!!Jürgen Ruland - Biography
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Jürgen Ruland is Full Professor and Director of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Pathobiochemistry at the Technical University of Munich and Executive Director of TranslaTUM, TUM’s Center for Translational Cancer Research. Trained in medicine in Giessen and Pittsburgh, he earned a medical doctorate in experimental pharmacology (1996), completed clinical training and pursued postdoctoral research with Tak W. Mak in Toronto (1997–2002). He habilitated in Internal Medicine  at TUM in 2005 and obtained board certification in Laboratory Medicine in 2014.\\
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Ruland’s work bridges immunology and oncology by showing how innate and adaptive immune cells sense danger and convert receptor engagement into gene programs that protect the host, or, when deregulated, drive cancer and inflammation. He defined the CARD11–BCL10–MALT1 (CBM) signalosome as the key hub linking antigen receptors to NF‑κB in lymphocytes and pioneered MALT1 inhibition as a therapeutic concept for lymphomas now in clinical trials. He further uncovered PD‑1 as a bona fide tumor suppressor in mature T‑cell lymphomas and revealed a PD‑1–controlled metabolic program that restrains oncogenic AP‑1, with direct implications for the design and safe use of checkpoint‑based therapies. In innate immunity, he discovered CARD9‑centered pathways that integrate C‑type lectin and other pattern‑recognition signals; importantly, CARD9 deficiency is now a paradigm human primary immunodeficiency in antifungal host defense, shaping modern diagnostic algorithms and patient care. He also identified Clec12A as the first membrane receptor for uric‑acid crystals and links between nucleic acid sensing and IL-1beta production, illuminating mechanisms of sterile inflammation relevant to tissue injury and the tumor microenvironment. Collectively, these insights established new drug targets, guided clinical trial development and risk management, and delivered diagnostic concepts that translate immune‑signaling biology into tangible benefits for patients.\\
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Honors include two independent ERC Advanced Grants and the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation, the most prestigious research award in Germany providing flexible funding across disciplines. He is an elected member of the German National academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. He has delivered invited talks at over 200 national and international conferences and seminars, supervised more than 30 Ph.D. candidates, and many alumni now hold professorships. Bibliometrics: h‑index 84; 35,116 citations (Google Scholar, October 2025).\\ \\[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW edit jruland}][{ALLOW upload jruland}][{ALLOW comment All}]