Projects
Our research portfolio comprises studies of malignant diseases in childhood, which possess, because of their frequency or lack of treatment approaches, a major importance in the clinical daily routine at a children's cancer center. After decades of intensive cancer research, a vast number of important genetic changes in leukemia and solid tumors in childhood have been identified.
Nevertheless we are far from having a specific molecular therapy except for in a few particular cancers. This is due to the complexity and diversity of transformed biological systems. It requires additional investments and creative ideas to be able to control cancer diseases and their distinctive traits. Our studies concentrate on acute lymphatic leukemia and solid tumors like neuroblastoma and osteosarcoma. Beyond clinical driven inquiries, issues of a more fundamental nature preoccupy us: How do cells control the repair of damages to their genetic substance? In other words: How do they protect themselves against cancer? And in a functional model for the body defense system, we analyze an immune defect disease that is generally fatal without a life-saving blood stem cell transplantation.