KI Cancer Research supports translational collaboration in FZD signaling in pancreatic cancer in the Schulte laboratory

In this project, preclinical and clinical expertise are combined to explore receptor structure-based development of novel strategies to inhibit WNT/Frizzled signaling in pancreatic cancer. We will combine novel small molecule compounds targeting perturbing signals with relevant cellular models of disease to obtain proof of concept for further compound development.

– I am very happy that the Cancer Research KI network supports our project and the start of this translational collaboration. The grant is generous and stimulates fundamental work at the frontiers between molecular disease mechanisms, structural biology, medicinal chemistry and oncology with a vision to develop new therapeutic options in the long term.

Research in the Schulte laboratory focuses on molecular mechanisms in WNT and Frizzled signaling, a signaling network of paramount importance in many cancers. The current project is translational and enables the insights gained by the group over the past five to ten years to be applied in disease-relevant cell models in collaboration with a renowned clinical researcher and expert in pancreatic cancer, a devastating disease with a very high prevalence. Treatment options are few.