Great success for cancer research in NRW
North Rhine-Westphalia will have its own site of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT): NCT West, which is run by the university hospitals in Essen and Cologne, will be one of the six permanent NCT sites in Germany, as announced by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research on Thursday, February 2, 2023. After several years of development, the NCT West will receive permanent funding from the federal and state governments. The foundation of the Cancer Research Center Cologne Essen (CCCE) as a cross-site research center, supported by the state, was an important prerequisite for this great success.
Minister President Hendrik Wüst: "I congratulate the CCCE on its successful application to become a permanent site of the NCT. At this leading cancer research center in North Rhine-Westphalia, researchers are working on pressing issues in cancer medicine. This includes, in particular, how people can benefit from research results even faster and regardless of where they live. The CCCE offers excellent conditions in North Rhine-Westphalia for treating affected cancer patients locally with the latest scientific findings. This is in line with our goal of linking research and patient care as closely as possible - for the benefit of patients."
Science Minister Ina Brandes: "Great news for North Rhine-Westphalia as a research location! It is a great success that the university hospitals in Essen and Cologne are now part of the NCT. This shows that North Rhine-Westphalia is at the forefront in the fight against the widespread disease of cancer. We have the excellent researchers at our medical locations to thank for this. The long-term funding will now make further progress possible through new and better diagnostic procedures and therapies. Many people will benefit from this."
The joint application from the university hospitals in Essen and Cologne was selected as a candidate for expansion in a competition in September 2020 - in the subsequent concept development phase, the two existing and three other selected NCT sites were able to convince the international panel of experts. The expansion of the NCT into one of the world's leading centers for applied cancer research is part of the "National Decade Against Cancer". In the future, the expanded NCT as a network consisting of the Berlin, Dresden, Heidelberg, Southwest (Tübingen/Stuttgart with the partner Ulm), WERA (Würzburg with the partners Erlangen, Regensburg and Augsburg) and West (Essen/Cologne) sites, together with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), will lead clinical research into new diagnostic and treatment methods for the benefit of cancer patients to a top international level. The federal and state governments plan to fund the NCT with a total of up to 98 million euros per year when it is completed.
With the aim of state-wide networking and integration of all potential in oncological research and cutting-edge university medicine, the CCCE is linked to other partners via the NRW Cancer Medicine Excellence Network. The CCCE focuses on forward-looking key topics such as medical data science, translational oncology and computer-aided cancer biology. The state government has been funding the CCCE as an excellent cancer research center of supraregional importance with 20 million euros since 2020.
Prof. Dr. Martin Schuler, Director of the Department of Internal Medicine (Tumor Research) and Deputy Director of the West German Tumor Center (WTZ) at Essen University Hospital: "We are very happy that the idea of networking for improved cancer medicine has been so successfully transferred from North Rhine-Westphalia to the federal level."
Prof. Dr. Michael Hallek, Director of the Clinic I for Internal Medicine and the CIO at the University Hospital of Cologne: "The expanded NCT will greatly accelerate clinical cancer research in Germany. A new, powerful cooperation between the six NCT sites is emerging, which, as "ONE NCT", will develop new therapies and diagnostic procedures on an equal footing and in competition with the world's major cancer centers. We look forward to making a contribution to this from the NCT West."
Background information on the NCT West
The two top oncology centers of the university hospitals in Essen and Cologne, the West German Tumor Center (WTZ) Essen and the Center for Integrated Oncology (CIO) Cologne, have been working together with the medical faculties of both hospitals since 2018 as part of the Cancer Research Center Cologne Essen (CCCE) to advance application-oriented cancer medicine in NRW. With funding from the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the potential applications of digitalization and artificial intelligence in oncology have been expanded. To this end, four professorships and four junior research groups have already been established at the medical faculties in Cologne and Essen, as well as one junior research group each in Aachen and Bochum.
Today (February 2, 2023), the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) confirmed the expansion of the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) by four new locations, including Essen/Cologne as the new "NCT West". Together with the existing sites in Heidelberg and Dresden, a total of six NCT sites are now working with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) to sustainably advance clinical-translational cancer research in Germany and improve treatment outcomes and the quality of life of cancer patients. Another focus is on involving patients as research partners.
As part of the "Cancer Medicine Excellence Network for NRW", all six university hospitals are linked to the "NCT West".
To the press release on the University Hospital Köln website