Using multi-omics technologies, single-cell applications and innovative in vitro and in vivo models, we seek for novel druggable vulnerabilities in pediatric cancers with focus on neuroblastoma. We test novel small molecule combinations and explore the power of PROTACs for protein degradation in a preclinical setting. As partner of the ITCC consortium, we aim to accelerate the future transition towards more potent and less toxic precision medicine from the bench to the patient.
Mission
Tools
We make combined use of high-throughput genomics and proteomics, cellular model systems, mouse and zebrafish models and advanced bioinformatics to gain insights into the role of genes and signaling networks in initiation and development of childhood cancer as well as processes leading to treatment resistance, the main cause of cancer deaths.
Childhood cancers
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, brain cancer and neuroblastoma are the three most frequent cancers occurring in children. Survival rates for childhood leukemias have dramatically increased over the past decades while survival for children with relapsed disease remains low. Increase in survival for children suffering from brain cancer or neuroblastoma has been modest and current therapy has severe short and long-term side effects. Given these facts, there is a pressing need for novel insights and discoveries that can pave the way for more effective and less toxic treatment.
