Today, the German Research Foundation (DFG) announced that the transregional CRC on functionalisation of the ubiquitin system against cancer (UbiQancer) will be funded with € 18 M for the next four years. The CRC/TRR is coordinated by Technical University Munich (speaker: Prof. Florian Bassermann) with Goethe University Frankfurt and Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg as co-applicant universities, and Universities of Kiel and Mainz, Helmholtz Munich, and the MPI of Biochemistry in Martinsried being involved as partners.

The CRC/TRR aims to develop innovative therapeutic strategies by a better understanding of the role of protein ubiquitination in cancer. Scientists within the network wish to gain a mechanistic understanding of aberrant ubiquitin-dependent processes in specific tumour types: AML, B-cell neoplasms, non-small cell lung cancer and colorectal cancer. The CRC/TRR strives to establish a comprehensive exploratory hub for the discovery and functionalization of relevant vulnerabilities, and to seize this knowledge for the development of compounds against validated ubiquitin-related targets and the development of PROTACs (proteolysis targeting chimera) against oncoproteins that evade direct inhibition.

From Frankfurt side, IBC2 Directors Ivan Đikić and Stefan Müller have been heavily involved in conceptualizing the program. “In Frankfurt, the foundation for establishing this CRC/TRR was laid by the HMWK-funded LOEWE project Ub-Net”, explains Ivan Đikić. “The LOEWE network not only enabled us to generate relevant foundational data, but also kicked off the establishment of technological platforms which have become critical for projects within the CRC/TRR. Moreover this is a continuation of successful funding by HMWK in diversifying cancer research in Frankfurt via the LOEWE Center Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI)”. Ivan Đikić represents Frankfurt together with Christian Münch, Director of the Institute of Systems Medicine, in the CRC/TRR’s steering board. Besides Đikić, Müller and Münch, IBC2 scientists Anja Bremm, Manuel Kaulich and Alexandra Stolz are participating as well as GU colleagues Florian Büttner, Katharina Imkeller, Stefan Knapp and Eugen Proschak.