Prime Vector Technologies is developing a new vaccine platform - 20/10/2026

The ORF platform – one virus, many possibilities

Many vaccines effectively deliver an antigen to the desired target site. But what if, at the same time, the immune system could be specifically orchestrated to build broad and comprehensive protection? This idea led to the development of a novel vector platform based on the Orf virus. The work was carried out by the Tübingen-based start-up Prime Vector Technologies.

How can cell-based immunotherapies for cancer and autoimmune diseases become more widely available in the long term? The SYNTHIA project is addressing this challenge: The Max Planck Institute for Medical Research and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI are collaborating on new research approaches to advance the development of cell-based immunotherapies.

CAR-T cell therapies have proven successful in treating several types of blood and lymphoid cancers. However, their use in treating other tumors is significantly more challenging, in part because suitable target structures are lacking.

CAR-T cell therapies have proven successful in treating several types of blood and lymphoid cancers. However, their use in treating other tumors is significantly more challenging, in part because suitable target structures are lacking.

The liver is organized into distinct zones in which liver cells perform different functions. The blood vessels of the liver play an important role in this spatial organization: the endothelial cells lining the vessels provide signals that instruct neighboring liver cells and help determine their function. But how do endothelial cells know which signals to produce?

A project funded by the Baden-Württemberg Stiftung at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg is investigating the interplay between RNA modifications and epigenetic mechanisms during cell division – and its potential significance for treatment resistance in cancer.

ViferaXS, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing peptide-based cancer immunotherapy for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors, today announced the close of the Series A financing round of up to €12 million, including grant funding. The round was led by SPRIND, the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, and Huma, with participation from private investors.

CAR T-cell therapies are used successfully to treat certain blood cancers. However, while some patients respond even to low-dose treatment, others derive no benefit. Researchers from the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine at Heidelberg University and the Berlin Institute of Health at Charité (BIH) investigated the reasons behind these differences in a collaborative research project.

Three researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have each been awarded a Starting Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) this year. Daniel Kirschenbaum, Lena Kutscher, and Michael Scherer impressed the ERC with their innovative research approaches to fundamental questions in cancer medicine.

Cells of the highly aggressive brain tumor glioblastoma exhibit predatory behavior: they exploit signaling between healthy neurons and internalize portions of their contact sites. Dr. Dr. Varun Venkataramani of the Heidelberg Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University, and his research team, will investigate how glioblastoma cells benefit from this process and whether it may represent a novel therapeutic target.

Coughing, phlegm, and shortness of breath can be early signs of COPC. In COPD, the airways are permanently narrowed, making it harder to breathe. The most significant risk factor is long-term smoking. The CHRONOS study conducted by the Department of Pneumology at the Medical Center – University of Freiburg provides evidence that changes in the lungs can already be detected before a standard pulmonary function test confirms the airway narrowing.

Revier Therapeutics, today announced the closing of a EUR 6 million seed financing and the launch of its operations. The Company has established the first therapeutic approach to selectively target class IIa histone deacetylases (HDACs) for the treatment of cardiometabolic diseases.

How can a respiratory virus be stopped before it spreads throughout the body? In the MucoShield project, Prime Vector Technologies, the NMI Tübingen, and Fraunhofer IGB are developing an intranasal vaccine candidate against human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which causes hundreds of thousands of cases of severe respiratory disease worldwide each year – especially among children, older people, and immunocompromised individuals.

Researchers and physicians at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) and other leading cancer centers report an exceptional treatment success in an adolescent with an advanced, therapy-resistant kidney tumor. Using a novel, personalized T-cell therapy, they succeeded in completely pushing back the tumor disease despite multiple metastases.

The NanoLYRIC project: nanoparticles as drug carriers - 13/08/2026

Radiation-activated local chemotherapy

Conventional chemotherapy is associated with severe side effects because cytotoxic drugs act on the whole body. Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the University Medical Centre Göttingen, in collaboration with Aalen University of Applied Sciences, are developing a novel approach in which a chemotherapeutic agent encapsulated in nanoparticles is released locally and selectively only upon targeted irradiation of the tumour.

A team led by researchers from the German Cancer Research Center, the HI-STEM* Stem Cell Institute, and Medical Clinic V at Heidelberg University Hospital has characterized T cells in the bone marrow in cases of multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukemia: A specific group of tumor-reactive T cells can recognize and fight cancer cells, but is often not sufficiently activated. Nevertheless, the number of these cells influences the prognosis.

Researchers from the Medical Faculty Heidelberg, the Medical Faculty Mannheim, and the Centre for Organismal Studies at Heidelberg University have launched a new research project investigating so-called dipeptides. The consortium aims to determine which dipeptides have the strongest protective effects and how they could be harnessed in future therapies for vascular and kidney diseases.

Over the next five years, Dr. Mykhailo Batiuk and his research group at the Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine at Heidelberg University will investigate the biological mechanisms underlying post-traumatic stress disorder. The European Research Council (ERC) is supporting the project with an ERC Starting Grant worth approximately €1.4 million.

Researchers from Heidelberg University’s Faculty of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have uncovered key mechanisms underlying the proliferation of the malaria parasite Plasmodium. The molecular processes that govern the formation of infectious daughter parasites and new nuclei are essential for parasite survival and may therefore represent targets for future antimalarial therapies.

EMUNO Therapeutics: the innate immune system as a new approach to cancer treatment - 29/07/2026

Activation of macrophages: a key factor in the fight against colorectal cancer

The mobilisation of the body’s own immune system through immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionised cancer therapy. However, the majority of solid tumours are able to evade immune surveillance. These so-called 'cold' tumours contain too few immune cells to respond effectively to current immunotherapies. This is where the Freiburg-based biotech start-up EMUNO Therapeutics GmbH comes in.

On July 24, 2026, the Medical Center – University of Freiburg, the University of Freiburg, and the medical technology company Siemens Healthineers opened their joint Technology Innovation Lab, for short. In the lab at the Department of Radiation Oncology, experts in medicine, medical physics, radiation biology, and data science are working together with engineers to develop and test new technologies for radiation therapy to treat cancer.

Why do cancers develop differently in different people—even when they are exposed to the same risk factors? An international research group, including the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), has now demonstrated in mice that an organism’s genetic makeup significantly influences the course of cancer development.

It has long been suspected that endothelial cells play a key role in determining how the body’s immune system responds to tumors. Researchers at the DKFZ and the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University have now identified, in mouse studies, a specialized population of blood vessel lining endothelial cells that enable an effective immune defense against cancer metastases in the liver.

Researchers at the NCT Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have, for the first time, systematically determined how specific mutations promote acute myeloid leukemias. The results show why IDH1- and IDH2-mutated leukemias develop differently despite similar molecular mechanisms—and open up new approaches for diagnostics and targeted therapies.