16 April 2026
Forcing Resistant Tumors to Self-Destruct: A New Approach to Metastatic Breast Cancer
A new study, recently published in the prestigious journal “Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy”, reports a promising strategy to combat therapy-resistant metastatic breast cancer. The work uncovers how switching cancer cell death modalities can overcome drug resistance in breast cancer and at the same time boost potential anti-tumor immune responses.
The study, funded by the Wilhelm Sander Stiftung and by the iMOL Research Group (DFG), was spearheaded by iMOL PhD researcher Kaja Wächtershäuser and co-led by iMOL PI Dr. Francesco Pampaloni from BMLS together with Prof. Dr. Sjoerd van Wijk, since 05.2026 Professor for Cell Biology at the University for Veterinary Medicine in Hannover and formerly from the Institute for Experimental Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at the Goethe University Frankfurt.
Rather than relying on conventional animal models, the collaborative team of researchers from the Goethe University Frankfurt, the University of Freiburg and Heidelberg University, applied patient-derived 3D “mini-tumors,” or organoids, grown from adult stem cells of metastatic breast cancer patients. These living models closely reproduce the complex multicellular architecture and behavior of human tumors, offering a powerful platform for testing therapies in a patient-specific context.
When these tumors evaded standard cell death mechanisms, the researchers pharmacologically forced the cells into necroptosis, a highly inflammatory form of programmed cell death, by combining Smac mimetics with caspase inhibitors. Consequently, the tumor cells did not only die, but also released a surge of inflammatory signals, including the potent inflammatory mediators IFN-α and IFN-γ. These contributed to a molecular alarm that activated natural killer (NK) cells, key players of the immune system. This dual effect, overcoming resistance while mobilizing immune defenses, points toward a new therapeutic strategy and opens a path toward more precise and powerful cancer immunotherapies.
Link to the paper: https://rdcu.be/fl4vQ
Contact: Dr. Francesco Pampaloni, Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences (IZN), Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Email: fpampalo@bio.uni-frankfurt.de
Prof. Dr. Sjoerd van Wijk, Institute of Physiology and Cell Biology, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Foundation, Hannover, Germany. Email: Sjoerd.van.Wijk@tiho-hannover.de. Tel.: +0049 (0) 511 953 6119.
2026
Congratulations Deborah !!
Deborah Moser from the Frangakis group completed her project on the structural analysis of the kidney slit diaphragm and successfully defended her PhD thesis. Well done!
16 January 2026
iMOL welcomes Hydra: Hesse’s first cryo plasma-FIB scanning electron microscope with nanomanipulator inaugurated at Goethe University Frankfurt !!
On 16 January 2026, the Buchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (BMLS) on Riedberg Campus celebrated the inauguration of a landmark piece of research infrastructure: a Cryo Plasma-FIB scanning electron microscope with nanomanipulator – the first instrument of its kind in Hesse and one of only a few in Germany. The instrument, valued at more than 5 million euros, was made possible through the generous support of the Dr. Rolf M. Schwiete Stiftung. The full press release from Goethe University Frankfurt is available here: https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/de/newsroom/meldungen/pressemitteilungen/2026/blick-ins-innerste-des-lebens-erstes-rasterelektronenmikroskop-mit-nanomanipulator-in-hessen-an-der-goethe-universitaet-eingeweiht
21 October 2024
Congratulations Pia !!
Pia Vestweber from the Windbergs group completed her project on 3D insights into cellular processes governing wound healing and tissue regeneration and successfully defended her PhD thesis on 21 October 2024. Well done!
18 October 2024
Congratulations Sina !!
Sina Manger from the Frangakis group completed her project on functional and mechanistical characterization of the essential lipid transport protein P116 from Mycoplasma pneumoniae and successfully defended her PhD thesis on 17 October 2024. Well done!
Sina Manger receives her decorated symbolic mortarboard from her colleagues after her successful defense.
Sina Manger with Achilleas Frangakis, Martin Pos and Clemens Glaubitz (from left to right)
25 September 2024
Congratulations Nensi !!
Nensi Alivodej from the Acker-Palmer group completed her project on cell-cell junctions and blood-brain-barrier development and successfully defended her PhD thesis on 25 September 2024. Well done!
Nensi Alivodej with her supervisor Amparo Acker-Palmer
24 June 2024
Congratulations Johanna !!
Johanna Rahm from the Heilemann group completed her project on the exploring the application of deep learning in super-resolution microscopy and successfully defended her PhD thesis on 24 June 2024. Well done!
Johanna Rahm (center) with her supervisor Mike Heilemann (left) and iMOL speaker Achilleas Frangakis (right)
Smiles all round. In her hands Johanna holds the symbolic mortarboard decorated by her colleagues, a German tradition.
A close-up of Johannas “Doktorhut”
1 March 2024
iMOL Research Training Group started on 1st March 2024 with the 2nd cohort of phd students
A part of the new PhD students had the opportunity to attend the Winter School in February 2024.
21 February 2024
Third iMOL winter school retreat in the Alps
The group of iMOL PhD students has doubled in size since the last retreat. The newcomers got to know everybody and their projects, the retreat providing an ideal opportunity for exchange. Again a full programme of talks including invited guest scientists and all iMOL PhD students. A little time was left for outdoor activities though.
24 February 2023
Second iMOL winter school retreat in the Alps
Despite a full schedule of talks by the invited guest scientists and the iMOL PhD students, there was time for joint activities, enjoying the beautiful landscape of the Kleinwalsertal.
29 September 2022
Poster prizes for the Matthäus group at the European Conference for Mathematical and Theoretical Biology
iMOL is proud to announce that PhD students of the Matthäus group have been awarded prizes at this year’s ECMTB 2022 in Heidelberg, a major conference with 750 participants. Marc Pereyra received the Lewis Wolpert Best Poster award. This prize is awarded annually for outstanding contributions to the field of theoretical biology. Marc’s poster can be viewed here. Zoë Lange won the ECMTB award for the best poster in developmental biology’. Her poster can be viewed here. Gustavo Hernandez-Mejia’s received the ECMTB award for the best poster in epidemiology. His poster can be viewed here.
The happy awardees: Marc Pereyra (left), Gustavo Hernandez-Mejia (center) and Zoë Lange (right) (photo by Camile Fraga Delfino Kunz)
28 September 2022
Fast DNA-PAINT imaging using a deep neural network
The advent of super-resolution imaging has overcome the diffraction-limited barrier of light microscopy into obtaining images at nanometre spatial resolution. DNA-PAINT (short for “DNA points accumulation for imaging in nanoscale topography”) is a super-resolution technique with relatively easy-to-implement multi-target imaging. However, image acquisition is slow as sufficient statistical data has to be generated from spatio-temporally isolated single emitters. iMOL scientists and colleagues have trained the neural network DeepSTORM to predict fluorophore positions from high emitter density DNA-PAINT data. They report in the journal Nature Communications that they achieved this way image acquisition in one minute. They demonstrate multi-colour super-resolution imaging of structure-conserved semi-thin neuronal tissue and imaging of large samples. This improvement can be integrated into any single-molecule imaging modality to enable fast single-molecule super-resolution microscopy.
Research paper: Kaarjel Narayanasamy, Johanna Rahm, Siddharth Tourani and Mike Heilemann (2022) Fast DNA-PAINT imaging using a deep neural network. Nature Communications 13: 5047. Link
Contact: Mike Heilemann, Institute of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Goethe University, Frankfurt/Main, heileman@chemie.uni-frankfurt.de
19 September 2022
Utz Ermel from the Frangakis group received the award for best poster at the 9th Electron Tomography Congress
iMOL is proud to announce that Utz from the Frangakis group won the award for the best poster at the 9th Electron Tomography Congress, 11 to 14 September 2022 in Egmond aan Zee in the Netherlands.
25 February 2022
First iMOL winter school retreat in the Alps
Despite a full schedule of interesting talks by the invited guest scientists, the iMOL PIs and the iMOL PhD students, there was time for joint activities, enjoying the beautiful winter landscape of the Kleinwalsertal.
1 March 2021