Chemotherapy is often a central component of treatment for advanced colorectal cancer. However, not every therapy is equally effective for every patient. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the HI-STEM* stem cell institute, and the biotech company Xilis in Utrecht, Netherlands, have now developed a new method for selecting the most effective drug before treatment begins.

In a published scientific study, researchers have succeeded in accurately diagnosing common types of brain tumors in children and adolescents based on tumor-derived genetic material in cerebrospinal fluid. Until now, these so-called liquid biopsies were not capable enough for such reliable diagnostics. The international research team has therefore optimized a sequencing technique and developed an AI-based computational method. In a later step,…

A severe side effect of radiation therapy can be debilitating fibrotic skin damage. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now identified a key factor in the development of this radiation damage. Modulating this factor could potentially prevent this severe adverse effect.

A key molecular mechanism drives the growth of liver cell cancer while simultaneously suppressing the body's immune response to the tumor. This has now been published in the journal Nature by a team led by researchers from the DKFZ, the UKT, and the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. However, the results also show that this very mechanism could help identify patients who respond particularly well to immunotherapy in the…

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), and Mannheim University Medical Center (UMM) are presenting a method that enables artificial intelligence (AI) to learn how to transfer medical image data from animals to humans. This “xeno-learning” could help make surgical procedures safer and more precise in the future – without relying on human training data.

Researchers at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed a digital tool that significantly accelerates and improves clinical decisions in molecular precision oncology. The Knowledge Connector enables the structured and standardized evaluation of very extensive molecular tumor profiles and makes them available for personalized therapy decisions faster than before.

Inflammation has to work fast against pathogens—but it can't get out of control. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now deciphered in more detail how the organism masters this balancing act. Their work shows that cells use two different strategies to precisely control inflammatory genes and thus precisely regulate the inflammatory response.

Can the weakened immune systems of older individuals be rejuvenated? Researchers from the DKFZ, HI-STEM*, and the Broad Institute have demonstrated that this is possible with an innovative approach. In a study, the team showed that mRNA technology can be used to transform the liver in mice into a temporary source of important immune regulatory factors that are naturally lost during aging.

Researchers at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg, the German Cancer Research Center, the Heidelberg Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, and Heidelberg University Hospital have taken a decisive step toward more precise diagnosis of brain tumors. The latest version of the AI-based Heidelberg CNS Tumor Methylation Classifier can identify more than 180 tumor types —twice as many as the previous version.

It has only recently become known that two parallel systems of blood formation exist in the body. Researchers at the DKFZ have developed a method to examine both systems separately in mice for the first time. Their surprising finding: the majority of immune cells do not originate from classic blood stem cells in the bone marrow, but from precursor cells that are independent of blood stem cells and are already present in the embryo.

Physician and cancer researcher Mirco Julian Friedrich from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the stem cell research institute HI-STEM*, and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) has received two awards for two independent research projects: his novel approach to preventing liver metastases and his research on T cells, which he modifies to better protect them from attacks by natural killer cells.

Sixteen leading life science and IT companies, all-new livestreamed presentations, and an informative career panel made for a successful EMBL Industry Day in its second year

Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center and the University of Freiburg show how certain painkillers influence the iron metabolism of liver cancer cells and can thus contribute to iron deficiency and anemia in cancer patients.

Endometriosis, menopause, ovarian cancer – still poorly researched and often misdiagnosed. Ângela Gonçalves combines AI, molecular biology, and clinical findings to develop non-invasive tools for early detection, personalized care, and healthier aging. The scientist from the DKFZ-Hector Cancer Institute is the winner of the Falling Walls Foundation's “Breakthrough of the Year 2025” award in the Women's Impact category.

In the PRECISION-ImmunoRad project, a multidisciplinary team of scientists from Heidelberg, USA, and Cyprus will unite their expertise to develop novel curative therapeutic strategies for currently hard-to-treat cancers. These strategies will integrate high-precision ion beam therapy with genetically engineered immune cells therapies (CAR-T cells), personalized cancer vaccines, and the targeted reprogramming of the tumor immune microenvironment.

Ependymomas, brain tumors that occur particularly in young children, are especially difficult to treat and more than half of the children affected have an increased risk of relapse. As part of an international consortium, the KiTZ, the DKFZ, the MFHD and UKHD have received a grant of 1.5 million pounds sterling (GBP) from the British organization The Brain Tumor Charity to develop a new type of immunotherapy for ependymoma.

Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have achieved outstanding success at this year's world-leading forum for medical image processing and computer-assisted intervention. Two DKFZ departments competed in eight international AI competitions – and won seven of them. The successes cover key areas of oncology – from early detection and diagnosis to therapy support and follow-up care.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) is funding a new Emmy Noether project led by Jens Puschhof from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). With this project, the junior researcher aims to decipher the role of certain intestinal bacteria in the earliest stages of colorectal cancer development and investigate how this process can be halted. The long-term goal is to develop new preventive strategies against colorectal cancer.

Tumors are not a comfortable place to live: oxygen deficiency, nutrient scarcity, and the accumulation of sometimes harmful metabolic products constantly stress cancer cells. A research team from the DKFZ and the IMP in Vienna has now discovered that the acidic pH value in tumor tissue is a decisive factor in how pancreatic cancer cells adapt their energy metabolism in order to survive under these adverse conditions.

Until today, the aggressiveness of prostate cancer has been assessed primarily using the Gleason grading system—an analysis of cancer tissue in a pathology laboratory that is highly subjective. An international research team led by the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) has now developed a novel, explainable AI model that aims to make the diagnosis of prostate cancer more transparent and less susceptible to error.

Since their discovery in 2004, the grid cells in the brain, which are important for our orientation, have been regarded as a kind of “GPS in the head.” However, scientists at the DKFZ and Heidelberg University Hospital have now shown that grid cells work much more flexibly than previously assumed. In experiments with mice, the researchers found that the cells adapt their activity to different reference points depending on the situation.

Why is blood cancer particularly aggressive in some patients? Researchers at Ulm University Hospital have characterised a mutation in the so-called NOTCH1 gene that significantly influences the prognosis of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). Remarkably, this mutation is located in the non-coding region of the gene – an area of DNA long considered less relevant for disease mechanisms.

About five percent of lung adenocarcinomas, one of the most common forms of lung cancer, are driven by a faulty fusion of two genes, EML4 and ALK. This fusion results in different variants, and until now, clinicians have treated all patients with these fusions the same way. However, new research led by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Stanford University shows that not all fusion variants behave alike.

Scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed an AI model that assesses the long-term individual risk for more than 1,000 diseases. The model, which was trained and tested using anonymized medical data from the UK and Denmark, can predict health events over a period of more than a decade.

The cellular environment of a tumor can either support or sabotage recovery. The most comprehensive study to date on the tumor microenvironment in low-grade gliomas, conducted by KiTZ, Jena University Hospital, the DKFZ, and Heidelberg University Hospital, shows what a supportive or obstructive “neighborhood” looks like in childhood brain tumors. The study also provides clues as to how tumor communication might be blocked.