Summary

Dieter Saur is a consultant Gastroenterologist & Oncologist with a long-standing expertise in diagnosing and treating cancer patients in the clinic. Research of his group focuses on a deeper understanding of human biology in health and disease using novel cutting edge genetic engineering, targeting and large-scale genome-wide screening technologies. The translation of new biological understanding into clinically useful diagnostics and therapeutic approaches is a key mission of his lab. His group has developed a unique set of highly versatile and widely applicable genetic tools that will facilitate the study of cancer subtypes at an organismal level, such as dual- and triple-recombinase systems and retroviral cell type specific in vivo gene transfer strategies. They allow for the first time a mechanistic analysis and pre-clinical evaluation of important signaling pathways in tumor cells and their microenvironment that are essential for cancer progression, metastasis and treatment resistance. The functional understanding of cancer biology will open new horizons for the clinical management and prognosis of cancer patients. Thus, establishment of an effective translational research infrastructure fulfilling the demands of pre-clinical researchers to conduct academically-driven investigator initiated trials (IIT), such as biomarker guided first in man studies will be an important aim of his group in the future.