More Effective Cancer Treatment And The Migration Of Modern Man From Africa To Western Eurasia

Main Category: Cancer / Oncology
Article Date: 23 May 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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The Collaborative Research Centre 806 "Unser Weg nach Europa: Kultur-Umwelt-Interaktion und menschliche Mobilität im Späten Quartär" (Our Road to Europe: Culture-Environment-Interaction and human Mobility in the late Quaternary) will be directed by Professor Dr. Jürgen of the Department of Pre- and Protohistoric Archaeology. This research centre is looking at the mobility of populations in the last 190,000 years. The focus of research will be the journey of modern man from Africa to Western Eurasia and Europe, in particular. Migration processes, and the exchange of ideas, technology and culture that entails, are an important prerequisite for important developments. The centre's main aim is to research, using scientific and archaeological methods, how human behaviour, the climate and the environment influenced important population movements. The scientists particularly want to examine the impacts that these factors have had on the actions and reactions of populations such as emigration, immigration and adaptation to new environments. Other universities and institutions are also involved the project. These include: the University of Bonn; RWTH Aachen University; Heidelberg University; the University of Duisburg-Essen as well as the Rhineland Regional Council; the Rheinisches Amt für Bodendenkmalpflege (Rheinland Department for the Preservation and Care of Field Monuments) as well as the Neanderthal Museum in Mettmann.

Despite there being much knowledge on the genetic processes that lead to biological immortality and the modification of cancer cells, not enough is known about the molecular processes due to which tumours are formed. The Collaborative Research Centre 832 "Molekulare Basis und Modulation der zellulären Interaktionen im Tumormikromilieu" (Molecular Basis and the Modulation of the cellular Interactions in the Tumour Micromilieu), under the direction of Professor Dr. Michael Hallek, director of the Klinik I für Innere Medizin (Clinic I for Internal Medicine), will therefore be investigating the mechanisms which cause and affect interaction between cancer cells and their micromilieu. In the foreground of the research will be the investigation of molecular modifications in the architecture, differentiation and motility of cells in tumour tissue, as well as the immune composition of the milieu of clinically visible tumours. In addition to these research questions, the long-term objective of the collaborative research centre will be to investigate new target structures suitable for the development of new therapeutic and diagnostic procedures. The University of Bonn and the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research in Cologne are also involved in the project.

University of Cologne rector Professor Dr. Axel Freimuth was very pleased with the DFG's decision, as it will promote even more important research in Cologne.

Source: University of Cologne