Radiobiology

The cellular complexity of a tumor is similar to organs accompanied by dynamic adjustment processes as a reaction to changes in microenvironment, to immune attack, and to therapeutic intervention. Tumor stem cells, a special class of undifferentiated slow-cycling or even non-cycling silent cells with self-renewing capacity play a decisive role in these processes. Our research is focused on the identification and characterization of tumor stem cells and their impact on therapy induced dynamic processes in tumor microenvironment. Investigations are carried out on 3D-culture models (spheres and tumoroids) e.g. by flow cytometry and cell sorting, confocal laser scan microscopy, digital holographic microscopy (in cooperation with Björn Kemper, Biomedical Technology Center).