News

Network-based approaches open a new avenue to classify and treat rare diseases Scientists at CeMM, Max Perutz Labs, and St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute have achieved a significant advancement in the research of rare immune system disorders. Through a network-based approach, they have reclassified approximately 200 rare diseases. Initial comparisons with clinical data already […]

Childhood Cancer Awareness Month 2023 (Vienna, 01.09.2023) Throughout the year, we are committed to raising awareness about childhood cancer, which fundamentally differs from adult cancer. Every September, during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we think of something special to go the extra mile. This year we interviewed our young cancer researchers, delving deeper into the personal

Gene Mutation in the Immune System: Anti-Diabetes Drugs Make Immune Cells More Effective Again (Vienna, 31.08.2023) T cells are an essential component of the immune system – they fight foreign structures such as bacteria and viruses or cancer-related changes in cells. This defense reaction requires energy. Scientists led by the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute

“I think there are few things that so many people agree on as that it is good to support St. Anna CCRI!” (Vienna, 28.08.2023) “Science Buster” and molecular biologist Martin Moder in brief: Why he supports the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, how he deals with criticism, and what he currently likes doing best!

Kaan Boztug explains defect in DOCK 11 (Vienna, 10.8.2023) Recently, Scientists from St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute discovered a rare genetic defect in collaboration with the CeMM Research Center for Molecular Medicine of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and the Medical University of Vienna, working together with scientists from around the world. Today,

St. Anna CCRI welcomes George Cresswell as new Principal Investigator (Vienna, 01.08.2023) British bioinformatician George Cresswell has been studying various forms of childhood cancer, especially nephroblastoma, since his student days. As Principal Investigator at St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, he will turn his attention to the evolutionary biology of cancer cells in an attempt

Sarcoma Awareness Month: exposing an insidious Nemesis (Vienna, 27.07.2023) Sarcomas pose a significant challenge, especially for children and adolescents, as the tumors often go undetected and metastasize. At St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, two research groups are dedicated to studying this tumor. Sarcomas are rare forms of cancer, comprising only two percent of all

“I wish you the best of luck and groundbreaking research results!” (Vienna, 24.07.2023) Bestselling author Ursula Poznanski in brief: Why she supports the St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, how she deals with criticism, and what her best decision was! Under the motto of our 35th anniversary “Reaching for the stars”, we interviewed exciting, renowned

Successful ERNPaedCan General Assembly (Vienna, 30.06.2023) The St. Anna CCRI team, in collaboration with SIOPE, successfully coordinated this year’s General Assembly for the ERN PaedCan project, marking five years of significant achievements. The assembly functioned as platform to celebrate the progress made and to examine the benefits delivered to patients through the network’s activities. The

With a novel High-Throughput-Screening method the efficacy of numerous drugs can be tested simultaneously. Researchers are now able to quickly and efficiently assess which substances are effective against certain tumors. A team led by Martin Distel, PhD, and Sabine Taschner-Mandl, PhD, of St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute has now provided the first guide on how to use this method to test the sensitivity of childhood tumors to different drugs in zebrafish models. The study was published in the Journal npj Precision Oncology.

Scientists led by Sabine Taschner-Mandl, PhD, St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute, and Nikolaus Fortelny, PhD, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, are the first to analyze bone marrow metastases from childhood tumors of the nervous system using modern single-cell sequencing analysis. It turns out that cancer cells prevent cells in their environment from fighting the tumor – a process that could be reversed with medication. The findings were published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.

The first-ever ITCC Scientific Days concluded with big success!  The Innovative Therapies for Children with Cancer (ITCC) conference brought together leading international experts and researchers in pediatric oncology to discuss the latest advancements, challenges, and opportunities in understanding and treating pediatric cancers.  Exciting breakthroughs were discussed, including a novel treatment approach for high-grade gliomas that

Prof. Florian Grebien, PhD, is eager to understand why some childhood leukemias show poor treatment response and how this can be tackled. To this end, he is now establishing his own team at St. Anna Children’s Cancer Research Institute (St. Anna CCRI). “Prof. Grebien is an outstanding researcher. We have followed his scientific achievements for many years and are very pleased to have been able to recruit him as a Principal Investigator to St. Anna CCRI,” says Prof. Kaan Boztug, MD, Scientific Director of St. Anna CCRI.

Neuroblastoma Dialogue at ANR Meeting in Amsterdam (Vienna, 26.05.2023) At last week’s Advances in Neuroblastoma Research (ANR) Meeting in Amsterdam, St. Anna CCRI had a strong presence contributing with remarkable talks and posters. Florian Halbritter captivated the audience with his insightful talk on their study titled “Neuroblastoma-associated chromosomal aberrations drive cell identity loss in human neural