make cancer predictable?

Dresden researcher receives millions in funding for "Immunochip" project

Created: 2022-11-04 21:29

By: Anna Lorenz

The immunochip from Dr.

Larysa Baraban from the Helmholtz Center Dresden-Rossendorf aims to make tailor-made cancer therapy possible.

Dresden-Rossendorf – It is a diagnosis that changes life fundamentally in one fell swoop: cancer.

In addition to the psychological stress that the disease brings with it, the physical strain, not least due to treatments and medication, is also great.

But cancer manifests itself differently depending on the patient – ​​individually tailored therapies are necessary.

But how do you get the data you need for this?

Cancer: HZDR researcher receives millions in European funding

In order to continue researching this, the European Research Council (ERC) provided the physicist Dr.

Larysa Baraban and her team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have access to funding of almost two million euros over five years through the ERC Consolidator Grant.

Read here:

Which activity increases your risk of cancer – and which habits lower it.

Immuno-oncology: promising, but not without risks

As reported by the Helmholtz Center, so-called immuno-oncology is a promising area in the search for effective cancer therapy.

This approach revolves around the immune system: It is supposed to recognize cancer cells as such and attack them in a targeted manner.

However, the therapy is also risky.

A technology that predicts the prospects of treatment is still missing.

Digitizing cancer – and making it predictable?

New method to make disease measurable

The behavior of cancer cells is almost unpredictable – and that is exactly what Baraban wants to change.

“Cancer creates and cancels the biochemical signals, initiates the iterative loops, and establishes feedback controls to create an immunosuppressive environment.

My idea is to transfer these mechanisms to the digital level and make them measurable," says the researcher.

With the help of a chip, she wants to read the behavior of the cancer - nanosensor technology has been the focus of her investigations for some time.

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Optimizing therapy with the "ImmunoChip": This is how the Dresden project aims to help cancer patients

But how is the “ImmunoChip” supposed to work?

The sensors designed to analyze the cancer can "translate" the charges associated with its biomolecules - into current and voltage.

In this way, the "behaviour" of the crab can be read out.

The resulting data patterns are then fed to the "ImmunoChip" platform.

This makes it possible to predict how the cancer will develop in the face of immunotherapy.

This allows you to consider in advance how the treatment can be optimally tailored to the individual case.

This should not only increase the chances of success, but also avoid side effects.