Research Networks

The UCT collaborates with and is part of a number of research networks, a selection of which is presented here.

The CCC Network bundles the expertise, interactions and external presentation of the Comprehensive Cancer Centers (“Onkologische Spitzenzentren”) funded by the German Cancer Aid. The resulting synergies are intended to help develop viable concepts to improve oncological patient care and hospital-based cancer research.
 

The Cardio-Pulmonary Institute (CPI) is the excellence cluster funded by the German Research Foundation „DFG“ to better understand cardio-pulmonary diseases and find new treatments through translational research. The interdisciplinary team examines mechanisms of cardio-pulmonary diseases in model systems ranging from cell culture experiments to animal models in combination with clinical data.

Within the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), cancer researchers and physicians collaborate closely at eight locations across Germany to speed up the transfer to clinical practice of successful cancer research. The main aim of the DKTK is to discover, develop, test and apply new personalized oncology strategies. To this end, the DKTK supports interdisciplinary research topics at the interface between basic research and clinical practice, as well as clinical studies of innovative therapeutic and diagnostic procedures.

The EUbOPEN consortium is an Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) funded project to enable and unlock biology in the open. EUbOPEN will develop selective and well-characterized chemical modulators using new technologies and test them in well-characterized, disease-relevant human tissue assays in the areas of immunology, oncology and neuroscience. The project outputs, including chemogenomic library sets, chemical probes, assay protocols and associated research data will be made openly available to the research community without restriction.

The FCI is developing individual therapy concepts, which are based on a better understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms. Interdisciplinary project teams work closely together to achieve the next level of translation in iterative cycles between the lab and the clinic.

The Fraunhofer Institute IME conducts research in the field of applied life sciences from a molecular level to entire ecosystems. Its laboratories are equipped with state-of-the-art technologies and complex environmental simulation facilities that offer a wide range of research and services.

Under the umbrella of the German Biobank Node (GBN), 37 academic biobank sites and one IT development center have joined forces in the German Biobank Alliance (GBA). The GBA biobanks establish uniform quality standards and make their human biosamples and associated data available for biomedical research throughout Europe.

The graduate school (RTG/GRK) AVE "Resolution of Inflammation" (Auflösung von Entzündungsreaktionen) aims to train PhD students in the field of resolution of inflammation with a focus on the elucidation of basic mechanisms and their dysregulation in disease.

MIRACUM is one of four consortia funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as part of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII).

As part of the National Decade Against Cancer, pioneering work is being funded that focuses on tumor heterogeneity and the resulting resistance to therapy in 3 common types of cancer. The aim of SATURN3 is to further develop therapeutic approaches.

This Collaborative Research Center (CRC) investigates Molecular Principles of RNA-based Regulation to study the role and potential of RNA to regulate cellular function. The methodologies include spectroscopic tools including NMR, EPR, IR and fluorescence spectroscopy, theoretical descriptions, and methods in super-resolution spectroscopy and Structural and Chemical Biology specifically geared towards RNA.
 

The Collaborative Research Center (CRC) SFB 1039 focuses on two classes of lipid molecules: fatty acids and their derivatives and signaling molecules derived from sphingolipids. The projects focus on the regulation of cellular responses such as proliferation, differentiation and cell integrity and address four major research areas: (i) Inflammation, fibrosis and pain research, (ii) Barrier protection (iii) Regulation of metabolism and (iv) Immune defence and tumor development.

SFB 1177 aims at gaining a more detailed insight into the mechanistic details of autophagic pathways to better understand its role in disease development and eventually exploit this knowledge therapeutically.

The goal of the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1530 is to significantly improve the cure rate of patients with prognostically unfavorable B-cell neoplasms through innovative therapies based on the understanding of mechanisms. This will be achieved through efficient disruption of oncogenic signaling pathways of the lymphoma cell and specific modulation of the lymphoma microenvironment.

The Structural Genomics Consortium at the Goethe University Frankfurt (SGC Frankfurt) is a research node of the SGC, an international public private partnership and open science network. The SGC catalyzes new research areas of human biology by providing high resolution structure information, assay systems and chemical tools.