Immunotherapy

Multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, remains difficult to treat despite modern CAR T cell therapies. In “Molecular Therapy,” a team led by Armin Rehm presents an improved immunotherapy that recognizes two distinct features of malignant cells to destroy the cancer more effectively.

Captain T Cell, a biotechnology spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin, recently closed an equity financing round with both new and existing investors. It provides Captain T Cell with a total budget of EUR 20 million to develop next-generation T cell therapies for solid tumors.

At his upcoming MDC Lecture, Dr. Sai Reddy will discuss his research into reprogramming immune cells to better fight disease, and how he was at the right place at the right time to help pioneer the emerging fields of systems and synthetic immunology.

Therapy that is tailored to patients’ diseases is largely unaffordable. Three Max Delbrück Center postdocs have won GO-Bio Initial grants to simplify and improve personalized therapies. They aim to bring down costs to enable more widespread access.

Simon Haas receives a Proof-of-Concept Grant from the European Research Council in the amount of €150,000. Immunotherapies use the immune system to fight against cancer. Haas' team from the joint single-cell focus of Max Delbrück Center, BIH, and Charité is developing methods to predict the efficacy of immunotherapies.

Captain T Cell, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center, raised €8.5 million in startup funding. The startup focuses on developing T cells to target solid tumors. The funds are intended to move a new generation of T cell therapies towards the clinic.

Cell-based immunotherapies, particularly lab-produced immune cells known as CAR T cells, show promise in treating various cancers. But how do we produce effective ones? Gaetano Gargiulo from the Max Delbrück Center will develop a novel screening tool, supported by an ERC Proof of Concept Grant.

From 2024, the Federal Government and the State of Berlin will fund the establishment of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Berlin. The new site is a cooperation between DKFZ and Charité, BIH, and Max Delbrück Center aimed at closely integrating clinical and translational cancer research.

The Berlin biotech Glycotope and the Max Delbrück Center have signed an agreement to explore the potential of combining Glycotope’s tumor-specific antibodies with CAR technology developed by the Max Delbrück Center. Their common goal: advancing immunotherapies against solid tumors.

After spending many years researching together, a group of scientists has founded CARTemis Therapeutics, a spin-off from the Max Delbrück Center. Uta Höpken, Armin Rehm, Anthea Wirges, and Mario Bunse want to use novel CAR T-cell therapies to help patients with cancers that are currently untreatable.