Distinction for Outstanding Cancer Research

The 2011 Hella Buehler Prize for oncological research will go to two medical researchers from Heidelberg: This year’s winners are Dr. Andreas Fischer and Dr. Sven Danckwardt, who will each receive 75,000 euros. Andreas Fischer is head of a working group in the area of “Vascular Biology” based at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University. Sven Danckwardt has until recently worked in the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, a collaboration between the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the Medical Faculty Heidelberg. The prize, which has been awarded six times so far, is intended for young researchers at Heidelberg University who have attracted attention with excellent scientific quality in cancer research. The award ceremony will take place on June 22, 2011.

Andreas Fischer (born in 1976) studied medicine in Wurzburg and Boston and received his doctoral degree in 2003 at the University of Wurzburg. After his ‘Approbation’ as a medical doctor, he participated in a three-year postdoctoral training at the Biocenter of Wurzburg University, before joining DKFZ and the Medical Faculty Mannheim in 2007. His research at DKFZ is part of the strategic collaboration of DKFZ with the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University (ZMBH), the DKFZ-ZMBH Alliance. In January 2011, Fischer was already awarded the €100,000 Chica and Heinz Schaller Sponsorship Award for his groundbreaking research on cellular signaling pathways.

In his work that has now won the Hella Buehler Prize, Fischer has investigated how vascular malformations in the brain develop. Such malformations known as cavernomas are characterized by enlarged, unstable and unstructured blood vessels. If cavernomas grow larger, there is a growing danger of cerebral hemorrhage from these cerebral growths, which can lead to seizures, neurological failures and even stroke. Andreas Fischer was able to show how such cavernomas develop: “A defective signaling pathway in the endothelial cells, which line all blood vessels, causes the vessels to grow in an uncontrolled manner and thus leads to cavernomas,” the medical researcher said. “Fortunately, we already have an anticancer drug that inhibits precisely this signaling pathway.” Fischer and his group are now investigating in the animal model, whether this drug may also be used for treating cavernomas.

The second award winner, Sven Danckwardt (born in 1973), studied medicine in Tubingen, Berlin and San Diego. For his doctoral thesis, which he finished in 2002, he was awarded the Robert Koch Award of the Humboldt University in Berlin. Following his doctorate, he first worked as an assistant doctor in Berlin, before joining Heidelberg University Hospitals in 2003. Danckwardt worked as a post-doctoral researcher in the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit of EMBL and the Medical Faculty Heidelberg. As of April 1st, he took on a new position at the Medical Faculty of Martin Luther University in Halle. Danckwardt’s research efforts are aimed at investigating the basis of the “mysterious” relationship between activated blood clotting and the development and metastatic spread of tumor diseases.

The research prize donated by Heidelberg dental surgeon Dr. Hella Buehler (1910 to 2002) aims to help young Heidelberg researchers to continue and refine their outstanding work in the area of cancer research. This year is the first time that the prize is awarded to two researchers, Dr. Andreas Fischer and Dr. Sven Danckwardt.

The award ceremony of the 2011 Hella Buehler Prize will be opened by Prof. Dr. Thomas Rausch, Vice Rector of Heidelberg University. This will be followed by a speech of last year’s prize winner, PD (Associate Professor) Dr. Jochen Utikal, dermatologist at the Medical Faculty Mannheim. The laudatory speeches for the two winners of this year’s Hella Buehler Prize will be held by Prof. Dr. Matthias Henze, who is a researcher at EMBL and is one of two directors of the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit. Then the prize-winners will present their work. The topic of Dr. Danckwardt’s presentation is “ The mysterious relationship between coagulation and cancer: Epiphenomenon or functionally relevant”. Dr. Fischer will present “How signaling pathways keep blood vessels inactive and prevent cerebral cavernomas from developing”. The event will take place at BioQuant-Zentrum, Im Neuenheimer Feld 267, big auditorium, and will start at 5 p.m.