Research Group Martin Pruschy

Keywords

Radiobiology, combined treatment modalities, tumor microenvironment, auto-and paracrine signaling

Summary & Mission statement

Our research projects include different aspects of translational research in the field of radiobiology investigating the cellular and tumoral response on the molecular, cellular and in vivolevel to ionizing radiation alone and in combination with classical chemo-therapeutical and novel pharmacological agents.

Overview

Our research program focuses on the identification of processes on the molecular, cellular and tumor pathophysiological level that regulate the response to radiotherapy and thereby co-determine treatment outcome. Novel anti-cancer agents targeting these molecular and cellular entities are identified and probed as part of combined treatment modalities with ionizing radiation, towards the translation of such novel treatment approaches into clinical concepts. This research is performed in the Laboratory for Applied Radiobiology and is linked to the Dept. of Radiation Oncology at the University Hospital Zurich. This research program can be grouped into three major research projects with the overarching goals.

• to identify novel targets for radiosensitization and to develop novel combined treatment modalities (ionizing radiation with chemotherapy/antisignaling agents)
• to understand differential treatment responses to different qualities of ionizing radiation
• to implement preclinical tumor models and radiotherapy approaches close to the clinical situation.

This research program thereby bridges the gap between basic and clinical-oriented research in the field of radiotherapy.