Welcoming our first graduate student
We are very excited to welcome our first Graduate Student: Soyeon Kim! Soyeon will study viral RNAs in the context of autoimmunity.
January 2025
Rheumatology lab retreat at Jasper Ridge
Rheum lab retreat at the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve, with research updates from members of the Robinson, Meffre, Utz, Fathman, Good, and Lanz Labs. Nature hike included!
January 2025
Luca Braunger joins the lab
We start the new year by welcoming Luca Braunger in our lab. Luca is a medical student from Tübingen, Germany with prior research experience in the Parkinson's field. He will identify antigenic targets of autoreactive antibodies from MS patients with high-throughput proteomics technologies.
August 2024
Tahj Moore joins through Stanford REACH
We are very happy to welcome Tahj to the lab. He is part of the Stanford REACH postbac program and will work on generating yeast display libraries and characterizing anti-EBV antibody responses in autoimmune diseases.
August 2024
Frederik Bartels joins as a postdoc
We are very excited to welcome Frederik from Berlin, Germany. He is a neurologist and neuroimmunologist with years of clinical and research experience in the field of MS and neuroinflammation, and will pursue a research postdoc in our lab. He will study how the Epstein–Barr virus contributes to MS pathogenesis.
July 2024
Max joins for a SIMR summer internship
Max is the lab's first student, who joins us for a 2-month internship within the SIMR program. His project is designing a new Yeast Display Library. Welcome Max!
May 2024
Neda receives an NIH K23 award
Congratulations Neda for receiving a NIH K23! Well deserved!
March 2024
Stanford Autoimmune and Allergy Supergroup Conference
Together with Mark Davis, Tobi organizes the Stanford Autoimmune and Allergy Supergroup Conference with two days of scientific talks pertaining to autoimmunity, bringing together researchers and clinicians from all fields of Medicine. With several invited speakers and a keynote from Prof. Georg Schett, the event drew an audience of approximately 270 people.
December 2023
Alison receives the Dean's Postdoctoral Fellowship
Congratulations Alison for receiving the School of Medicine Dean's Postdoctoral Fellowship! Most awesome.
September 2023
Saurabh Gawde joins as a postdoc
Welcome Saurabh, who just defended his PhD in immunology and will do his postdoc in the Lanz Lab. He plans to generate and analyze single-cell sequencing data and other large next-gen. datasets from IgG4-related disease, ANCA-vasculitis, MS, and other autoimmune disorders.
September 2023
Tilini Wijeratne starts her postdoc
We are thrilled that Tilini starts her postdoc in the Robinson lab, co-mentored by Tobi. She and Alison were already a team before they came to Stanford, having received their PhDs in the same protein biochemistry lab. Tilini will use structural biology and cell biology methods to elucidate pathological anti-EBV antibody responses in patients with SLE and MS.
August 2023
Aleko joins the lab
We are very excited that Aleko joins our lab. He will express antibodies and other proteins and solve their structures with X-ray crystallography.
August 2023
Alison Barrett joins as our first PhD postdoc
Welcome Alison, the Lanz Lab's first PhD postdoc! With a ton of experience in protein science and structural biology, she will solve the structure of a major MS antigen and develop a novel antigen-specific therapy.
July 2023
The last centrifuges arrive
The lab is ready for great discoveries.
June 2023
New hoods, incubators, and a microscope
New hoods, new incubators, new centrifuges, and a new microscope for our TC!
May 2023
The yeast display space is ready
A lot of things to renovate, buy, and build. Our yeast display space is finally ready to go.
March 2023
Major MS funding from the Department of Defense
The Lanz Lab receives major funding for MS research from the Department of Defense.
March 2023
Neda Sattarnezhad joins as a joint postdoctoral fellow
Neda is a clinical neuroimmunologist and a joint postdoctoral fellow in the Robinson and Lanz labs. In a collaborative project with researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, she will conduct large bead-based protein arrays to understand antibody responses against EBV and mimicking self antigens in MS patients vs. healthy individuals.
March 2023
Heidi joins as Lab Manager
Welcome Lab Manager Heidi to the Lanz Lab! There is a lot of work ahead of us…
March 2023
The Lanz Lab opens its doors at Stanford
The beginning.
Join Us
We're always looking for curious people
If you're excited about autoimmunity, neuroimmunology, B cells, autoantigens, structural biology, and the connection between viruses and autoimmune diseases — we'd like to hear from you!
Postdoctoral Fellows Currently no open positions
Join us, if you are a creative scientist with innovative ideas and an interest in pursuing projects in autoantigen discovery, structural immunology, and basic immunology. Enrich our team by bringing your prior experience in immunology, animal models of autoimmune diseases, organoids, structural biology, and analysis of large complex datasets.
PhD Rotation Students Open
Join us if you are interested in anything autoimmunity. Reach out with your background and your ideas on what you'd like to work on.
Undergraduate & Postbac Researchers Open
Join us if you are seeking hands-on lab experience in molecular biology, protein science, and data analysis, with mentorship from lab members at every level.
Visiting Scientists By inquiry
Join us if you are a student or scientist from another institution, interested in performing research with us for some time. Get in touch to discuss fit and logistics — must be willing to stay for at least 9 months.
Contact
Find us
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Lanz Lab 269 Campus Drive, CCSR Room 2220
Stanford, CA 94305 -
Email tlanz@stanford.edu
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Affiliation Division of Immunology & Rheumatology
Stanford University School of Medicine