News & Events

Professor Nicola Aceto has been awarded with the 2025 Cloëtta Prize for his groundbreaking contributions to cancer metastasis research.

A recent Cell paper by Saini et al. presents StealTHY, an immunogen-free CRISPR platform, enabling accurate gene discovery and revealing hidden carcinoma metastasis drivers like AMH-AMHR2 in immunocompetent models.

A recent Nature Medicine paper by the Aceto and Ligorio groups suggests that spikes in tumor cell clusters and macrovascular infiltration are key end-of-life events in cancer, providing a rationale for future trials to block large-vessel invasion.

Prof. Dr. Richard Grose, Professor of Cancer Cell Biology at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, will give a seminar on August 29th, 2025, at 12pm, in the seminar room HPL J28. The seminar is entitled "Targeting Ephrin signalling to disrupt stromal-cancer crosstalk in pancreatic cancer". Guests are welcome!

Cangkrama et al. discovered that cancer cells transfer mitochondria to fibroblasts in co-cultures and in mouse tumors, which induces features of pro-tumorigenic cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). The transfer requires the mitochondrial trafficking protein MIRO2, which is important for CAF differentiation and tumor growth and overexpressed in invasive cancer cells of human tumors. These results identify mitochondrial transfer from cancer cells to fibroblasts as a driver of tumorigenesis.

A recent Nature Genetics paper by the Aceto and Beerenwinkel groups reveals clonal heterogeneity in circulating tumor cell clusters, advancing our understanding of metastasis-relevant clonal dynamics. 

The article shows that peroxisomal lipid metabolism is crucial for mitochondrial fitness, development, and function of lung alveolar macrophages.

Fielden & Siegner et al. used CRISPRi screens to map genetic interactions among core DNA damage response genes, revealing key mechanisms of genome stability and uncovering vulnerabilities with potential for cancer therapy.

Dr. Giorgia Scapin, former Chief Scientific Officer at Garuda Therapeutics (Cambridge, USA) will give a seminar on Wednesday, May 7th, 2025, at 12, in the seminar room HPL D32. Seminar is entitled "Discovery and Development of Transgene-Free Long-Term Hematopoietic Stem Cells". Guests are welcome!

Study by Horn et al. reveals different mechanisms by which the multi-functional cytokine IL-1 protects from Candida albicans overgrowth in the kidneys and brain.

IL-6 has been associated with protection and pathology to respiratory viral infection. Here we clarify its mechanisms for clearance of influenza virus.

Kuklin et al. show that inducible deletion of two major cytoprotective transcription factors, Nrf2 and NF-kB, in hepatocytes of mice causes spontaneous liver inflammation and necrosis. Functional studies combined with transcriptional profiling identified a cross-talk of these transcription factors in the control of hepatocyte proliferation in the normal and acutely injured liver, which is mediated to a large extent by liver macrophages.

Muhar, Farnung et al. show how  cells eliminate damaged proteins using SCF–FBXO31, a complex that degrades C-terminally amidated proteins, providing insight into protein quality control and mutations linked to neurodevelopmental disorders.

Kurzeder et al. demonstrate in a proof-of-concept study that digoxin, an Na+/K+ ATPase inhibitor, reduces circulating tumor cell clusters in metastatic breast cancer patients, supporting further studies with refined inhibitors and clinical endpoints.

Koch et al. used mice with features resembling Atopic Dermatitis (AD) to study the role of the Nrf2 transcription factor in the AD phenotype. Results reveal a complex role of Nrf2 in the epidermis and show the necessity to optimize the intensity of NRF2 activation for AD treatment.

The RMS Award aknowledges Florian Mair for his outstanding scientific achievements applying flow cytometry in the field of immunology.

Findings of Holzner et al. identify the role of the lipid scramblases VMP1 and TMEM41B in WNT signaling during extra-embryonic endoderm development and characterize their distinct and overlapping functions.

Cullot et al. shows that genome editing with the DNA-PKcs inhibitor AZD7648, which enhances CRISPR-Cas9 directed homology-directed repair efficiencies, causes frequent large-scale genomic alterations. This promtes caution in deploying AZD7648, and reinforces the need to investigate multiple type of potential editig outcomes.

Stefanova et al. identified FGF receptor kinase inhibitors as broad-spectrum antiviral agents, which inhibit the early phase of the viral life cycle. Unexpectedly, their antiviral activity was largely independent of FGF receptor kinase inhibition. Rather, blockade of Src family kinases, in particular Lyn, is mainly responsible for their antiviral effect. These results suggest the poorly studied Lyn kinase as a promising target for the treatment of viral infections.