skip to content

Research Focus Area

Tumor Biology, Infection and Immunity

The task of the Research Focus Area Tumor Biology, Infection and Immunity at the Faculty of Medicine is to investigate molecular mechanisms for the defense against tumors and microorganisms, which enables innovative approaches to be developed for the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases in cancer and infection medicine.

The combination of oncological and infectious diseases research opens up a fascinating and promising field of research with many common interfaces: For example, chronic inflammation caused by infections are risk factors for the development of certain cancer entities. Research into common risk factors therefore enables a holistic approach to prevention and therapy. Furthermore, similar biological mechanisms play a crucial role in both cancer and infectious diseases. In particular, interactions between the immune system, malignant cells and pathogenic infectious agents show many parallels. Immunotherapy has also established itself as a promising strategy in the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.

By bringing together expertise from the fields of oncology and infectious diseases in this interdisciplinary Research Focus Area, synergistic research programs are developed that form a dynamic research platform with the common goal of developing new international standards for the treatment of tumor and infectious diseases through groundbreaking science.

Research in the field of cancer biology and therapy has expanded from innovative clinical research to the development of personalized approaches. The close integration of preclinical and clinical research follows a clearly defined strategy that ranges from basic genetic and cell biological discovery to preclinical testing and further validation in practice-changing clinical trials.

The focus in the field of infection and immunology is on research into fundamental molecular mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction and the resulting development of new therapeutic approaches. In particular, immune-mediated therapeutic approaches and new effective strategies for the treatment of fungal diseases and infections with multi-resistant pathogens are being developed at the site.

Synergies in the Research Focus Area "Tumor Biology, Infection and Immunity" arise from the understanding of the evolution of tumor cells and infectious agents, the use of the same principles of drug therapy, including personalized medicine and immunotherapies.