Dr. Benjamin Ruf receives 2025 Württemberg Cancer Prize

🥳And another one! 🏆Our member Benjamin Ruf, M.D. was awarded the 2025 Württemberg Cancer Prize in the amount of €30,000 yesterday for his innovative research.

😟Despite its rarity, liver cancer is one of the deadliest types of cancer – primarily because it is often diagnosed late. As a physician at the Universitätsklinikum Tübingen and a member of our Cluster of Excellence, Benjamin is dedicated to precisely this problem.

👨‍⚕️ 🤝 🧑‍🔬As a Clinician Scientist, he bridges the gap between clinical practice and the lab: In patient care, he becomes aware every day of the urgent need for new treatment approaches for difficult-to-treat cancers such as liver cancer.

🔬His work at the M3 Research Center of the Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen's Faculty of Medicine focuses primarily on the targeted use of the body's immune system – specifically a still little-researched group of immune cells, the so-called MAIT cells, which are found in large numbers in the liver.

🦠MAIT cells detect and monitor microorganisms in the body and account for approximately 40% of the T cells in the liver. By specifically activating these cells, he hopes to open new avenues in immunotherapy for liver cancer.

🔬After several years of research in the USA, Ruf has been building his own research group at the M3 Research Center since 2023 to better understand the interplay between tumors and the immune system – always with the goal of enabling personalized therapies. The award of the Württemberg Cancer Prize is further recognition of his promising work.

🏅Since 2009, the Bayer Foundation (Dres. Bayer Foundation for short) has awarded the Württemberg Cancer Prize annually. The prizes are intended to support young, talented physicians working in the field of cancer research. The prizes are open to scientists under the age of 40 who conduct their research in Württemberg or who are native residents of Württemberg.