The Institute generates news every day. Some findings are groundbreaking—some represent smaller steps. But ultimately, it is the combination of both that makes scientific advancement possible. Here is a little selection of the latest stories making it out to the wider world.
The Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT) is pleased to announce its partnership with GeneNovate, Germany’s first nationwide entrepreneurship program designed to foster innovation in gene and cell-based therapies. As a key regional partner for the WERA region (Würzburg, Erlangen, Regensburg, and Augsburg), LIT is supporting the launch of GeneNovate’s 2026/2027 program year.
Highly motivated, 23 LIT employees participated in this year’s Leukemia Run in Regensburg. The number of participants demonstrates one thing: engagement for this cause is growing. The runners and walkers were distributed across three different routes: six participants completed the 10-kilometre distance, 13 runners took on the 5-kilometre route, and four participants completed the 6-kilometre walk. Thank you to all participants for your valuable contribution!
How does a good scientific idea become a real-world innovation instead of staying stuck in the lab? Dr. Nicolas Krink explored this question in his October 1 presentation “From Invention to Innovation: Creating Real-World Impact and Securing Funding” at the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT). As Program Manager at SPRIND (Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovations), Krink focuses on funding innovations “that have the potential to fundamentally improve our lives.” In the “LIT goes industry” lecture series, he addressed the critical steps from invention to application, the common obstacles, and how to secure funding and industry partnerships.
How can transnational data hubs, precision medicine, and innovative therapies help shape more equitable healthcare? This will be the focus of the workshop “A Vision for Hospitals of the Future as Global Networks” at the World Health Summit 2026. Moderated by Philipp Beckhove, Scientific Director of the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy, the session will take place on October 13, 2026, from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Berlin and will be livestreamed online.
Immunotherapies, especially CAR T-cell therapy, have fundamentally changed cancer treatment in recent years, particularly for certain forms of leukemia and lymphoma. Yet not all tumors respond equally well, and the reasons for this remain incompletely understood. A new multicenter study by the LIT collaboration group “Innate Immune Sensing in Cancer and Transplantation” now shows that it is not only the composition of the gut microbiota that determines the success of CAR T-cell therapy, but above all its metabolic products. As reported in the current issue of the journal “Cell”, certain microbial metabolites can enhance or inhibit CAR T-cell function, with a major impact on treatment outcome. They also offer important starting points for microbiome-based therapies and dietary strategies aimed at supporting the gut microbiome during cancer treatment.
The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) is funding the development of a new computing infrastructure for health and prevention research. The three-year project will receive nearly €5 million in funding. It is one of three AI infrastructure projects supported by the Leibniz Association under the Global Minds Initiative Germany. Together, the three projects have a combined funding volume of approximately €14.9 million. The project is closely linked to the “Leibniz Health & Prevention” initiative, in which the LIT plays a leading role.
During the event “Leibniz Debates: Medicine of the Future” on August 21, 2026 in Mainz aboard the MS Wissenschaft, the “Leibniz Health & Prevention” (LHP) initiative was introduced. This initiative brings together the expertise of Leibniz Institutes focused on biomedical technology to advance preventive, predictive, and precision healthcare. Prof. Philipp Beckhove, Scientific Director of the LIT, is one of two LHP speakers.
With “Book a Scientist,” you have the chance to spend 25 minutes talking with an expert from the LIT and asking everything you’ve always wanted to know about your favorite topic. But it’s not just the LIT that’s answering questions from the public – there are participants from all areas of the Leibniz Association. Choose from over 100 topics for your conversation.
Prof. Dr. Katharina Höfer has joined the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT) to lead a new research division and will also serve as a professor at the University of Regensburg, financially supported by the Leibniz Programme for Women Professors. The RNA biochemist will focus on advancing RNA technologies to reprogram cancer-fighting immune cells directly in the human body.
They can destroy, slow down, and heal — and may yet reshape medicine in fundamental ways. At the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy (LIT) in Regensburg, researchers are working to better understand T cells and to harness them for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. The latest issue of leibniz – the magazine of the Leibniz Association, published under the theme “Medicine”, takes up this research in a feature article that includes a guided tour of the institute.
