03.03.2010
New transatlantic funding programme for young cancer researchers
The German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg (DKFZ) has launched a funding programme for young scientists with the US American National Cancer Institute (NCI). The "DKFZ-NCI Fellowship Program in Cancer Research" will enable young scientists from both centers to work for up to four years at their respective partner institutions and to subsequently set up their own junior research groups. The first positions supported by the new funding programme will be announced in the next few months. One of the main areas of scientific interest will be research on "stem cells and cancer".
The DKFZ is the largest biomedical research institution in Germany. Over 2,000 staff - including 850 scientists - investigate the mechanisms of cancer and are working to identify cancer risks. The American NCI is based in Bethesda, Maryland. The center coordinates the National Cancer Program run by the American health authority, the National Institute of Health (NIH), and - alongside the DKFZ - is one of the world's leading cancer research centers.
"Cancer is an extremely widely-branching family of illnesses and a global problem which we will only ever master if we unite our capabilities," emphasised Prof. Otmar D. Wiestler, who recently signed the funding programme for up and coming scientists in Washington. In his experience, young researchers often ask completely new and important questions which need to be put to the test, developed further and discussed in order to produce new knowledge.
The DKFZ has a long record of providing special support for young scientists. There are already around 20 young and junior research groups which are working on issues revolving around cancer research. Important steps forward have been made at the DKFZ, both in terms of basic research and the development of new clinical procedures. The 2008 Nobel Prize for Medicine, for example, went to Prof. Harald zur Hausen in Heidelberg for his scientific contribution to research into human papillomaviruses. The DKFZ also runs an extensive cancer information service (KID) for cancer patients, the families of people affected by cancer and the general public about this widespread disease.
