Healthcare industry

A new interdisciplinary research project aims to uncover information that can help decode hereditary colon cancer with the aid of mathematical models. Mathematicians and tumour biologists of Heidelberg University, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Heidelberg University Hospital, and the German Cancer Research Center are collaborating on the project.

The development of immunotherapies against blood cancer could be more successful if T cells are activated moderately rather than excessively. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have now been able to show this in mice: If the researchers blocked a cytokine that slows down the immune system, the T cells became exhausted and failed in the fight against leukemia.

At Tübingen University Hospital, a preclinical study led by Dr. Clemens Hinterleitner and Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, Medical Director of Medical Oncology and Pneumology, led to extremely promising results. The research group was able to develop a new methodology that makes it possible to better predict the likelihood of success of immunotherapies for lung cancer.

Gene regulation as a starting point for cancer therapies - 02/12/2021

New investigation method for deciphering complex epigenetic networks

The development and maintenance of uncontrolled cell division in tumours is often due to the unbalanced, complex interplay of regulatory epigenetic networks. Researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry in Stuttgart have developed a new screening system to identify essential components that can serve as targets for anticancer drugs.

Parkinson's disease is characterised by a slow, progressive loss of nerve cells in certain brain areas. The disease is still incurable and the exact causes are unclear. The dopamine deficiency in the brain can only be controlled to some extent in the initial phase of the disease. Basic research is being conducted in an attempt to unravel the mystery of Parkinson's disease.