Clinical Cooperation Unit

Pediatric Oncology

Functional and Structural Genomics
KiTZ
Clinical Cooperation Unit

Prof. Dr. Olaf Witt

Welcome to the homepage of the Clinical Cooperation Unit Pediatric Oncology, where we are dedicated to advancing pediatric cancer research through the translation of preclinical findings into clinical trials.

Our Research

Our team of expert researchers is aiming to develop preclinical models, investigating mechanisms of action, conducting drug screens, and clinical trials with new innovative treatments to translate promising treatments to children with cancer. Our team is constantly working to identify new biomarkers that enable to predict treatment response and inform clinical trial design. As such, the department is an essential part of the "Translational Pediatric Oncology" program of the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ) and is closely collaborating with groups from the preclinical and clinical programs of the KiTZ.

Our preclinical activities are centered around developing robust in vitro and in vivo disease models and generate science-driven preclinical data packages to initiate and guide clinical trial development with innovative treatments.

Our KiTZ Clinical Trial Unit has a strong expertise in pediatric phase I-III trial development and coordination of international clinical trials. We work closely with international partners in academia, industry, and the healthcare sector to design and conduct clinical trials that offer the most promising treatments to children with cancer and improve clinical practice in a sustained manner. Our commitment to international collaboration ensures that our clinical trials have the greatest possible impact.

Thank you for visiting our website, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or would like to learn more about our work.

Team

60 Employees

Prof. Dr. Olaf Witt
Prof. Dr. med. Ute Bartels
Sonja Bastuck
Maximilian Florian Bauer
Pauline Becker
Dr. Carina Bodden
Dr. Juliane Buhl
Dr. Simay Celikyürekli
Lea Joy Digel
Dr. Jonas Ecker
Marta Emperador Melero
Fabienne Engelmann
Laura Fankhauser
Emma Fernandez Tendolkar
Aileen Friedenauer
Charlotte Gatzweiler
Eugene Kwami Gbekor
Emily Cecilia Hardin
Melanie Heiß
Dr. Sonja Herter
Alexandra Heuser
Elisabeth Rebecca Hillier
Anette Hugo
Dr. Anna Kolodziejczak
Lidiia Korchmar
Simon Krost
Amelia Kurti
Anna Loboda
Raquel Magalhaes Carvalho
Maike Maurer
apl. Prof. Dr. Till Milde
Prof. Dr. Martina Muckenthaler
Carina Müller
Dr. Sara Najafi
Leo Nonnenbroich
apl. Prof. Dr. Ina Oehme
Dr. Heike Peterziel
Elisabeth Pezzuto
Dr. Bettina Reischmann
Viktoria Sachs
Natja Sachse
Rabia Salem-Altintas
Venukah Schäfer
Sophia Scheuermann
Annsophie Schmidt
Till Seiboldt
Dr. Christian Seitz
Florian Selt
Ina Siebig
Kyriaki Smyrilli
Sabine Steinecker-Mikkat
Alexandra Stroh-Dege
Tetiana Syzonova
Nadja Utz
Priv. Doz. Dr. Cornelis Martinus van Tilburg
Marko Weidmann
Ruth Witt
Kathrin Wolsing
Simon Zeuner
Dr. Cecilia Zuliani

Selected Publications

2022 - NPJ Precis Oncol. 6(1):94

Drug sensitivity profiling of 3D tumor tissue cultures in the pediatric precision oncology program INFORM

Heike Peterziel, Nora Jamaladdin, Dina ElHarouni, Xenia F. Gerloff, Sonja Herter, Petra Fiesel, Yannick Berker, Mirjam Blattner-Johnson, Kathrin Schramm, Barbara C. Jones, David Reuss, Laura Turunen, Aileen Friedenauer, Tim Holland-Letz, Martin Sill, Lena Weiser, Christopher Previti, Gnanaprakash Balasubramanian, Nicolas U. Gerber, Johannes Gojo, Caroline Hutter, Ingrid Øra, Olli Lohi, Antonis Kattamis, …Ina Oehme

2023 - Neuro Oncol. 25(4):735-747

BH3 mimetics targeting BCL-XL impact the senescent compartment of pilocytic astrocytoma

Florian Selt, Romain Sigaud, Gintvile Valinciute, Philipp Sievers, Julia Zaman, Clara Alcon, Simone Schmid, Heike Peterziel, Jessica W Tsai, Romain Guiho, Juan Pedro Martínez-Barbera, Stefan Pusch, Jing Deng, Yifan Zhai, Cornelis M van Tilburg, Martin U Schuhman, Ahmed El Damaty, Pratiti Bandopadhayay, Christel Herold-Mende, Andreas von Deimling, Stefan M Pfister, Joan Montero, David Capper, Ina Oehme, Felix Sahm, David T W Jones, Olaf Witt, Till Milde

2021 - Cancer Discov. 11(11):2764-2779

The Pediatric Precision Oncology INFORM Registry: Clinical Outcome and Benefit for Patients with Very High-Evidence Targets

Cornelis M van Tilburg, Elke Pfaff, Kristian W Pajtler, Karin P S Langenberg, Petra Fiesel, Barbara C Jones, Gnana Prakash Balasubramanian, Sebastian Stark, Pascal D Johann, Mirjam Blattner-Johnson, Kathrin Schramm, Nicola Dikow, Steffen Hirsch, Christian Sutter, Kerstin Grund, Arend von Stackelberg, Andreas E Kulozik, Andrej Lissat, Arndt Borkhardt, Roland Meisel, Dirk Reinhardt, Jan-Henning Klusmann, Gudrun Fleischhack, Stephan Tippelt, Dietrich von Schweinitz, Irene Schmid, Christof M Kramm, André O von Bueren, Gabriele Calaminus, Peter Vorwerk, Norbert Graf, Frank Westermann, Matthias Fischer, Angelika Eggert, Birgit Burkhardt, Wilhelm Wößmann, Michaela Nathrath, Stefanie Hecker-Nolting, Michael C Frühwald, Dominik T Schneider, Ines B Brecht, Petra Ketteler, Simone Fulda, Ewa Koscielniak, Michael T Meister, Monika Scheer, Simone Hettmer, Matthias Schwab, Roman Tremmel, Ingrid Øra, Caroline Hutter, Nicolas U Gerber, Olli Lohi, Bernarda Kazanowska, Antonis Kattamis, Maria Filippidou, Bianca Goemans, C Michel Zwaan, Till Milde, Natalie Jäger, Stephan Wolf, David Reuss, Felix Sahm, Andreas von Deimling, Uta Dirksen, Angelika Freitag, Ruth Witt, Peter Lichter, Annette Kopp-Schneider, David T W Jones, Jan J Molenaar, David Capper, Stefan M Pfister, Olaf Witt