Prize of the Society of Toxicology for treatment approaches in colorectal cancer
At the "German PharmTox Summit" in Düsseldorf, Dr. Philipp Demuth received the renowned "Young Scientist Toxicology Award" from the Society of Toxicology. With this award, the society honored his research work on new pharmacological approaches in colorectal cancer therapy, which was carried out as part of his excellent doctorate in Prof. Jörg Fahrer's working group at the Department of Chemistry.
Dr. Demuth's doctoral thesis dealt with novel pharmacological strategies for the treatment of colorectal cancer. This is one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide, affecting more and more young people. Despite medical progress and the development of targeted biological cancer drugs, this malignant disease is responsible for a good ten percent of all cancer-related deaths in western industrialized nations.
His work has now focused on mitochondrial metabolism and the DNA damage response as attractive therapeutic targets in colorectal cancer cells. Together with Dr. Carina Arnold, Dr. Demuth was able to show that the substance devimistat attacks the mitochondria in colon cancer cells and thus triggers cell death, whereas healthy colon cells are spared. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that devimistat acts synergistically with clinically used cytostatics in various colorectal cancer models. In a further study, Dr. Demuth succeeded in identifying new lead structures for pharmacological inhibitors of the DNA repair protein PARP-1. The drug candidates were able to effectively inhibit the activity of PARP-1 in colon cancer cells without having a toxic effect themselves. He was also able to illustrate that colorectal cancer cells with a defect in a specific DNA repair pathway were sensitized to the cytostatic effect by the novel PARP inhibitors. Dr. Demuth has published this and other research work in several publications, which has now been recognized by the Society of Toxicology with the Young Scientist Toxicology Award. The award is endowed with 2500 euros.
Dr. Demuth now works at BASF SE as a laboratory manager in Experimental Toxicology and Ecology. There he works with his team on the development of new methods as an alternative to animal testing for the toxicological assessment of chemicals. To this end, analyses of the so-called transcriptome, i.e. the entirety of all RNA molecules in a cell, are carried out in human cell culture models and combined with physiologically based toxicokinetic models. In the future, this approach will be used to predict the systemic toxicity of chemicals in humans and thus reduce or replace animal testing.
Fortunately, Dr. Demuth will remain at RPTU as a lecturer in the Master's program in Toxicology at the Department of Chemistry, which he himself successfully completed.
Questions answered:
Prof. Dr. Jörg Fahrer
Area of study: Food Chemistry and Toxicology / Department of Chemistry
Tel.: 0631 205-2974
E-mail: joerg.fahrer@chem.rptu.de
About the German Society of Toxicology (GT) The German Society of Toxicology (GT) is the scientific society for toxicology in German-speaking countries. It promotes research, teaching and further education in all areas of toxicology, strengthens scientific exchange and supports young scientists. The GT is also committed to the transfer of toxicological findings to politics, authorities and the public. With the annual Young Scientist Award, it recognizes outstanding research achievements by young scientists in the field of toxicology.