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Panoramic view on the North Campus © Jürgen Huhn​/​TU Dortmund
Innovative active ingredient research in the field of oncology

19.4 Million Euros for New CANTAR Research Network

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Graphical representation of a drug molecule in complex with a cancer-relevant target protein. © Prof. Daniel Rauh
Diagram of an active ingredient molecule in a complex with a cancer-related target protein.
TU Dortmund University is a partner in the new CANTAR research network, which the Ministry of Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia is funding with a total of 19.4 million euros over four years. The acronym stands for “CANcer TARgeting”: Together, the researchers involved want to close the gap between frontier research and clinical cancer research and develop new chemical substances to identify and study specific cancer pathways.

“CANTAR pursues a holistic approach, in which researchers from chemistry, biology and medicine are working together in a way that is unique in Europe,” says Professor Daniel Rauh, professor for medicinal chemistry and chemical biology and coordinator of the Drug Discovery Hub at TU Dortmund University. He is in charge of one of the four research groups in the new network.

Rauh is convinced: “TU Dortmund University is contributing its expertise in chemical biology and active ingredient research to the network. In partnership with clinical and tumor biology research in the region, we can play a pioneering role at both national and international level in anchoring oncological drug research in existing structures.”

Together, the researchers involved want to discover and develop substances that specifically target cancer cells without harming normal tissue. Other approaches for cancer treatment are substances that intervene in cancer-specific metabolic processes or help the body’s immune system to spot cancer cells. “We assume that important therapeutic progress in the treatment of cancer will be possible over the next decade,” says Rauh.

Portrait of man in suit © Felix Schmale​/​TU Dortmund
Professor Daniel Rauh is professor for medicinal chemistry and chemical biology at TU Dortmund University.

Together with oncologists at hospitals in Cologne and Essen, the researchers in Dortmund have already worked successfully in the past on medical questions with the help of chemical and structural biology approaches. “That is why we’re particularly pleased about this new funding from the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, which allows us to implement further innovative projects in active ingredient research,” says Rauh.

13 Dortmund researchers involved in new network

Apart from Professor Daniel Rauh, professors Daniel Summerer, Guido Clever, Max Hansmann, Müge Kasanmascheff, Andrea Musacchio and Stefan Raunser from the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at TU Dortmund University and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund as well as junior research group leaders Dr. Malte Gersch, Dr. Sonja Sievers, Dr. Andreas Brunschweiger, Dr. Leonhard Urner, Dr. Sidney Becker and Dr. Elisabeth Kreidt are also involved in the new network. Together with their teams, they will support CANTAR with high-throughput screening, structural biology experiments on oncogenes as well as the design and synthesis of active ingredients and molecular probes.

In total, eight universities and research institutions in Cologne, Essen, Bonn, Aachen, Düsseldorf and Dortmund have joined forces in the new network. Speaker university is the University of Cologne. With the new funding program, the State of North Rhine-Westphalia aims to strengthen existing thematic networks of universities and non-university institutions across different locations over the longer term as well as enhance their visibility and international competitiveness. CANTAR is one of the five networks selected that won in the competition between 10 draft proposals and seven full proposals.

All network partners: The University of Cologne (speaker university), TU Dortmund University, the University of Duisburg-Essen, the universities of Bonn and Düsseldorf, RWTH Aachen University, DZNE (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases) in Bonn and the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund.

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