Cancer Research in Switzerland - Krebsliga Schweiz

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the attempt should be made to stop the specific mo­
lecular processes of stem cell multiplication and in
this way to block the fatal activity of the cancer stem
cells.
Extensive investigations of this kind can only be
successful through cooperation among different re­
search groups that complement each others’ compe­
tencies. Here, synergies between stem cell biologists,
pathologists, clinicians, and pharmaceutical scientists
are imperative. This is the only way we can increase
our understanding of cancer stem cells and their
effect – and that is urgently needed if we want to be
able to possibly establish new specific and efficient
strategies in cancer therapy.
Prof. Lukas Sommer, PhD
Lukas Sommer has been full professor
and head of the Division of
Cell and Developmental Biology
at the Institute of Anatomy at
the University of Zurich since
2007. He completed undergraduate
studies in biology at the
Biocenter in Basel, Switzerland,
and received his PhD in 1992 at
the Swiss Institute for Experimental Cancer Research
(ISREC) in Lausanne. After conducting research as a
postdoctoral fellow at California Institute of Technology
(CALTECH) in the United States, he returned to Switzerland
in 1997 to join the Institute of Cell Biology at
ETH Zurich, where he worked as a group leader and
then as assistant professor.
Phone +41 (0)44 635 54 43
lukas.sommer@anatom.uzh.ch
www.anatom.uzh.ch/research/DivisionSommer_en.html