News
Successful together: LOEWE-FCI and LOEWE-CARISMa, together with MSNZ and DKTK, are organizing the 6th Rhine-Main Cancer Retreat, thus strengthening networking.
On February 23 and 24, 2026, more than 200 scientists from Frankfurt, Mainz, and Marburg met in Glashütten in the Taunus region for the 6th Rhine-Main Cancer Retreat. This joint event, organized by the research consortia LOEWE Center Frankfurt Cancer Institute (FCI), the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) partner site Frankfurt/Mainz, the Mildred Scheel Career Center (MSNZ) Frankfurt-Marburg, and – participating for the first time as a consortium partner – the LOEWE Research Cluster CARISMa, offered cancer researchers from the associated institutes in Frankfurt, Mainz, and Marburg a platform for internal and cross-site exchange.
In seven sessions featuring numerous presentations, the speakers impressively demonstrated how they combine basic research and clinical translation in their respective fields and how they benefit from synergies in their collaborations. Five of the seven sessions addressed shared strategic themes aligned with the cross-cutting programs of FCI: Attendees gained insights into the latest research findings in the areas of "Immunotherapy of Glioblastoma," "Metastasis," "Gastrointestinal Tumors," "Urooncology," and "Acute Myeloid Leukemia".
Two additional sessions on "Drug Development" and "Cell Therapy & CARISMa" complemented the program and showcased, in particular, cross-site projects. A guest lecture by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Kobold (Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich) on "Engineering T cells against disease vulnerabilities," as well as conceptual short presentations on FCI, DKTK, and MSNZ, rounded out the program. Two interdisciplinary poster sessions provided a forum for projects from the various funded programs and research groups, encouraging discussion and networking, especially among early-career researchers.
This also demonstrated the value of interdisciplinary collaboration, as it strengthens the oncology network in the Rhine-Main region and thus advances cancer research. The participants left with new ideas and plenty of inspiration for future collaborations.