Jonas Scheck (B06N) is the recipient of a research grant by the Family Mehdorn Foundation. The funded project brings together researchers from UT MD Anderson, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and University Hospital Heidelberg (UKHD). Building on recently developed imaging platforms, the team aims to further advance drug‑delivery strategies for glioblastoma, with the goal of improving therapeutic precision for the highly aggressive brain tumor.
Stefan Pfister (C01) has been awarded the Thomas and Doris Ammann Prize. His research has uncovered multiple previously unrecognized genetic alterations that drive the development of various pediatric brain tumor types. These include mutations that reveal new therapeutic targets, as well as genetic changes that point to an inherited predisposition to cancer. Together, these discoveries have substantially deepened the understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying childhood brain tumors and have paved the way for more precise, individually tailored treatment approaches.
In previous years, his exceptional scientific contributions have also been recognized with several prestigious honors, including the German Cancer Award (2013), the Léopold Griffuel Award (2021), the Baden‑Württemberg State Research Award (2022), and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (2023).
Dr. Dirk Hoffmann (A03) has been awarded the MTZ Award for Systems Medicine 2026 in recognition of his outstanding research on malignant brain tumors. His work provides important impulses for the development of novel therapeutic strategies against glioblastomas. His research focuses on the molecular and cellular mechanisms of glioblastoma, with particular emphasis on tumor heterogeneity, therapy resistance, and the identification of new biomarkers and targeted therapeutic approaches. During his doctoral studies, he investigated the communication and oncogenic properties of glioblastoma cells that are interconnected through tumor microtubes—an essential mechanism underlying therapy resistance. By combining single-cell–resolved and bulk multi‑omics analyses, he deciphered the molecular profile of these cellular networks and derived a network signature that was validated as a prognostic biomarker across several independent patient cohorts and is currently being evaluated in prospective clinical studies. In addition, his research is closely integrated with clinical trials on molecularly targeted therapeutic strategies, in which he identifies and validates prognostic and predictive biomarkers through retrospective multi‑omics analyses.
The MTZ Award for Systems Medicine, presented by the independent MTZ Foundation under the patronage of the Federal Ministry for Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR), is among the most prestigious German early‑career awards in medical systems biology and systems medicine. It honors exceptional dissertations that apply interdisciplinary approaches to investigate complex biological systems using molecular‑genetic, clinical, mathematical, or computational methods.
Dirk Hoffmann is also the recipient of the Richtzenhain Doctoral Prize (2025), in recognition of his outstanding doctoral thesis.
Felix Sahm (A06) is one of the recipients of the German Cancer Prize in the Translational Research Category. The Prize is awarded annually by the German Cancer Society and the German Cancer Foundation and is considered one of the highest distinctions in oncology. Sahm is recognized for his leading contributions to the molecular classification of brain tumors, particularly through the development of integrated diagnostic frameworks that combine DNA methylation profiling, genomic alterations, and computational analysis. These classification systems have substantially improved diagnostic accuracy across tumor entities, refined prognostic stratification, and enabled more biologically informed therapeutic decision‑making.
Felix Sahm’s other scientific awards include the EANO Research Award (2025) and the Paul-Kleihues-Prize (2013).
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Themen
Research
- Focus A
- A01: Targeting tumor cell network communication to overcome primary and adaptive resistance in glioblastoma
- A02: Development of a specific combination therapy for histone H3-mutant pediatric glioblastoma
- A03: Deciphering resistance against targeted treatments
- A04: Elucidating tumor-associated microglia interactions in astrocytomas CNS WHO-grade 4
- A05: Predictive biomarkers for MGMT-promoter-methylated glioblastoma (2019 – 2023)
- A06: Resistance mechanisms of glioblastoma against alkylating agents and radiotherapy
- A07: Mapping and targeting neuron-tumor networks to tackle therapy resistance in glioblastoma
- A08: Personalized glioblastoma treatment guided by patient-derived tumor organoids
Research
- Focus B
- B01: Mechanisms of response and resistance to glioma-specific t cells
- B02: DNA mis-match repair regulates immune checkpoint blockade therapy in glioblastoma (2019 – 2023)
- B03: Targeting immunosuppressive programs in isocitrate dehydrogenase mutant gliomas
- B04: Impact of myeloid cells on the adaptive immune response in newly diagnosed and recurrent glioblastomas
- B05: Dissecting the response of glioblastoma and its tumor microenvironment to focused high-dose radiotherapy (2019 – 2023)
- B06: Visualization and characterization of immune responses in H3K27M mutant gliomas
Research
- Focus C
- C01: Comprehensive preclinical pharmacology testing of drugs used for glioblastoma treatment
- C02: Radiomics, radiogenomics and deep-learning in neurooncology
- C03: Imaging immune signatures of glioma response and resistance towards immunotherapy (2019 – 2023)
- C04: Metabolic signaling in glioblastoma: a spatial multi-omics approach
- C05: Overcoming glioma radio-resistance with particle therapy
- C06: Functional characterization of EGFR structural variants associated with long-term survival in glioblastoma, IDH-WT