Research Campus M²OLIE for Improved Cancer Treatment
Third funding phase for collaboration between research and industry – BMBF funds five-year project with ten million euros
The goal of the interdisciplinary research campus “Mannheim Molecular Intervention Environment” (M²OLIE) is to provide tailored treatment for cancer patients with oligometastases that is both minimally invasive and efficient. Based at the Mannheim University Hospital, 25 research and industry partners are collaborating under the leadership of the Medical Faculty Mannheim of Heidelberg University. Following a successful evaluation last year, the research campus has received funding for a third five-year phase, amounting to ten million euros, provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
“The M²OLIE research campus, as an innovative and interdisciplinary platform for new approaches in cancer treatment, is an important component of the Health + Life Science Alliance Heidelberg Mannheim. With it, we aim to expand health research, strengthen life sciences research, and intensify transfer into the economy and society,” explains Prof. Dr Frauke Melchior, Rector of Heidelberg University. The M²OLIE framework brings together more than 120 experts from medicine, natural sciences, engineering sciences, computer science, and business administration, who pool their expertise to create personalized medical care for cancer patients.
With the initiative “Research Campus – Public-Private Partnership for Innovation”, the BMBF is supporting large-scale and long-term approaches for on-site collaboration between science and industry over a period of up to 15 years. M2OLIE is one of nine partnerships of this kind and is the second research campus to receive a second extension. The industry partners, including large corporations as well as small and medium-sized enterprises, contribute not only expertise but also significant financial resources to the project. More than 14.5 million euros in private funds have been committed for the third funding phase.
“M²OLIE is a success story and a source of great hope for patients,” emphasizes Prof. Dr Sergij Goerdt, Dean of Medical Faculty Mannheim. “During the second funding phase, around 60 theses – from undergraduate to postdoctoral level – were successfully completed at our faculty as part of the research campus. And the research results have led to around 200 publications,” says the Dean. The faculty’s research groups in pathology, radiochemistry, radiology, radiation therapy, as well as computer-assisted clinical medicine and automation in medicine and biotechnology, are participating in the projects of the third funding phase. More than 40 medical products are in various stages of development as they progress towards market readiness.
The focus of M²OLIE is on improving the treatment of cancer patients with oligometastases, a stage between a locally confined tumor and widespread metastasis. The basis for this is the so-called closed-loop process, the basic procedure of which is currently being evaluated in a clinical study and is set to be completed in the third funding phase with the help of four project modules. These modules can be flexibly combined in highly complex processes and applications, from patient admission to therapy, to enhance efficiency and precision at the diagnostic, therapeutic, and organizational levels, all while adopting a patient-centered approach.
