José Carreras Research Fellowship for MSNZ PhD-student

Silvia Schäfer has been awarded one of three grants from the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation. We want to briefly introduce the early career scientist and this renowned grant.

Since 1995, the José Carreras Leukemia Foundation has been supporting particularly promising and innovative research projects in order to achieve its foundation goal: "Leukemia must become curable. Always and for everyone." Each grantee is provided with 41,400 euros annually and up to 1,250 euros travel funds. Research results are reviewed annually. After positive assessment by the Scientific Advisory Board of the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation, project funding is possible for up to three years.

Silvia Schäfer is a doctoral student in the WuBi Lab of the Mildred Scheel Early Career Center Dresden. WuBi Lab stands for the MSNZ research group of Dr. Alexander Wurm and Dr. Marius Bill at the National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden NCT/UCC. Silvia studies the role of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in acute myeloid leukemia focussing on leukemia stem cells (LSCs). These cell type is thought to be responsible for the development of leukemia and for triggering relapse after therapy. Silvia wants to identify lncRNAs that are particularly associated with these LSCs. The aim is to use these as new biomarkers for targeted therapies and therapeutic outcomes.

The MSNZ wishes Silvia and the whole WuBi team lots of success and groundbreaking research results!