Bavarian research consortia

Bavarian Center for Cancer Research

BZKF
Bavarian Center for Cancer Research
Members of the Board of Directors
Prof. Dr. Claus Belka
(Department of Radiation Oncology)

Prof. Dr. Frederick Klauschen
(Institute of Pathology)
Website
BZKF
Funding
since2019
Topics
With the founding of the Bavarian Center for Cancer Research (BZKF) in November 2019, the major goal of providing all citizens in Bavaria with access to the best possible, latest and innovative therapies, regardless of where they live, is being pursued. The merger of the six Bavarian university hospitals in Augsburg, Erlangen, the two locations in Munich, Regensburg and Würzburg not only promotes cancer research, but also bundles expertise and knowledge on the topics of early detection, therapy and aftercare of tumor diseases, while at the same time offering those affected comprehensive and interdisciplinary care.

Source: BZKF

BAYCELLator - The Bavarian Cell Therapy Catalyst

BAYCELLator
The Bavarian Cell Therapy Catalyst
Speaker
Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kobold
Institution
Division of Clinical Pharmacology
Funding
2023 to 2026
Website
German Center for Infection Research
Topic
Cellular therapies are among the most promising, but also among the most complex forms of treatment in modern medicine. Cell therapeutics are "living drugs" and have healing potential, e.g. in cancer and infection medicine. They can probably also be used successfully for many other diseases. In particular, the development of so-called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified immune cells has already been impressively demonstrated in the case of blood cancers, leading to an approved drug. Similar development potential is also expected for more common cancers and infections. However, the implementation of these therapies from promising preclinical research data to concrete clinical applications is challenging and has so far only been successful in a few individual cases in Bavaria, despite excellent concepts. One of the main reasons for this is the lack of bundling of expertise and technologies in this area, so that every developer usually has to start very far up the clinical transfer chain for their specific application. The Munich and Würzburg universities are now pooling their expertise in BAYCELLator in order to promote the development of basic technologies (so-called "enablers") in addition to the actual cell therapeutics, which have the potential to be of lasting benefit for the future development of cellular therapies in Bavaria. The aim is to bring new therapies to patients more quickly. In the long term, this consortium should create the basis for the establishment of a Bavaria-wide cell therapy network.

Source: BAYCELLator