Our group studies intra-and intertumoral heterogeneity, especially of the immune microenvironment in gastrointestinal cancer and how it contributes to immune evasion and tumor development to ultimately improve diagnostic approaches and personalized treatment strategies.
We apply unbiased multi-omics technologies at single cell level, combined with imaging and bioinformatic approaches in a translational research framework. Our research findings are largely obtained from the direct study of patient-derived samples in combination with clinical data. Advanced three-dimensional culture methods of human tumor tissue are developed to assess drug sensitivities and enable timely therapy response prediction. To uncover the molecular mechanisms for tumor initiation and progression in vivo, we utilize genetically engineered mouse models containing alterations in patient relevant genes that generate tumors closely resembling human pancreatic cancer.
