Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research

  • Functional and Structural Genomics
  • KiTZ
Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Grünewald

Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Grünewald

Head of Division

The mission of the division of Translational Pediatric Sarcomas Research is the to improve treatment options for children, adolescents and young adults affected by sarcomas.

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Our mission

The division's translational methodological array: histology, omics analytics, preclinical models, correlation with clinical data

We aim at uncovering disease mechanisms that can be used diagnostically and therapeutically to improve the long-term chances of recovery of our young patients. The focus lies on new methods that are essential for correct diagnosis and the choice of the best possible therapy. We also investigate less aggressive therapies and new approaches to overcome drug resistance of tumors. 

 

Our Research areas

Description (caption)

 

To accomplish our mission, the division Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research is comprised of three teams whose collaboration gives way to synergetic effects: 

The team Translational Genomics (Prof. Dr. Dr. T. Grünewald & Dr. Dr. Dr. Jing Li) systematically establishes multi-dimensional omics-datasets of a large number of pediatric sarcomas and correlates molecular alterations with clinical data to identify new driver mutations, disease-relevant drug targets and prognostic/predictive biomarkers, and to create resources for hypothesis generation and functional validation for future projects.

The team Mechanisms of Cancer Progression (Dr. F. Cidre-Aranaz) aims at deconvoluting the multilayered process underlying cancer progression and metastasis. For this purpose, systems biology approaches based on multi-omics data and clinical information with functional in vitro and in vivo experiments will be combined to identify treatable vulnerabilities in pediatric sarcomas that can prevent metastasis.

The team Innovative Therapies (Dr. S. Ohmura) is investigating potential therapeutic targets for pediatric sarcomas in preclinical models. The focus here lies in developing and testing new targeted therapy approaches, including immunotherapy, that enable more effective therapy with fewer side effects, especially for patients with chemo resistant tumors.

Our division

Selected Publications

2025 - Nat Commun 16, 380 (2025)
2021 - Nat Commun 2021 Sept;12(1):5356

Therapeutic targeting of the PLK1-PRC1-axis triggers cell death in genomically silent childhood cancer

2020 - Nat Commun 2020 May;11(1):2423

Oncogenic hijacking of a developmental transcription factor evokes vulnerability toward oxidative stress in Ewing sarcoma

2019 - Nat Commun 2019 Sept;10(1):4128

Cooperation of cancer drivers with germline regulatory variants shapes clinical outcomes

All Publications

Teaching & Lectures

You are currently enrolled at Heidelberg University and want to gain some more insight into our work? You can grasp the key information about our curricular and extracurricular classes as well as the Lecture Series "Sarcoma Biology Club" at a glance following this link.
Teaching

Directions

This is our address:

German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
Division of Translational Pediatric Sarcoma Research / B410
Im Neuenheimer Feld 280
69120 Heidelberg
Germany

We are located in the main building on the 6th floor:

Room 075 - Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Grünewald
Room 074 - Team leaders: Dr. Florencia Cidre-Aranz / Dr. Shunya Ohmura / Dr. Jing Li
Roomm 01.06.070  - Team assistant: Maite Hannemann 
Room 058, 061-069    - Laboratory

For further information how to find us, please follow this link.

Get in touch with us

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Prof. Dr. Dr. Thomas Grünewald

Head of Division
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