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GRK 2978:  Understanding and Exploiting Adaptation to Therapy in Gastrointestinal Cancer

Subject Area Medicine
Term since 2025
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Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 514807661
 
Treatment failure remains a major hurdle for a significant improvement in the prognosis of patients suffering from liver-, biliary-, pancreatic- or colorectal cancer. Characteristically, these gastrointestinal (GI) tumor entities harbor a tremendous tumor cell intrinsic- and extrinsic potential to adapt to therapy-induced stresses. Given the impact of adaptive responses to therapy on treatment failure, and considering the therapeutic opportunities arising from tailored interference with these adaptations, the Research Training Group (RTG) 2978 proposes that understanding and exploiting adaptation to therapy will provide novel rational treatment strategies to combat GI cancer. Within their graduation projects, RTG2978 PhD and MD candidates combine GI cancer-patient-related research questions with in-depth mechanistic studies aiming at a comprehensive understanding of therapy-induced tumor cell-intrinsic and -extrinsic adaptation processes. Furthermore, they exploit the mechanistic endeavors of these processes with regard to their clinical significance in GI cancer therapy. The RTG involves an interdisciplinary PI team and is embedded in the complementary scientific, infrastructural, and methodical environment of the two sites of the Comprehensive Cancer Center Lower Saxony (CCC-N), the Universitätsmedizin Göttingen (UMG) and the Hannover Medical School (MHH). The RTG´s qualification program is tailored to the scientific and methodological spectrum of the research projects, and equips RTG trainees with the theoretical and practical skills required for successful graduation in the field of translational GI cancer research at an internationally competitive level. In addition, it seeks to provide the armamentarium essential for a successful and sustained academic career in translational GI cancer research beyond graduation. As an integral component of the qualification program, the RTG curriculum bridges topics from basic science to tools for clinical application of research findings. In the interest of interprofessional education of PhD and MD candidates working at two sites, the RTG involves innovative and flexible ways of training which complement the individual research projects. Curricular training is accompanied by measures known to encourage academic career tracks, such as high-level supervision, a novel personal peer-mentor concept, and diverse networking opportunities, including lab rotations to internationally renowned cancer research centers. In sum, we envision our RTG´s research-, qualification-, and supervision program to address the educational, scientific, and clinical challenges of GI cancers and to equip next-generation-scientists with the knowledge, skills and dedication for a sustained career in GI cancer research.
DFG Programme Research Training Groups
Applicant Institution Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
Co-Applicant Institution Medizinische Hochschule Hannover
 
 

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