In the fight against cancer, radiation treatment is still one of the most effective therapies. Despite medical progress, in the case of particularly aggressive or very extensive tumors, only a part of the growth can be effectively controlled by irradiation when the tumor lies under the protection of normal tissue. Furthermore, too little is known about why people respond differently to radiotherapy and why undesirable side effects occur.

Financed by the German Research Foundation (DFG), in the new Research Training Group 2762 "Heterogeneity, Plasticity and Dynamics of the Response of Cancer Cells, Tumor and Normal Tissues to Therapeutic Radiation in Cancer", researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and the Faculty of Biology will be working closely together. They will further investigate the mechanisms of individual radiation sensitivity of various tumors and tissues. The group is headed by Prof. Verena Jendrossek, and the DFG is funding the project with around 7 million Euros, starting 1 October 2022.