“With the CCCD Starter Grant, we want to specifically support researchers in the early stages of their careers who are contributing to the further development of functional and oncological diseases of the lung and thorax with innovative ideas. The two award-winning projects impressively demonstrate how promising and forward-looking research in this field already is today.”
CCCD awards starter grants to two outstanding research projects
The Comprehensive Center for Chest Diseases (CCCD) has awarded its first starter grant to promote innovative research projects in the field of functional and oncological diseases of the lung and thorax. Two projects by committed young scientists were selected from the qualified applications and each received EUR 10,000.
The winners were selected by the CCCD steering committee in a competitive review process. The scientific quality, originality, interdisciplinarity, and translational medical potential of the submitted concepts were evaluated in particular.
The following winners received awards:
Delighted to receive the CCCD Grant 2025 (right): Karin Schelch, Department of Thoracic Surgery; (left): Christian Lang, Division of Pulmonology / Department of Medicine II.
Delighted to receive the CCCD Grant 2025 (below, from left to right): Felicitas Oberndorfer, Clinical Institute of Pathology; Daniela Gompelmann, Division of Pulmonology / Department of Medicine II; Ahmed El-Gazzar, Division of Pulmonology / Department of Medicine II; (top, from left to right): Mir Alireza Hoda, Department of Thoracic Surgery; Thorsten Füreder, Division of Oncology / Department of Medicine I; Helmut Prosch, Division of General and Paediatric Radiology / Department of Biomedical Imaging and Image-Guided Therapy; part of the team, but not pictured: Sonja Zehetmayer, Institute for Medical Statistics.
- Karin Schelch (lead) and Christian Lang – Comprehensive expression analysis and functional characterization of thyroid hormone-associated proteins in small cell lung cancer
In their interdisciplinary project, Dr. Schelch, a cancer biologist from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, and Dr. Lang, a medical doctor at the Division of Pulmonology will investigate a potential novel treatment approach for small cell lung cancer.
Specifically, expression profiles of thyroid hormone (TH)-associated proteins will be established in tissue specimens representing primary and metastatic tumors, as well as patient-matched, non-malignant controls via immunohistochemistry. Results will be correlated with transcriptomic, proteomic and relevant clinicopathological data to gain insights into the relevance of TH-associated proteins in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) regarding specificity, intra- and intertumoral heterogeneity. Suitability as therapeutic targets or biomarkers will be functionally validated in primary cell- and organoid cultures. - Daniela Gompelmann (lead) & team – Restaging after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in patients with resectable NSCLC - a pilot study
Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer-related death. However, patient survival has improved significantly in recent years. This is largely attributable to the advent of immunotherapy. In patients with resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), the introduction of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy has significantly improved pathological response rates. This prospective, multidisciplinary pilot study, supported by the CCCD, will evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of invasive mediastinal restaging by endosonography after neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy. Surgical lymphadenectomy will serve as the confirmatory test. Additionally, this study will lay the groundwork for molecular and immunological biomarkers that may predict treatment response.
Funding is allocated on a project-by-project basis via the CCCD. The funded projects will be implemented in the coming months, with initial results expected next year.