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Langen Science Award 2021: Prize-Winner Professor Thomas Oellerich Researches Protein Expression Patterns and Signal Transduction Pathways for Personalised Cancer Therapies

23 / 2021

On 18 November 2021, Professor Thomas Oellerich was presented with the Langen Science Award, which is endowed with 15,000 euros, at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. The Langen Science Award honors researchers who have dedicated themselves profoundly to advances in medicine. "We are delighted that in Professor Thomas Oellerich we are honoring a scientist who has dedicated his research to explaining oncogenic proteomic processes such as signal transduction in leukemias and lymphomas. He is thus contributing to the development of improved, targeted options for therapy," emphasised Professor Klaus Cichutek, President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines. The award ceremony was kept small due to the pandemic, but next year the presentation of the Langen Science Award 2021 will be repeated in the usual celebratory setting of a public event.

Prof. Thomas Oellerich, Prof. Klaus Cichutek (Source: B. Morgenroth/Paul-Ehrlich-Institut) From left to right: Prof. Thomas Oellerich, Prof. Klaus Cichutek

Five researchers and research teams were selected from among the applications for the Langen Science Award by the six-member advisory board, which is chaired by the former President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Professor Johannes Löwer. They were then invited to a virtual presentation event in October. The remaining members of the advisory board are Professor Klaus Cichutek, President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut, Professor Jan Werner, Mayor of the City of Langen, Manfred Pusdrowski, Managing Director of Stadtwerke Langen, Professor Hansjörg Schild, Director of the Institute for Immunology, Mainz, and Professor Erhard Seifried, Medical Director and CEO of the German Red Cross Blood Donation Service for Baden-Württemberg/Hessen.

The research of prize-winner Professor Thomas Oellerich: systematic proteogenomic characterisation of cancer cells

Professor Thomas Oellerich made it to the final round of the most promising candidates for the award with his research into "The role of the oncoproteome for innovative diagnostics and therapies". Proteome refers to the totality of all proteins in organisms, organs, or cells, with the proteome of cancer cells known as the oncoproteome. Oellerich and his team research protein expression patterns and protein modifications, which provide information about which genes are activated and in what way these influence cancer cells. Proteome research thus makes it possible, for example, to examine the molecular processes in the development of resistance to cancers and to develop new therapeutic approaches.

Specifically, the research group under Professor Oellerich has managed to take its findings from preclinical research into the importance of an enzyme, the kinase SYK, in patients with a specific form of leukemia known as acute myeloid leukemia (AML), and transfer them to clinical research. Following a successful phase II study, an international study for marketing authorisation is now underway in relation to this.

But that’s not all – with the help of its systematic proteogenomic characterisation of cancer cells, the working group aims to identify new biomarkers and therapeutic target structures in future and thus contribute to improved, targeted therapy options.

Langen Science Award

In 1993 the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut teamed up with the City of Langen to launch the Lange Science Award. The award, endowed with 15,000 euros, has since been presented every two years to successful researchers and is held in high regard.

"The City of Langen believes it has a social responsibility to promote research and has chosen to express this in the form of the Langen Science Prize," emphasises Professor Jan Werner, Mayor of the City of Langen.

Stadtwerke Langen has supported the presentation of the Science Award from the outset. Director Pusdrowski sees this commitment as part of this majority publicly-owned corporation’s tradition of taking responsibility for social, cultural, and economic wellbeing and promoting matters of social interest.

For more than 30 years, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut has been based in Langen and will continue to have its headquarters in the city in its new building, too, which is currently in the planning stage. As a research-based medical authority, the Federal Institute ensures a high standard of quality, effectiveness, and safety in biomedicines for humans and animals alike. The current Coronavirus pandemic has highlighted the importance of established professional processes in the development and authorisation of high-quality, safe, and effective COVID-19 vaccines. From the outset, the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut has been advising vaccine developers and is actively involved in the European authorization procedure. In addition, it intensively monitors the safety of vaccines even after authorisation.

The non-profit "Association for the Promotion of the Langen Science Award" was founded in 2003 with the aim of ensuring funding for the award through donations.

In order to get young people interested in medical research early on, Professor Oellerich will also present his research at the Dreieich-Gymnasium school in Langen.

Professional career of Professor Thomas Oellerich

From 2003 to 2010, Professor Dr Thomas Oellerich studied human medicine at the Georg-August University of Göttingen and the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. He gained a PhD at the Georg-August University of Göttingen in 2012. Subsequent periods, including his further training as a specialist in internal medicine, hematology, and oncology, were spent at the Georg-August University Göttingen, Frankfurt University Hospital, the University of Cambridge, UK, and the National Cancer Institute, NIH, USA. In 2018 he completed his habilitation in internal medicine, and since April 2019 has been Professor of Translational Proteomics in Cancers at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and at the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK). At the same time, he has been working as a senior physician in the hematology/oncology department at Frankfurt University Hospital since 2019.

Prizes and scholarships received

  • 2002 German Physical Society Award
  • 2012 Publication Award of the Georg-August University of Göttingen
  • 2013 American Society of Hematology Abstract Achievement Award
  • 2013 Doctoral Award of the Georg-August University of Göttingen
  • 2016 GILEAD Research Award
  • 2018 Johann Georg Zimmermann Prize; Hannover Medical School
  • 2018 Artur Pappenheim Prize for Hematology; German Society for Hematology and Medical Oncology (DGHO)

Selected publications

Mohr S, Doebele C, Comoglio F, Berg T, Beck J, Bohnenberger H, Alexe G, Corso J, Ströbel P, Wachter A, Beissbarth T, Schnütgen F, Cremer A, Haetscher N, Göllner S, Rouhi A, Palmqvist L, Rieger MA, Schroeder T, Bönig H, Müller-Tidow C, Kuchenbauer F, Schütz E, Green AR, Urlaub H, Stegmaier K, Humphries RK, Serve H, Oellerich T (2017).
Hoxa9 and Meis1 Cooperatively Induce Addiction to Syk Signaling by Suppressing miR-146a in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cancer Cell.;31(4):549-562

Schneider C*, Oellerich T*, Baldauf HM*, Schwarz SM*, Thomas D, Flick R, Bohnenberger H, Kaderali L, Stegmann L, Cremer A, Martin M, Lohmeyer J, Michaelis M, Hornung V, Schliemann C, Berdel WE, Hartmann W, Wardelmann E, Comoglio F, Hansmann ML, Yakunin AF, Geisslinger G, Ströbel P, Ferreirós N, Serve H, Keppler OT, Cinatl J Jr (2017).
SAMHD1 is a biomarker for cytarabine response and a therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukemia. Nat Med.;23(2):250-255

Phelan JD, Young RM, Webster DE, Roulland S, Wright GW, Kasbekar M, Shaffer AL 3rd, Ceribelli M, Wang JQ, Schmitz R, Nakagawa M, Bachy E, Huang DW, Ji Y, Chen L, Yang Y, Zhao H, Yu X, Xu W, Palisoc MM, Valadez RR, Davies-Hill T, Wilson WH, Chan WC, Jaffe ES, Gascoyne RD, Campo E, Rosenwald A, Ott G, Delabie J, Rimsza LM, Rodriguez FJ, Estephan F, Holdhoff M, Kruhlak MJ, Hewitt SM, Thomas CJ, Pittaluga S, Oellerich T*, Staudt LM* (2018).
A multiprotein supercomplex controlling oncogenic signaling in lymphoma. Nature.;560 (7718):387-391

The event took place in compliance with the vaccinated/recovered/tested rules.

Updated: 19.11.2021