Klaus Schulze-Osthoff - Biography#

Prof. Klaus Schulze-Osthoff is head of the Department of Molecular Medicine at Tübingen University, an “Ivy league” university in Germany. Moreover, he is affiliated with the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). Following positions as a postdoc and junior group leader in Ghent and Heidelberg, Klaus became assistant professor and lecturer at the University of Freiburg. He was then appointed associate professor at the universities of Tübingen and Münster. From 2001 - 2008 he served as the chair and founding director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine in Düsseldorf, before he returned to his current position in Tübingen, where he became also the scientific director of the Comprehensive Cancer Center. His current research is dedicated to basic and translational biomedical questions with a focus on frontier areas of oncology, tumor immunology and inflammation research.

Klaus is best known for his key contributions in apoptosis research and, more importantly, its potential therapeutic and diagnostic applications. He was the first to demonstrate the central role of mitochondria in cell death signaling (EMBO J. 1993, EMBO J. 1994). He was also among the first to demonstrate that cysteine proteases, now called caspases, form the core engine of apoptosis, by cleaving various vital proteins (Nature 1995, Immunity 1999, Cell 2003). Klaus demonstrated subsequently that caspases play a key role in various disease settings and therapeutically relevant situations, such as tumor therapy by ionizing irradiation and anticancer drugs (Blood 1998, J. Exp. Med. 1999, J. Exp. Med. 2004). More recent research has focused on the induction of tumor cell senescence, which, in addition to cell death, functions as an antitumor failsafe mechanism. His group identified a novel co-activator of transcription factor NF-κB, which controls the typical release of proinflammatory mediators during senescence (J. Cell Science 2013; PNAS 2015). He also showed that Th1-cells can induce tumor cell senescence (Nature 2013). His research has been translated into several clinical trials, demonstrating the usefulness of apoptosis biomarkers for monitoring tissue damage or tumor therapy efficacy (Hepatology 2004, 2008). His highly translational research is also exemplified by the development of the worldwide first senescence PET tracer which is currently tested in patients to non-invasively image therapy-induced senescence of tumor cells.