Julia Sieber-Frank, PhD student
I first joined the department of Applied Tumor Biology for my Master’s thesis as part of my education in Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg. The project I worked on involved an exciting topic of drug development for targeting glucose metabolism in tumor cells (Warburg effect).
Therefore, after successfully completing my studies, I continued with research on this topic in frame of my PhD project in February 2018. Currently I am working on the essential steps required for the clinical translation of novel anti-cancer agents (synthetic flavaglines) specifically targeting altered glucose metabolism in cancer cells.
The project aims to further understand the mechanisms of action of synthetic flavaglines and to investigate their anti-tumor activity in vivo. Due to the restriction of the Warburg effect mainly to cancer cells, therapeutic approaches targeting this effect may have milder side effects compared to conventional chemotherapy, possibly improving the life quality of treated patients.
