Junior research group at the HSCG develops new methods for personalized diagnostics and therapy for cancer and chronic inflammation.
Personalized medicine is considered an important key to the treatment of complex diseases. In the case of cancer and chronic inflammation in particular, it is becoming increasingly apparent that therapies can be particularly effective if they are tailored as precisely as possible to a person's individual disease situation. This is where the junior research group "Toolbox Biomedicine" at the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences comes in: it is developing new methodological building blocks with which defined protein conjugates can be produced and specifically modified as specific binding partners for diagnostics and therapy.
The project is entitled "Development of a toolbox for the selection, biosynthesis and modification of defined protein conjugates as specific binding partners in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and chronic inflammation". The project will run from March 1, 2026 to October 31, 2028 and is funded by the Sächsische Aufbaubank (SAB); funding is provided in the context of the ESF Plus 2021-2027 Higher Education and Research - Junior Research Groups guideline, with the aim of supporting joint research paper by young researchers and improving their entry opportunities in science and industry.
At its core, the junior research group works on selecting and producing high-affinity binding partners, in particular antibodies, and linking them to labels or active substances in a controlled manner. In future, such conjugates could help to make disease-relevant structures more precisely visible or to target them therapeutically.
The team is also establishing cellular assays that can be used to detect and specifically modulate immunotherapeutically relevant target structures. The project thus combines methodological development with a clear focus on application. The aim is not just to carry out basic research in the laboratory, but to create a toolbox that can be used for clinically relevant issues in the future.
The project is supported by an interdisciplinary team from four disciplines represented in the Faculty of Natural and Environmental Sciences at the HSCG: Biochemistry, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology and Cell Biology. Prof. Dr. Eva Neugebauer (Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry), Prof. Dr. Jan Mollitor (Organic Chemistry and Organic Spectroscopy), Prof. Dr. Thomas Wiegert (Microbiology) and Prof. Dr. Elisa Wirthgen (Cell Biology) are involved. Together with junior scientists Dominik Günther, Pia Schubert, Ali Al Hamad and Dr. Max Brendel, the team of eight is working on new approaches to diagnostics and therapy. The broad range of disciplines is expressly part of the concept: the exchange between the disciplines is intended to create new impetus for method development and application.
The strength of the project lies in its combination of methodological innovation and medical relevance. While many biomedical researchers are working on targeted therapies, the junior research group in Zittau is focusing on an approach that combines various process steps: from the selection of suitable binding partners to their production and controlled modification for diagnostic or therapeutic applications.
The result is not a single technology, but a methodological toolbox that can be flexibly adapted to different issues in the future. This adaptability is crucial in personalized medicine in particular, because disease progression and molecular target structures often differ significantly between individual patients.
A first joint meeting of the team marked the start of the collaboration and the next phase of the project. In the coming years, the individual methodological building blocks will be further developed, linked together and tested with regard to their use in diagnostics and therapy.
The junior research group is thus exemplary for a funding format that combines scientific qualification, interdisciplinary cooperation and application-oriented research.
