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iFIT

Collage with a person in lab coat, a cell and figures — (© iFit)

Clusters of Excellence

Image-guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies

Despite intensive research efforts, we are facing a rapidly increasing number of cancer cases and cancer deaths worldwide. Successes in cancer screening and early detection have meant that some tumors can be detected earlier and treated curatively, but, depending on the tumor disease, 25-50% of all solid cancers are still diagnosed at an advanced, often metastatic stage. Such tumors are complex systemic diseases which, despite a growing number of novel therapeutics, are still incurable in most cases. They are the focus of the iFIT Cluster of Excellence.

The “Image-guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies” (iFIT) Cluster of Excellence (CoE) stands for a highly integrated and interconnected academic cancer research and therapy development approach that combines three major research areas of the University of Tübingen (UT): A) Functional target discovery, academic drug development and molecular tumor therapies, B) Immunology and immunotherapies and C) Molecular and functional multiparametric imaging.

With one PET tracer, two small-molecule-based inhibitors, three antibodies and six peptide-vaccine therapeutics brought first-in-human, four spin-off companies and 50 iFIT-related patents, iFIT has built a strong basis and is now aiming to realize the following future research goals: i) the functional characterization of tumor biological processes and validation of vulnerabilities using functional genetic tools and chemical biology approaches; ii) the development and characterization of small-molecule-based inhibitors against novel therapeutic targets in tumor cells, immune cells and cells of the tumor microenvironment; iii) overcoming resistance mechanisms towards immunotherapies by means of improved personalized peptide vaccines, antibody and engineered T cell constructs and their rational combination with molecularly targeted therapies; iv) achieving quantifiable visualization of functional, molecular and immunological mechanisms of tumors through multiparametric imaging.

The spatial and temporal resolution of our imaging modalities combined with tumor-specific contrasts promises to identify vulnerabilities, allowing an image-guided administration of novel combinatorial therapies. The success of iFIT contributed to the competitive selection of UT as a new site within the expanded National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), which exclusively funds clinical trials. The collaboration between iFIT and NCT establishes a unique value-generating pipeline by allowing new therapeutic and diagnostic concepts to be developed preclinically within iFIT to be evaluated in early clinical trials at NCT. iFIT also offers a dynamic and rich scientific and diverse social environment for students, researchers and clinician scientists to sharpen their individual scientific profile. iFIT promises the development of novel cancer therapeutics and diagnostics and thus seeks to significantly improve the prognosis for patients with advanced solid tumors.

Involved Institutions: