Scientists at the University Hospital Freiburg have received funding of one million pounds, equivalent to around 1.17 million euros, as part of the British "Crack it" challenge. The team, led by Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen, Director of the Institute for Transfusion Medicine and Gene Therapy at the University Hospital Freiburg, is researching an innovative approach to assessing the safety of modern cancer therapies. The new method is intended to help replace animal testing and improve the safety of CAR T-cell therapy. The "Crack it" challenge funding program is awarded annually by the British research organization NC3Rs with a maximum of one million pounds and aims to reduce animal testing. CAR T-cell therapies are already used in numerous cancer diseases and offer great potential for treating patients with previously incurable cancers. This involves taking the patient's own immune cells (T-cells) and modifying them in the laboratory so that they can specifically recognize and fight cancer cells. To reduce the likelihood of side effects and complications...

German Cancer Aid presented the German Cancer Aid Award for 2023 during a ceremony in the Old Town Hall in Bonn. The award recipients are Professor Dr. Reinhard Büttner, Professor Dr. Jürgen Wolf, and Professor Dr. Roman Thomas from Cologne. They are receiving the award in recognition of their outstanding work in the field of diagnostics and therapy for lung cancer – particularly within the framework of the interdisciplinary 'National Network Genomic Medicine (nNGM) – Lung Cancer' initiated by them. It enables patients with advanced lung cancer to receive a personalized therapy tailored precisely to them. The German Cancer Aid Award is endowed with 15,000 euros for each recipient. The interdisciplinary 'National Network Genomic Medicine Lung Cancer' has developed into the world's largest lung cancer initiative since 2018. It originated from the Cologne network 'Genomic Medicine,' which has been successfully advocating for the implementation of personalized therapies in the care of patients with advanced...