DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClasses - German Cancer Research Center

A person is typing on a laptop keyboard, with their hands positioned over the keys. In the background, another computer screen is visible, suggesting a workspace for research or academic tasks. The image conveys a sense of productivity and focus in a professional environment.

Do you want to do excellent research supported by one of the most prestigious postdoctoral programs in Europe? Do you want to work at a leading research institution with colleagues from all over the world? Do you want to be mentored by world-class scientists? Do you want to expand the frontiers of your knowledge by accessing cutting-edge research facilities and state-of-the-art labs? Do you want to contribute researching for a Life without Cancer? Our DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClasses support you achieving it.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships 2026 | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions are granted by the European Commission and fund postdoctoral research projects for up to 24 months. Benefits include:

Postdoc salary including social security contributions and health insurance.
Budget for research, training and networking.
Access to a worldwide network of fellows and alumni.

“The DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClass attracts an exceptionally strong pool of applicants – reflected significantly in the fact that 95% of our applicants received a Seal of Excellence in 2025.”

Dr. Juan Pablo Rigalli - DKFZ Scientific Grant Advisor

Our support actions

Is this your first time writing a research proposal? Are you unsure about how to write a successful research plan? Not sure, who can be your supervisor? We help you with this:

List of available Principal Investigators at DKFZ.
You submit your pre-application and we check your eligibility for this call and put you in contact with the Principal Investigators of your choice.
If there is a match between you and a DKFZ PI, we support you during the whole application process.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClasses: three online workshops between June and July 2026 on how to plan and write a successful proposal.
1 to 1 feedback and consultation with experienced grants experts during the whole preparation and application process.

Please, note that the application to the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowship is highly competitive. To guarantee a high-quality support during the whole process, only the candidates with the best success chances for this fellowship will be pre-selected to participate in the DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClasses.

“The sessions and the power points were very useful for writing the proposal. The reviewing of the proposal and feedbacks were very project-specific and helpful to improve the quality of the proposal.”

Participant of the DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClass 2024

Eligibility

Illustration of a blue microscope with a red slide on the stage. The microscope represents scientific research and analysis, aligning with the theme of postdoctoral opportunities at DKFZ in advancing healthcare.

To be eligible for the call 2026 of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships you:

Need to hold a PhD degree. Your thesis must be defended before September 9, 2026.
Must have a maximum of 8 years of postdoctoral research experience from the date of defense of your PhD and until September 9, 2026. Career breaks (parental leave, military service, work outside research, etc.) do not count towards the amount of research experience.
Must not have resided or worked in Germany for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before September 9, 2026.

“I am really thankful for all your feedback and support along the process. The material was super helpful and crucial to apply to such a complicated grant having little time or other compromises. Even if I don't get the fellowship, I learned a lot of new project management and writing skills during the application process. thank you for your support!”

Participant of the DKFZ Marie Skłodowska-Curie MasterClass 2024

How to participate?

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Submit your application via Indico. Please, fill in the registration form with your personal information and the names of up to 3 DKFZ PIs from the list. In addition, upload the following documents:

CV including list of publications (max. 3 pages) – at least one publication as first author (or shared first authorship) is required to be considered for the fellowship.
Motivation letter (max. 1 page): tell us about your research interests and career plans. Why would these three principal investigators be a good match for you? What can you bring to their groups? Do you have any project idea you would like to implement with the support of the fellowship?

The deadline for the submission of applications is May 18, 2026.

If you have any questions, please contact us via mariecuriemasterclass(at)dkfz-heidelberg.de.

DKFZ Principal Investigators

You may choose up to three Principal Investigators from the following list (indicate your choice in the Indico-form under “Selection of DKFZ Principal Investigators”). The topics and keywords should help you identifying the best fit for your future career.

To select the PIs, consider also: do you have scientific interest or experience in the topic? Do you have practical experience in the models and techniques? Can you bring new expertise to the group? If the answer to all or most of these questions is yes, then this could be one of your three potential Principal Investigators.

Research projects located at DKFZ in Heidelberg/Mannheim

Prof. Dr. Christof Niehrs. Molecular Embryology (A050)

Topic(s): Role of RNA in the regulation of the CK1-DDX3X interaction during Wnt signaling (Keywords: Cancer signaling, Wnt, RNA helicase, protein kinase, molecular biology).

Prof. Dr. Tobias Dick. Redox Regulation (A160).

Topic(s): Understanding and targeting ferroptosis resistance in tumor cells; Redox activity of biomolecular condensates; Sulfur metabolites acting as radical scavengers (Keywords: Genetically encoded biosensors, optogenetic and chemogenetic tools).

Prof. Dr. Rocio Sotillo. Molecular Thoracic Oncology (B220)

Topic(s): Dissecting lung cancer metastasis in vivo (Keywords: Mouse models, CRISPR/Cas9, metastasis, scRNAseq, bioinformatics).

Prof. Dr. Jeroen Krijgsveld. Proteomics of Stem Cells and Cancer (B230)

Topic(s): Single-cell proteomics (Keywords: Proteomics, mass spectrometry, single-cell biology, drug response, multi-omics).

Prof. Dr. Oliver Stegle. Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics (B260)

Topic(s): Computational method development for studying gene regulation (Keywords: Machine learning, causal inference, spatial and multi-omics, cancer genomics, population genetics and human cohorts).

Dr. Brian Clarke. Computational Genomics and Systems Genetics (B260)

Topic(s): Inferring gene regulatory effects on disease using human organoids (Keywords: CRISPR perturbations, causal inference, deep learning, multiomics, heart and brain organoids).

Prof. Dr. Duncan Odom. Regulatory Genomics and Cancer Evolution (B270)

Topic(s): Sex differences in cancer initiation and development (Keywords: Mutagenesis, liver, epigenetics, transcription, four core genotypes mouse).

Prof. Dr. Claudia Scholl. Applied Functional Genomics (B290)

Topic(s): Decoding genetic dependencies and the functional impact of novel recurrent genetic alteration in rare cancers (Keywords: CRISPR screening, extragonadal germ cell tumors, sarcoma, functional genomics, clinical translation).

Prof. Dr. med. Stefan Fröhling. Translational Medical Oncology (B340)

Topic(s): Discovery and Functional/Mechanistic Exploration of Novel Therapeutic Targets in Hard-to-Treat Cancers (Keywords: Precision Oncology, Integrative Cancer Multi-Omics, Computational Oncology, Functional Genomics, Intratumor Heterogeneity).

Prof. Dr. Christiane Opitz. Metabolic Crosstalk in Cancer (B350)

Topic(s): Metabolic signaling, Amino acid metabolism (Keywords: Metabolic signaling, Immunometabolism, Metabolomics, Wetlab or Bioinformatics).

Dr. Pei-Chi Wei. Brain Mosaicism and Tumorigenesis (B400)

Topic(s): Role of chromatin loop extrusion in DNA replication stress (Keywords: 1. Transcription and Replication Conflict (TRC), 2. Genome Instability, 3. Cancer initiation, 4. You have published first-author research article(s), 5. You have track records in either chromatin loop extrusion or replication stress).

PD. Dr. Aurélie Ernst. Genome Instability (B420)

Topic(s): Chromosome instability (Keywords: Cancer genomics, chromothripsis, chromosome instability).

Dr. Lena Kutscher. Developmental Origins of Pediatric Cancer (B430)

Topic(s): Sex differences in pediatric brain cancer initiation and progression (Keywords: Medulloblastoma, sex differences, mouse models, cerebellar organoids, cerebellum development)

Prof. Dr. Moritz Gerstung. Artificial Intelligence in Oncology (B450)

Topic(s): AI-enabled spatial reconstruction of brain tumour ecosystems (Keywords: Spatial transcriptomics, AI in oncology, tumour evolution, brain cancer).

Prof. Dr. Annette Kopp-Schneider. Biostatistics (C060)

Topic(s): Statistical Methods for Precision Oncology - Innovative Clinical Trial Design and Molecular Data Analysis (Keywords: Bayesian borrowing, historical data, distance correlation, high-dimensional omics, predictive biomarkers).

Prof. Dr. Volker Arndt. Cancer Survivorship Outcomes and Epidemiology (C071)

Topic(s): Risk-based survivorship care after cancer: Quantifying long-term and late effect risks using AI and statistical modelling (RiskCare) (Keywords: Epidemiology; Cancer Survivorship; Predictive modeling in healthcare; Machine learning for risk prediction; AI-driven disease trajectory modeling).

Dr. Mahdi Fallah. Risk Adapted Prevention – Primary Cancer Prevention (C120)

Topic(s): Risk-adapted starting age of colorectal/breast/prostate cancer screening (Keywords: Risk-adapted cancer prevention, personalized screening, colorectal/breast/prostate cancer, large nationwide record linkage cohort study, SAS or similar statistical programs).

Prof. Dr. med. Michael Platten. Neuroimmunology and Brain Tumor Immunology (D170)

Topic(s): Accelerating personalised cell therapies by utilising information from the immune system, AI classifiers and rapid, high-throughput manufacture of DANN delivery vectors (Keywords: Immune repertoires, single cell sequencing, TCR, cell therapy, bioinformatics).

Dr. Daniel Kirschenbaum. Immunodynamics and Cancer (D280)

Topic(s): Temporal transcriptomics, Immune dynamics (Keywords: Temporal scRNAseq, Spatial-omics, Dynamics, Computational biology, Immuno-oncology).

Dr. Martina Seiffert. Immune Modulation in Cancer (D310)

Topic(s): Immune escape mechanisms in B-cell lymphoma; tumor-associated immune suppressive myeloid cells; mechanisms of T-cell exhaustion; immune modulation to improve immunotherapies (Keywords: T-cell exhaustion; myeloid-derived suppressor cells, B-cell lymphoma; spectral flow cytometry; lymphoma mouse models).

Prof. Dr. Klaus Maier-Hein. Medical Imaging Computing (E230)

Topic(s): The Human Radiome Project (THRP) (Keywords: Foundation Models, Agentic AI, Vision Language Models, 3D medical image analysis, 3D medical image analysis).

Prof. Dr. Leif Schröder. Translational Molecular Imaging (E280)

Topic(s): MR imaging, NMR spectroscopy, contrast agent development (Keywords: Hyperpolarized MRI, CEST agents, organoids, molecular imaging).

Research projects located at DKFZ partner sites

Prof. Dr. Özlem Türeci / Dr. Ibrahim Murathan Sektioglu. Personalized Immunotherapies (D193)

Topic(s): In Vivo Immune Cell Reprogramming Through LNP-Based RNA and Genome Editing Technologies (Keywords: Lipid Nanoparticle (LNP) Delivery, In Vivo Immune Cell Engineering, mRNA/siRNA Therapeutics, CRISPR Genome Editing, Targeted Immune Reprogramming).

Prof. Dr. Ugur Sahin. mRNA Cancer Immunotherapies (D194)

Topic(s): Cancer vaccines; Targeted immunomodulation of the tumor microenvironment; T & NK cell reprogramming; ML-based integration of multi-omics data for precision oncology (Keywords: RNA-lipid nanoparticles technology, advanced tumor model systems, personalized immunotherapies, precision medicine, integrative data analysis).

Prof. Dr. Mechthild Krause. Translational Radiation Oncology (DD02)

Topic(s): A Translational Platform for Biomarker-Driven Radiotherapy: From Organoids to Preclincial Umbrella Trials (Keywords: Radiation combination; in vitro screening; patient-derived organoids; in vivo umbrella trial, curative endpoints).

Prof. Dr. Stefanie Speidel. Translational Surgical Oncology (DD06)

Topic(s): Towards long-term autonomy in surgical robotics through AI-driven perception and learning. The project aims to develop intelligent robotic systems capable of understanding complex surgical scenarios and assisting surgeons during minimally invasive procedures. By integrating multimodal perception, surgical scene understanding, foundation models, and adaptive learning, the research will enable robots to interpret surgical workflows, recognize instruments and anatomy, and learn from demonstrations and surgical data. The work will emphasize safe human–robot collaboration and context-aware assistance in the operating room, contributing to the next generation of intelligent computer-assisted surgical systems (Keywords: Surgical Robotics, Long-term autonomy, Surgical Scene Understanding, Multimodal Perception, Human–Robot Collaboration).

Prof. Dr. Tian Qiu. Smart Technologies for Tumor Therapy (E300)

Topic(s): Micro-/nano-robots for the active penetration of solid tumors (Keywords: Nanotechnology, targeted drug delivery, tumor models, biomechanics, robotics).

Dr. Arindam Ghosh. Target Screening and Immunoreceptor Engineering in Immunotherapy (WA01)

Topic(s): Molecular binding mechanisms of bispecific antibodies in multiple myeloma immunotherapy, CAR T synapse architecture (Keywords: Immunotherapy, Super resolution microscopy, light sheet imaging).

Next steps

Submit your application not later than May 18, 2026.
Shortlisted pre-candidates will be contacted by one or more DKFZ Principal Investigators in May and June. The final decision, whether a candidate submits a proposal for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) is made by the Principal Investigators.
If there is a match, you will write a proposal for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships (MSCA-PF) together with the PI and with our support.
Selected candidates will be invited to join three online seminars (MasterClasses) organized by the DKFZ Grants Office on June 24, July 1 and July 8, 2026.
If you are selected by a DKFZ Principal Investigator, the deadline for the submission of the MSCA-PF proposal to the European Union is September 9, 2026.
The decision on the award of the MSCA-PF is expected in February 2027 and the earliest fellowship start is expected to be April 2027. Note: Submission of a proposal and participation in the support activities do not guarantee a postdoctoral position at the DKFZ. An employment contract may only come to place in case of award of the MSCA-PF by the European Commission.
For any inquiries, do not hesitate to contact us via mariecuriemasterclass(at)dkfz.de.