The Berlin-Brandenburg Acadamy of Sciences and Humanities (BBAW) is honoring Marieke Essers pioneering research work on hematopoietic stem cells and their activation during stress conditions such as inflammation. The award is donated by the Monika Kutzner Foundation for the advancement in cancer research and includes a prize money of 10,000 Euros. It is awarded to young researchers annually for outstanding scientific achievements in the area of cancer research. On November, 5, 2018 the prize was presented to Marieke, who has been a group leader at HI-STEM since 2009, in a ceremonial act at the academy.

Further Information:

• Press release idw
• Press release BBAW
• Research Group Marieke Essers
• Website Berlin-Brandenburg Acadamy of Sciences and Humanities

In collaboration with physicians in Heidelberg and Mannheim, the group of Thordur Oskarsson at HI-STEM and DKFZ published a research paper in EMBO Molecular Medicine on September 6, 2018, ahead of print. The first author Jacob Insua-Rodríguez, a member of the Oskarsson group, finished his PhD thesis at HI STEM earlier this year. The publication reveals how c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) pathway, that is activated by cellular stress, promotes breast cancer metastasis by inducing the matrix proteins osteopontin and tenascin C. This indicates that malignant cells may not only tolerate stress-inducing events, but can also take advantage of the consequent signals. Notably, treatment with chemotherapeutic agents leads to substantial induction in JNK signaling and upregulation of downstream matrix proteins in cancer cells, resulting in impaired therapeutic efficacy. Inhibition of JNK signaling or the disruption of osteopontin or tenascin C expression sensitizes experimental mammary tumors and metastases to chemotherapy. Thus, targeting JNK stress signaling or downstream matrix proteins may expose vulnerabilities in cancer cells to consider in the battle against metastatic breast cancer. 

Further reading:

• DKFZ Press Release: Breast cancer: Stress signaling promotes metastasis and therapy resistance (English Version / German Version)
• Insua-Rodríguez J, Pein M, Hongu T, Meier J, Descot A, Lowy CM, De Braekeleer E, Sinn HP, Spaich S, Sütterlin M, Schneeweiss A, Oskarsson T. (2018). Stress signaling in breast cancer cells induces matrix components that promote chemoresistant metastasis. EMBO molecular medicine, e9003. DOI: 10.15252/emmm.201809003

From September 16-19, 2018, HI-STEM, together with the DKFZ and the Heidelberg University Hospital, was hosting the 10^th International Heinrich F.C. Behr-Symposium on Stem Cells and Cancer. The conference featured talks by over 25 invited international speakers, including keynotes by John Dick (Toronto), Elaine Fuchs (New York), Pier Paolo Pandolfi (Boston), Ben Ebert (Boston) and Leonard I. Zon (Boston). On Sunday, September 16, Andreas Trumpp, the chair of the organizing committee of the event, welcomed over 300 participants to the conference. Topics of the talks included latest highlights concerning the malignant transformation of stem cells in the blood and other organs, as well as new findings concerning the epigenetic regulation of healthy and diseased stem cells.

SCC 2018 Speakers

Elaine Fuchs

Frederic de Sauvage

Poster session

Andreas Trumpp

Air-conditioned world-class research

Catriona Jamieson and Margaret Goodell

Time for a break

Listening to Margaret Goodell

SCC 2018 Poster Prize Winners

John Dick

AML workshop

The 2018 SCC poster prize winners: Colinda Scheele (1st prize), Nuray Bögürcü (2nd prize), Elena Parmigiani (3rd prize)

 To find out more about the conference, please visit the conference website at www.scc2018.de.

The European Association for Cancer Research (EACR) is Europe’s professional membership association for those working and studying in cancer research, with more than 10,000 members worldwide. Its mission is “The advancement of cancer research for the public benefit: from basic research to prevention, treatment and care.”

During the recent EACR25 Congress in Amsterdam, Andreas Trumpp was elected as EACR board member, which represents EACR’s executive body.

We are looking forward to many exciting and fruitful interactions with EACR researchers in Europe!

To find out more about the strategy and aims of the EACR, please have a look at the open letter by Alberto Bardelli and Anton Berns, the previous and current EACR Presidents: “Why You Matter: an Open Letter to EACR Members”.