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City of Vienna Fund for Innovative Cancer Research provides more than 150,000 euros of funding for outstanding projects

MedUni Vienna represented with 10 awards
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(Vienna, 6 October 2016) This year, the Board of Trustees of the City of Vienna Fund for Innovative, Interdisciplinary Cancer Research is funding outstanding projects and scientists in the field of cancer research to the tune of 154,700 euros. This was announced on Thursday. The funded projects include ten research projects or studies being conducted at the Medical University of Vienna.

Research development prizes for research projects in the field of innovative, interdisciplinary cancer research have been awarded to:

  • Lucian Beer, MedUni Vienna, Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-guided Therapy, for the research project "Multiparametric PET/MRI-based response evaluation in patients with lung cancer receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors".
  • Christine Filomena Heinzle, MedUni Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Institute of Cancer Research, for the research project "The Role of CD24 and C-Src in Colorectal Cancer".
  • Gunda Koellensperger, University of Vienna, Institute of Analytical Chemistry, for the research project "Innovative tools for preclinical studies on anticancer drugs- Metabolomics and metallomic approaches in 3D cancer cell models".
  • Balasz Döme, MedUni Vienna, Department of Surgery, Division of Thoracic Surgery, for the research project "Targeting multicellular resistance in malignant pleural mesothelioma".  
  • Michael Grusch, MedUni Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Institute of Cancer Research, for the research project "Regulation of the Expression of the Immune Checkpoint Protein PD-L1 in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma".
  • Hanna Arlene Knaus, MedUni Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Division of Hematology and Hemastasology, for the research project "Immune Checkpoint Receptors in Acute Myeloid Leukemia - is it Time for Immunomodulation?"
  • Mariel C. Paul, MedUni Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Institute of Cancer Research, for the research project "Hedgehog mutations predicting therapeutic response of imiquimod treatment in basal cell carcinoma patients".


Funding awards are given for scientific works in the field of cancer research that are published or accepted for publication in a peer review journal and carry a Vienna correspondence address. This year's prizes for publications that appeared in 2014 went to:

  • Karin Komposch, MedUni Vienna, Department of Medicine I, Institute of Cancer Research, for the publication "EGFR has a tumour-promoting role in liver macrophages during hepatocellular carcinoma formation, nature cell biology".
  • Jan Pencik, MedUni Wien, Department of Pathology, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research, for the publication "STAT3 regulated ARF expression suppresses prostate cancer metastasis".
  • Petra Heffeter, MedUni Wien, Department of Medicine I, Institute of Cancer Research, together with Christian Kowol, University of Vienna, Institute of Inorganic Chemistry, for the publication "Tumor-Targeting of EGFR Inhibitors by Hypoxia-Mediated Activation".
  • Dagmar Gotthardt, Vienna University of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, for the publication "Loss of STAT3 in murine NK cells enhances NK cell-dependent tumor surveillance".
  • Andrea Hölbl-Kovacic and Angelika Berger, both Vienna University of Veterinary Medicine, for the publication "PAK-dependent STAT5 serine phosphorylation is required for BCR-ABL induced leukemogenesis".


This year, the big Central European prize for outstanding and globally significant achievements was awarded to Christoph Zielinski, Head of the Department of Medicine I, the Division of Oncology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital.