Cancer

They have their sights set on serious diseases: Gabriele G. Schiattarella analyzes mechanisms of heart failure, Simon Haas wants to improve immunotherapies for leukemia and Michael Sigal would like to prevent gastrointestinal diseases. Now, the ERC is awarding the researchers with a Starting Grant.

Ulrike Stein is searching for molecules that play a key role in metastasis, aiming to use them as therapeutic targets for solid tumors and to improve cancer prognosis. The Metastasis Research Society has recognized her work with this year’s Women in Science Achievement Award.

Klaus Rajewsky has received two awards recognizing his lifetime achievement in science. Both came in October: The German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology awarded him honorary membership at a ceremony in Vienna, while Masaryk University awarded him the Mendel Medal in Brno, Czech Republic.

Walter Birchmeier has spent many decades researching how cells organize themselves in tissues and how these processes go awry in cancer. Now 80, and just as he is approaching the end of his third decade at the Max Delbrück Center, Birchmeier is retiring.

And a celebration it was: After two years of virtual graduation ceremonies due to Covid-19, doctoral students at the Max Delbrück Center were once again able to receive their graduation certificates live on stage.

A new therapeutic agent may offer hope to young people suffering from a severe form of muscle cancer. As a research team led by Anton Henssen reports in “Nature Communications”, this agent prevents the repair of DNA damage in cancer cells, ultimately causing their death.

BRCA1/2-mutated tumor cells often survive treatment, whether it’s chemo- or radiotherapy, because they can repair therapy-induced DNA damage. A team led by Claus Scheidereit of the Max Delbrück Center has now reported in The EMBO Journal how blocking the TSG101 protein hinders these tumor cells from carrying out repair processes.

Klaus Rajewsky’s life reads like a chronicle of immunogenetics. He grasped the opportunities offered by radical changes in molecular biology. He established standard methods for researching gene functions and diseases like cancer. And he continues to contribute to our understanding of antibody-producing B cells.

A CRISPR-based rapid test called CrisprZyme could help general practitioners to diagnose heart attacks and distinguish between different types of prostate cancer. They do not even need a lab, as an international team of scientists – including Michael Kaminski – reports in "Nature Nanotechnology".

Simon Haas receives the Young Investigator Award 2022 of the German Stem Cell Network (GSCN). Haas leads the research group Systemic Hematology, Stem Cells & Precision Medicine in the joint research focus "Single Cell Approaches for Personalized Medicine" of BIH, Charité and MDC.