Important milestones:

• 1964 DKFZ was founded
• 1977 DKFZ joined the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
• 2001 DKFZ joined the Helmholtz Association of National Research Centers (HGF)
• 2003 The National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg was set up
• 2007 Alliance of DKFZ and the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH)
• 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine awarded to Professor Harald zur Hausen
• 2012 Launch of the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK)

Staff, total: 2,490 (as of November 2012), including

• Staff scientists: 764
• of which doctoral students: 361
• Scientific-technical infrastructure: 511
• Administration, management, basic services: 577
• Assistants, trainees, diploma students and others: 154
• Apprentices: 122

148 visiting scientists from 45 nations (as of January 2011)

Total budget: EUR 183 million (2011) from basic funding, project funding and own revenues

Over 90 departments and research groups

Six Core Facilities

Seven Research Programs

Technology transfer: 963 intellectual property rights and 237 patent families (as of December 2012)

Support of five spin-off projects

Partial ownership of nine enterprises