Major Cancer Biology Students

Nations unite at DKFZ - students from more than 50 different nationalities so far have joined Major Cancer Biology for an innovative research-oriented education. After successful graduation 85% continue their academic-scientific career with a PhD, at DKFZ or other national or international top-level institutions and universities. Other career paths lead to positions in industry, consulting, publishing, etc.

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Major Cancer Biology Students 2024

Student Portraits

Meet the students of the class of 2024 and have a look at their background as well as their motivation and future plans:

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
12/2020 – 06/2024: Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology, PES University, Bangalore, India
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Role of the human gut microbiome in the control of sepsis

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M. Sc. in Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2020 – 09/2023: B. Sc. in Biomedical Science – Major Cancer Biology, Philipps-University-Marburg, Germany
10/2018 – 10/2020: Training as a biological technician assistant (BTA), Hochschule Fresenius (Idstein) in cooperation with BioNTech SE (Mainz), Germany
Highest Degree: B. Sc. in Biomedical Science
Bachelor's Dissertation: Implications of ovarian cancer specific basal cell adhesion molecule (BCAM) overexpression for chemoresistance

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls University and German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2021 – 09/2024: B.Sc. in Biomedical Sciences – Major Tumor Biology, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Marburg, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Biomedical Sciences
Title of Bachelor Thesis: CRISPR Knockout of Protein Arginine Methyltransferases in Small Cell Lung Cancer

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2020 – 05/2024 B.Sc. in Molecular Medicine, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science in Molecular Medicine
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: „Molecular-biological investigation of a new luciferase reporter-expressing cytomegalovirus for the identification of antiviral compounds"

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University Education
2020-2024 - The University of Edinburgh - BSc Hons Biological Sciences (Immunology)
Highest Degree: BSc Hons
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Can phosphatases reduce Plasmodium falciparum host-parasite adhesion in severe malaria?

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University Education
10/2024 – Present: M.Sc. Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
10/2021 – 09/2024: B.Sc. Biology, LMU Munich, Germany
10/2016 – 03/2021: B.Sc. Computer Science, Hochschule Darmstadt, Germany
Highest Degrees
Bachelor of Science in Biology
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Title of Bachelor's Theses
Elucidating epigenetic regulation of immunosuppressive PDAC subtype secretomes via Perturb-seq
Reducing Anti-Patterns for Delivering and Deploying Software Continuously in an Open Source Project

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
10/2020 - 09/2024 - B.Sc. in Molecular Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Highest Degree: B.Sc. in Molecular Biology
Title of Bachelor‘s Thesis: Investigating the effect of metabolic modulators on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells with distinct metastatic abilities.

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University Education
10/2024 - present: M. Sc. in Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
09/2020 - 06/2024: B. Sc. in Human Biology, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
Highest Degree: B. Sc. in Human Biology
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Differential Secretion of Leukemia Inhibitory Factor in Cancer: Elucidating its Regulation by Nuclear Factor Kappa B Signaling Pathway in Glioblastoma and Prostate Adenocarcinoma

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University Education
10/2024 - present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany
11/2020 - 06/2024: Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology – Heritage Institute of Technology, Kolkata, India (in affiliation with Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University of Technology)
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech) in Biotechnology
Title of Thesis: Immobilization of sucrase isolated from a natural source: Optimization by Response Surface Methodology

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
09/2020 – 12/2023: B.Sc. in Biochemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) in Biochemistry

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M. Sc. in Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2021 – 09/2024: B. Sc. in Biomedical Science - Focus Cancer Biology, Philipps-University Marburg, Germany
Highest Degree: B. Sc. in Biomedical Science
Title of the Bachelor's Thesis: CRISPR/Cas9-mediated targeting of Prmts in murine SCLC

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University Education
10/2024 - Present: M. Sc. in Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
08/2018 - 06/ 2023: B.Sc. in Biotechnology, Minor in Biocatalysis and Molecular Biology, Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey, Monterrey, México.
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science in Biotechnology
Title of the Bachelor's Thesis: Technologic and economic feasibility study of a bioengineering plant to produce ferulic acid from Nejayote for the prevention of skin damage in the form of a serum.

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
08/2020-04/2024: Bachelor of Science (Research)- Major Biology, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Highest Degree: B.S. (Research) with Major Biology
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Effect of particle endocytosis on the motility of macrophages

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University Education
Democritus University of Thrace, Greece (BSc 2020-2024)
University of Heidelberg, Germany (MSc 2024-2026)
Highest Degree: BSc in Molecular Biology & Genetics
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Examining the Practical Applications of Environmental DNA (eDNA) Analysis in the Thracian Sea via Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) Technology

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UniversityEducation
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and DKFZ, Germany
10/2020 – 08/2024: B.Sc. Molecular and Technical Medicine, Hochschule Furtwangen University, Germany
Highest Degree: B.Sc. in Molecular and Technical Medicine
Title of Thesis: Influence of calcitriol on the effect of photodynamic therapy in glioblastoma multiforme

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M. Sc. In Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Ruprecht-Karls University Heidelberg, Germany
10/2021 – 09/2024: B. Sc. in Molecular Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science in Molecular Medicine
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: High-throughput characterization of activation potential for FGFR3 kinase domain point mutations

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls University and German Cancer Research Centre (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2022 – 09/2024: B.Sc. in Chemical biology, KIT, Karlsruhe, Germany
Highest degree: B.Sc. in Chemical Biology
Title of Bachelor thesis: Functionalized high-load nanoparticles targeting CD44v6 as a selective drug delivery system to treat pancreatic cancer

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University Education
10/2024 – present: M.Sc. Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany
10/2021 – 09/2024: B.Sc. Biomedical Science, Philipps University Marburg, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) of Biomedical Science
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Evaluation of the functional impact of adipocyte-derived secretome on ovarian cancer cells in vitro

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University Education
10/2024 - present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences - Major Cancer Biology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Germany
10/2020 - 09/2024: B.Sc. in Molecular Medicine, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany
Highest Degree: B.Sc. Molecular Medicine
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: T Cell-based Screening for Identification of Immunogenic Peptides Derived from MYCN Protein as Basis for a Peptide Vaccine to Treat Neuroblastoma During Minimal Residual Disease

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University Education
10/2024 - present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany
10/2021 - 07/2024: B. Sc. in Biochemistry, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Synthetic hepatitis E virus chimera

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University Education
10/2024 – present M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
10/2019 – 09/2024 B.Sc. in Biosciences, Ruprecht-Karls-University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
Highest Degree: B.Sc. in Biosciences
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: Whole Cell Electron Tomography of a Plasmodium berghei Midgut Sporozoite

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University Education
10/2024 – Present: M.Sc. Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Germany.
09/2021 – 06/2024: B.Sc. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany
Highest Degree: Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Title of Bachelor's Thesis: An enzyme for NAD+-dependent methanol oxidation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

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University Education
Bachelor of Technology at PES University, Bengaluru, India (2019-2023). Major in Biotechnology, minor in Computer Science.
Highest degree: B. Tech in Biotechnology
Title of Thesis: Dynamics of the innate immune system under multiple inflammatory conditions

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University Education
10.2024 – present: M.Sc. in Molecular Biosciences – Major Cancer Biology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Germany
10.2020 – 05.2024: B.Sc. Biology, RWTH Aachen University
Highest Degree: B.Sc. Biology
Title of Thesis: Establishing interaction analysis for new, potential binders as diagnostic reagents - mainly using biosensor-technologies or orthogonal methodologies

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More to come

The profiles of all other Major Cancer Biology students, from class of 2023 on backwards, will also be presented here again soon - thanks for a little patience with the relaunch of our website!

Get in touch with us

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Prof. Dr. Ilse Hofmann

Scientific Coordinator Major Cancer Biology
Eva Gundel, Administration Office of Major Cancer Biology @ DKFZ

Eva Gundel

please direct all e-mail inquiries about the program to the Administration Office of Major Cancer Biology @ DKFZ
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