News

Double ERC success for DKFZ researchers

_01/27/2026
With its Proof of Concept (PoC) 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 been selected for this prestigious funding: Hellmut Augustin is developing novel mouse tumor models that will ensure better transferability of results while reducing the number of animals used in experiments. Michael Platten plans to further develop an AI-driven classifier to accelerate the complex production of therapeutic T cells for immunotherapy.

AI learns from animals: New approach to improve surgical imaging

01/26/2026 | by Koh

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), and Mannheim University Medical Center (UMM) are presenting a method that enables artificial intelligence (AI) to learn how to transfer medical image data from animals to humans. This “xeno-learning” could help make surgical procedures safer and more precise in the future – without relying on human training data.

In Memoriam: Professor Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Klaus van Ackern

01/21/2026

Former Ordinarius and Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine, and for nearly two decades Dean of the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University, has passed away.

University Medicine Mannheim mourns the loss of Professor Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Klaus van Ackern, who passed away on January 18, 2026, at the age of 84 at the hospital he himself led as clinic director for two decades. In 1989, Professor van Ackern was appointed to the Chair of Anesthesiology at the Medical Faculty Mannheim (then still the Faculty of Clinical Medicine Mannheim) of Heidelberg University and named Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Operative Intensive Care Medicine at what was then the Municipal Hospital Mannheim. In 2009, at the age of 67, he officially retired. This step, however, applied only to his role as clinic director and Ordinarius. At the same time, Professor van Ackern turned his long-standing personal commitment—the leadership of the Medical Faculty as Dean—into his primary professional responsibility.

Merger of the Heidelberg and Mannheim University Hospitals Launched

01/12/2026

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts (MWK), Heidelberg University, Heidelberg University Hospital, the City of Mannheim and University Hospital Mannheim officially marked the launch of the merger between the two university hospitals. Representatives of the participating institutions symbolically signed the agreements sealing the merger during a joint special train journey from Mannheim to Heidelberg. The event concluded with a ceremony in the lecture hall of the Kopfklinik on the Heidelberg Medical Campus attended by around 400 invited guests from politics, the healthcare sector, and supporters and staff of both university hospitals.