Research

An international consortium has found over 1,700 new proteins from noncoding DNA, many of which show potential as targets for cancer immunotherapy In a collaborative effort, scientists in the TransCODE consortium reveal more than 1,700 new proteins that could have implications for human diseases, including cancer. These tiny proteins were found in what’s called the […]

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the HI-STEM* Stem Cell Institute have deciphered a key mechanism that contributes to treatment failure in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). They show that there are not just one, but four different subtypes of leukemia stem cells. This diversity could explain why one of the most important […]

Whether people try to quit smoking depends heavily on public health policies in their respective countries – whether they are successful, however, depends primarily on their personal environment and behavior. This was the finding of researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in an international study. The researchers analyzed data from over 50,000 smokers […]

Led by researchers from Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine at Heidelberg University and the University of California, San Francisco (USA), an international research team has evaluated a novel approach for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. The method enables detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis without laboratory infrastructure, within a markedly shorter time frame than conventional diagnostics, and using […]

Scholz, P., Thompson, J., Crosby, K.T. et al. RNA-triggered cell killing with CRISPR–Cas12a2. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-026-10466-y Abstract Selectively eradicating target cells on the basis of their genetic or transcriptional identity remains important in basic research, medicine, biotechnology and agriculture1,2,3. For applications involving bacteria, CRISPR nucleases offer promising options due to their ability to enact RNA-guided counterselection4,5,6,7; however, using these […]

Chicago, April 21, 2026 – One of the most fundamental questions in biology is how a single fertilized egg produces the diverse cell types making up the body – from neurons and skin to muscle and blood – that bear the same genetic blueprint but distinct expression patterns. Now, a research team lead by Dr. Bruce Lahn, […]

KIMMDY software visualizes biological processes in motion – conceived and originally developed at HITS, refined and published at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research in Mainz Within biological cells, molecules are constantly in motion. Investigating these motions, however, is still difficult, due to the fact that these processes occur on very small length and time […]

Brain metastases are among the most serious complications of advanced breast cancer. Researchers from Heidelberg University’s Faculty of Medicine, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) have conducted a detailed study of the body’s immune cells in the brain tissue surrounding these metastases. Their findings revealed that certain distribution patterns of […]

Researchers from Heidelberg University’s Faculty of Medicine and the Technical University of Munich have investigated the genetic activity of “budding” head and neck carcinomas. In the “buds”—clusters of cells that detach from the tumor and are associated with a poor prognosis—they found a characteristic pattern of gene activity. This marker signature provides insights into the […]