The group is active in two areas of cancer drug development: Synthetic Organic Chemistry and Biological testing. These activities are combined to develop specific inhibitors and to establish candidate drugs for clinical testing.

Synthetic Organic Chemistry (Dr. Aubry Miller)

Our chemistry group is focused on the laboratory synthesis of new chemical entities for cancer research and therapy. Our work is conducted in two complementary ways.

Medicinal Chemistry: We design and synthesize small-molecule inhibitors of novel drug targets that have been identified and validated at the DKFZ. In close collaboration with the DKFZ / EMBL Chemical Biology Core Facility, we transform HTS hits into potent and selective lead compounds for use as potential therapies and/or research tools.

Natural Product Synthesis: We also pursue the de novo synthesis of bioactive secondary metabolites. Natural products are carefully chosen on the basis of their chemical structure and biological activity. Judicious choice of a target natural product provides the opportunity to work at the frontiers of chemical synthesis and gives an unparalleled education to organic chemistry students.

Biological Testing (Dr. Eberhard Amtmann)

Functional staining of cells. Loss of immortality in cancer cells. Senescent, cells produce the enzyme beta-galactosidase and are stained blue.

Novel, highly selective strategies for cancer treatment must be evaluated in suitable biological systems. With the aid of such tests the developmental potential of drug candidates can be estimated. For demonstrating the specific cellular effect of a drug, specific staining methods are used. Such staining methods have to be specific for the expected biological effect in a tumor cell, for example respiratory activity, energy supply, and immortalization. We use a collection of human normal cells and human cancer cell lines for assaying compounds for selective antitumoral activity. Activity in specific tumor types (e.g. lung cancer) or in specific tumor cell sub-populations can be identified by this method. An additional important feature of a drug candidate is its organismal therapeutic efficacy, in the absence of significant side effects. We compare antitumor activity in human cancer cells transplanted in immunodeficient mice with side effects, such as loss of body weight.