15/10/2020

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DKTK School of Oncology fellows in Munich receive funding for translational research

In September 2020, the DKTK partner site München issued an internal call for proposals with the aim of selecting and funding translational oncological research projects proposed by early-career scientists. The fellows of the School of Oncology were given the opportunity to apply for up to 25,000 euros for materials and small-scale equipment to carry out their own research project.

An internal selection committee decided to fund the following research projects:

  • Johannes Hildebrand (EOM and MTT program): Exploiting the antitumor activity of hyperactive cathepsin S (CTSS) using lysosomotropic antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) 
  • Marianne Reiser (MDEB program): Molecular characterization of prostate carcinoma 
  • Juliana Goncalves (MDEB program): Identification of chromophobe renal cell carcinoma and oncocytoma in biopsies using mass spectrometry imaging 
  • Erik Thiele Orberg (MDEB and CI program): The ability of type-I interferon-inducing microbial-derived metabolites to trigger epithelialprotective pathways in patient bio-samples and patient-derived intestinal organoids
  • Viktoria Blumenberg (CI program): CAR multi-omics: Understanding resistance, predicting response 
  • Radostin Galabov (Samet Mutlu) (ROI program): Dissecting intrinsic radioresistance and intra-tumoral heterogeneity in HNSCC 

In addition, the DKTK partner site München worked with the Comprehensive Cancer Center München (CCCM) to develop the Munich OncoTrack program for the fellows of the DKTK School of Oncology. This is a rotating program in which individual fellows spend time at institutes of interest for their further career, within their own or the neighboring hospital or university (LMU Klinikum/LMU and Klinikum Rechts der Isar/TUM). In order to offer the fellows insights into institute-specific methodology, the participating institutes have created translational modules, enabling the fellows to continue their training in specific areas, while widening their network on site, finding new ideas and exploring collaboration options for project applications.

Supplementing the training and further training programs at its partner sites, the DKTK School of Oncology offers activities covering all aspects of translational cancer research for medical scientists and clinician scientists. These involve integrating scientists and physicians in local programs, where they work on a translational research project at the relevant partner site. The DKTK School of Oncology trains researchers and physicians in interdisciplinary communication and collaboration to speed up the transfer of results from basic research into clinical practice, and the transfer of clinically relevant questions back into research. 

The target group of the DKTK School of Oncology consists of clinical scientists (physicians who have not yet completed their residency/specialist training) and medical scientists (scientists with a medical background or postdocs who are no more than six years on from completing their doctorate). There are currently around 120 fellows in the DKTK School of Oncology, of whom 25 are based at the Munich site.