21 projects, 11 studies and a lot of cooperation

Group leader meeting at the Munich site of the German Center for Lung Research (CPC-M)

In the foreground from left to right: The organizers Prof. Erika von Mutius, Prof. Jürgen Behr, Dr. Anne Hilgendorff

The DZL Munich site (CPC-M) gathered together its group leaders in Großhadern on 3rd July. For a whole day, more than 30 clinicians, scientists and specialists in data management and bio sampling presented their projects. They clarified what had been achieved last year at the DZL site in Munich and what their visions for the future were, in readiness for "DZL 3.0".

So far, the focus is on the disease areas of End Stage Lung Disease (ELD), Diffuse Parenchymal Lung Disease (DPLD), Asthma and COPD. Clinically, however, the disease areas of lung cancer, pulmonary hypertension and vascular disease and cystic fibrosis are also strongly represented at the CPC. This offers great future potential for translational research and further development of the DZL Munich site. The disease area of lung cancer was presented with forward-thinking plans, including the establishment of CT-based lung cancer screening. A representative office at the CPC-M site and within the DZL is also planned.

Erika von Mutius, director of the DZL Munich site, once again called out to the group leaders to keep an eye on the translational aspect of research at the DZL Munich site. Many patients with lung disease, even in the DZLs specialist field of asthma, are still confronted with too few curative therapies or medications. Clinical studies coordinated at the DZL site in Munich will therefore be further expanded. Currently, eleven clinical studies are being conducted at the CPC-M, including asthma, chronic lung disease in newborns and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Anne Hilgendorff, co-organizer of the meeting and also a DZL group leader, encouraged the participants to further intensify the cooperation between science and the clinic, but also across the individual scientific areas. In many cases, DZL scientists from other research areas or even disease areas could contribute a great deal to other projects with supplementary analyses, imaging strategies or the transfer of models.

"Excellent Science", was how Prof. Jürgen Behr, DZL-PI and holder of the Chair of Clinical Pneumology at the LMU, summed up the lectures. Also intensive discussions and conversations after the lectures and during the breaks proved once more an excellent platform for exchange of ideas and networking, something both the clinicians and scientists strive for. The group leader meetings will therefore be continued.