Voices from DKFZ Clinician Scientists - German Cancer Research Center

Read about what our Clinician Scientist Fellows say

Janik Engelmann

DKFZ Wissenschaftler, ©Carina C. Kircher

"Fighting cancer suceeds increasingly by reprogramming the immune system to tackle the malignant tumor cells leading to complete remissions in several tumor types. However, the tumor microenvironment is a significant barrier for immunotherapy, especially in solid tumors. Thus, my aim is to gain deeper knowledge of cellular and molecular mechanisms inside the tumor microenvironment leading to dysfunctional anti-tumor immune response and immunotherapy resistance. The clinician scientist program at DKFZ is the perfect place to deepen my integration of cutting-edge cancer research with patient care, and I believe the program will enhance my ability to translate scientific discoveries into impactful clinical applications."

Leonhard Valentin Bamberg

“Childhood ependymoma is a particularly aggressive and therapy-resistant cancer occurring mainly in the brain. Despite intensive surgery and radiotherapy, many tumors relapse and effective treatments for these cases are lacking. In this project, we test how different ependymoma models respond to irradiation and to a library of drugs with high potential for use in children. The goal is to discover personalized therapy strategies for children with ependymoma and to identify novel approaches that could guide future clinical trials. The DKFZ clinician scientist program enables me to fully dedicate myself to this effort for now, in order to set up the preclinical groundwork that I hope to see patients profit from in my further clinical career.”

Markus Wennmann

“Our research focuses on development and testing of AI-algorithms which can automatically find and measure tumor manifestations, so called focal lesions, from whole-body MRIs of multiple myeloma patients. Beyond the initial training and testing of AI-algorithms, I focus in translation of AI-algorithmy into clinicla practice. To pursue this path, the Clinician Scientist Fellowship at DKFZ Heidelberg provides me with an excellent environment of researchers from the fields of computer science and oncolocy, and allows me to spend protected reserach time while advancing my clinical training.”

Anja Lisa Riediger

“As a Clinician Scientist, I aim to bridge the gap between research and clinical practice, using knowledge from both ﬁelds to advance Liquid Biopsy applications for patient beneﬁt. My project and career development are strongly supported by the DKFZ, which offers cutting-edge infrastructure, a dynamic sarcoma research community, and a strong clinical-translational link. Together with the NCT, it provides an interdisciplinary and innovative environment that fosters the translation of scientiﬁc discoveries into clinical practice, making it the ideal place to advance my research and career.”

Sena Alptekin

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"Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer in Europe, with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) as a major risk factor. In our study, we have demonstrated that clonal hematopoiesis can both accelerate and increase the rate of conversion of diet-induced NAFLD to HCC and we aim to understand the underlaying mechanism. With the support of the DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellowship, I have the opportunity to conduct my research in the lab of Dr. Michael Milsom, integrating clinical experience with cutting-edge science to explore therapeutic strategies for patients"

Patrick Derigs

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"The DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellowship gives me the unique opportunity to perform cutting-edge translational research. As a clinician-scientist my motivation is to combine my clinical expertise with state of the art scientific knowledge to develop innovative treatment strategies for patients. By bridging the gap between the laboratory and the clinic, I want to improve gene and cell therapeutic approaches and hope to bring new treatments to patients with hematological disorders and cancer faster."

Kyrhatii Trikhirhisthit

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"Rectal cancer causes a lot of deaths worldwide. Normally, when the cancer hasn't spread, doctors treat it with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation. But now, there's a new treatment which only uses chemotherapy and radiation. Some patients who respond really well to these treatments might not need surgery. My project aims to find small molecules in the cancer and its surrounding that can tell us how well treatments will work. I'll be using a tool called "Patient-Derived Organoids" or PDOs. These are tiny models of tumors grown in the lab from samples taken from patients. They act like real tumors and help us test different treatments to see which ones work best for each patient. By doing this, I hope to learn more about how to make treatments for rectal cancer better and personalize them for each patient."

Carina Nogueira Garcia

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"Non-invasive technologies play a crucial role in the early diagnostics of skin cancer in dermatology, as they have the potential to significantly reduce morbidity and mortality rates among dermatological patients.
Our project explores explainable machine learning to provide dermatologists with valuable information such as tumor diagnostics, thickness and extension prior to the first excision. We also investigate the use of hyperspectral imaging for skin tumor detection through biological chromophore correlation.
The DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellowship enables me to combine clinical knowledge and computer science in order to identify areas where these methods can be applied and how they can be integrated into clinical workflows."

Antonia Schubert

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"In this translational research project, we will collect and archive blood samples of patients with solid tumors treated at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg. We will then isolate and thoroughly characterize the EVs at various stages of the disease and compare them to those of healthy individuals. We strive to identify novel biomarkers by aligning the patient's characteristics with the information gained through our EV analyses.
In this way, the DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellowship allows me to study fundamental biological processes such as EV-mediated communication while integrating my findings in a meaningful clinical context."

We want to congratulate the DKFZ Fellow Dr. Antonia Schubert for receiving a project funding of the Else Kröner Fresenius Foundation in 2023.

Christina Nürnberg

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"The DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellowship gives me the freedom to fully concentrate on the laboratory work of my training while benefiting from advice from experienced mentors in a nurturing environment. Even though through this project we are trying to answer basic questions, the potential findings could lead to promising new therapies for patients suffering from cancer."

Patrick Stelmach

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"The era of single-cell sequencing (single-cell multi-omics) and recently developed even more sophisticated approaches enable comprehensive analyses of single cells. This offers precious opportunities in the mentioned setting (rare CHIP clones) and my aim to use these methods in the lab of Professor Andreas Trumpp to study clonal hematopoiesis and the mechanisms of clonal expansion in stem cell samples of patients with Multiple Myeloma. I am convinced, that these cutting-edge methods will enable us to identify therapeutic vulnerabilities of these CH clones that may be of great interest in other hematological diseases as well."

Olfat Ahmad

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"Population genomic studies have allowed a better understanding of the diversity of genetic composition among different populations, together with the factors influencing it. Consanguinity is a key factor determining biological phenotypes of involved populations, namely the Near East, Middle East and North Africa. Constitutional Mismatch Repair Deficiency (CMMRD) is one of the inherited cancer predisposition syndromes that is prevalent in high consanguineous countries, and leads to characteristic phenotypic features, together with a distinguished spectrum of ultramutated CNS and other solid and hematological malignancies, whose driving molecular pathways and signatures have not been yet fully understood. I collected CMMRD tumors from my home country Jordan which has high consanguinity rate, and my research aims at better molecular understanding of MMR- associated phenotypes."

Voices of Former DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellows

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Are you curious aboth the experiences of former DKFZ Clinician Scientists Fellows?

If you want to know more about their time during the fellowship please click here to open/download a PDF Copy of their voices.

Clinician Scientist Fellowship Brochure

Are you interested to explore which cutting-edge research projects our fellows are working on at the DKFZ? Learn more about six of the DKFZ Clinician Scientist Fellows and about their motivation to be part of the DKFZ Clinician Scientist Program in our Fellows Brochure.

Click here to open/download a PDF copy of the brochure.