GRK 1034:  The Impact of Inherited Polymorphismus in Oncology: From Basic Science to Clinical Application

• Subject Area: Basic Research in Biology and Medicine
• Term: from 2005 to 2013
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 374717

Prevention and healing of tumour diseases are main tasks of medical research. In many areas partial success has been achieved, but according to the seriousness of the disease, cancer therapy is very intensive and often combined with severe side effects. The common research goal of the Research Training Group is to improve the therapy and to reduce undesirable side effects. Thus the pharmacogenomic research of the Research Training Group considers the individual genetic characteristics of the patient, namely of the tumour cells as well as of the healthy cells. The human Genome project has revealed an extensive inter-individual genetic variability in human genes: Scientists presume more than three million variable positions, so called polymorphisms. Now these data have to be associated with the expression of genes as well as with the phenotypical characteristics, for example the emerging side effects. The Research Training Group studies the meaning of this variability for the incidence, the process and the therapeutic results of cancer diseases. A special focus is the combination of basic science and clinical research. Thus scientific results can be promptly implemented in therapy.
The Research Training Group addresses young scientists aiming at a professional career in molecular and clinical oriented cancer research. As prerequisite for an early independent scientific career the Research Training Group offers a profound training in cancer medicine and functional genomic research together with a broad knowledge of modern oncology. The molecular basic principles of tumour diseases, molecular and cell biological methods, the conception of clinical studies and drug research in oncology, medical statistics, epidemiology and genetic epidemiology, bioinformatic and molecular structure research as well as ethics of medical research and the basic principles of historical anthropology are part of the training programme.

• DFG Programme: Research Training Groups
• Applicant Institution: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Jürgen Brockmöller
• Participating Researchers: Professorin Dr. Heike Bickeböller; Professor Dr. Gerhard Burckhardt; Professor Dr. Matthias Dobbelstein; Professor Dr. Ralf Dressel; Professor Dr. Steffen Emmert; Professor Dr. B. Michael Ghadimi; Professor Dr. Christian Griesinger; Professorin Dr. Heidi Hahn; Professor Steven Johnsen, Ph.D.; Professor Dr. Dieter Kube; Professor Dr. Lorenz Trümper