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Freezing brain tumor cells in a dormant state

_{08/14/2025 | by Koh}
Every brain tumor is made up of cells in successive stages of activation. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University have now analyzed the individual structure of these activation pyramids in malignant brain tumors for the first time. In doing so, they discovered a signaling protein that slows down the transition from a dormant to an activated state by epigenetically reprogramming the cancer cells. The hope is that this will permanently freeze cancer cells in a dormant state and thus halt tumor growth.

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ERC funding for research into improved cancer immunotherapies

07/15/2025 | by Koh

With its Proof of Concept grants, the European Research Council (ERC) supports scientists in further developing the economic potential of their research results. Two scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now received this coveted funding for the second time: Fabricio Loayza-Puch wants to identify unknown immunoactive peptides on tumor cells that can serve as targets for personalized cancer vaccines. Chong Sun has developed an antibody that can reactivate suppressed T cells against cancer and is now being developed for clinical use.

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Third German Award for Research in Cancer Prevention honors outstanding scientists

05/27/2025 | by Koh

Cancer prevention can save lives and alleviate suffering. Yet, research in this field often remains underrepresented. To recognize outstanding achievements in cancer prevention research, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) established the German Award for Research in Cancer Prevention, funded by the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation. The award was presented at the 4th German Cancer Research Congress. The main prize was awarded to Ute Mons from the DKFZ, who was the first in Germany to estimate how many cancer cases are linked to modifiable risk factors. The early-career researcher award went to Carolin Schneider from University Hospital Aachen, who is exploring how artificial intelligence can use global health data to generate recommendations for cancer prevention.

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Explainable artificial intelligence increases the accuracy and endurance of dermatologists in melanoma diagnosis

05/26/2025 | by Koh

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have shown in an international eye-tracking study that dermatologists not only improve their diagnostic accuracy by using explainable artificial intelligence, but also show significantly less fatigue when assessing challenging cases. The researchers were able to demonstrate this by measuring a reduction in cognitive stress indicators.

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