Core mission

Located in the Munich City center, in the LMU Hospital Campus Innenstadt, next to the new LMU Polyclinic, our research lab focuses on the main fundamental biological processes, that need to be understood to further advance the fields of Gynaecological Oncology and Reproduction medicine and develop new therapeutic and diagnostic solutions of the future. By complementing the activities of the clinicians in daily management of patients, our scientists and students focus on individual characteristics of each patient and develop strategies for faster implementation of the personalized medicine approaches in the lab. To achieve this, we are specialized in generation of patient derived organoid models, based on preservation of progenitor potential of the patient`s tissues in complex 3D cell culture models.

We have successfully generated biobank of EOC ovarian cancer organoids, covering broad spectrum different histological types and stages of diseases, cohorts of organoids from fallopian tubes and endometrium, as well as collection of lines from distinct deposits of endometriosis tissue. In a range of multidisciplinary and collaborative projects and interaction with wide network of national and international partners we use organoids to investigate molecular basis of disease development in genital tract, cellular mechanisms which regulate cancer progression and response to therapy (e.g stemness mechanisms, epigenetics, DNA repair machinery, and mode of action of targeted therapies in vitro. Integration of molecular genetic tools ( shRNA, CRISPR/Cas9) in organoid culture as well as diverse analytic tools (sc-RNA sequencing, bulk-transcriptomics, Chip-seq) enable us to rigorously test new hypotheses and elucidate causative relationships within cellular pathways.