Donations - Investing in Discovery

We investigate how molecular processes determine the fate of cells—and how this knowledge can be applied to develop new therapeutic approaches.

Six researchers currently share a single cell culture hood, creating a significant bottleneck in our daily lab work. In addition, both cells and tissues have to be handled in the same hood, requiring time-consuming cleaning between workflows.

With an additional state-of-the-art cell culture hood, we can significantly increase our laboratory capacity and enable multiple researchers to work in parallel. This will reduce bottlenecks, streamline workflows and create more time for reliable and reproducible experiments.

Yamanaka factors can reprogram aged cells towards a more youthful state, opening up entirely new possibilities for regenerative medicine. However, their use in humans remains limited by low efficiency and safety concerns, particularly their potential to promote tumor growth.

Rather than developing increasingly complex combinations of reprogramming factors, we take a different approach: we modify the architecture of the cell nucleus to make aged cells more receptive to cellular reprogramming. This could potentially enable safer, more efficient reprogramming.

We have generated new insights into the activation and modulation of an enzyme involved in lipid metabolism, essential for several aggressive cancers. We require funding for a PhD student to investigate this further and lay the groundwork for a potential therapeutic application.

We have already established a network of collaborators who are interested in supporting us in further exploring the therapeutic modulation of this key enzyme. A PhD student could dedicate their doctoral research to this project and thereby contribute to new therapeutic approaches.

Scientific ideas need people, time, and resources to become new discoveries. Your support can help us turn promising ideas into concrete research projects — from funding specific research projects and PhD positions to developing new methods and providing essential research infrastructure.

Supporting Young Scientists – Enabling PhD researchers to dedicate their time and expertise to innovative research projects.

Turning Ideas into Research – Providing the resources needed to test promising hypotheses, develop new approaches, and generate new scientific insights.

Enabling New Possibilities – Supporting modern technologies, essential infrastructure, and research that may contribute to new therapeutic approaches in the future.