21 / 2019
On Friday, 15 November 2019, Professor Daniela Krause received the Langen Science Award, worth 15,000 euros, at the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut. The award was presented by Director-General Dr Lars-Christoph Nickel, Federal Ministry of Health (BMG). “The Langen Science Award honours committed researchers who have devoted themselves to the advancement of medical science,”
said Dr Nickel.“ We are delighted to award this prize to Prof. Daniela Krause, a scientist who conducts research into innovative therapeutic approaches and who significantly prepares the ground for their rapid testing in clinical trials,”
added Professor Klaus Cichutek, President of the Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), the Federal Institute for Vaccines and Biomedicines.
The six-person prize committee, chaired by former President of the PEI, Prof. Johannes Löwer, had shortlisted five candidates from among the applications for the Langen Science Award and invited the relevant researchers to a public lecture event at the PEI in September. The other committee members are Professor Klaus Cichutek, President of the PEI, Frieder Gebhardt, Mayor of Langen, Manfred Pusdrowski, CEO of Stadtwerke Langen, Professor Hansjörg Schild, Institute of Immunology, Mainz, and Professor Erhard Seifried, German Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Baden-Württemberg/Hesse.
From left to right: Manfred Pusdrowski, Frieder Gebhardt, Prof. Daniela Krause, Dr. Lars-Christoph Nickel, Prof. Klaus Cichutek.
Source: B. Morgenroth / PEI
Professor Daniela Krause was shortlisted for the prize based on her research on "Home is where the bone is – the bone marrow environment as an influencing factor and innovative therapeutic approach in normal and malignant haematopoiesis"
. Professor Krause and her team carry out research into the bone marrow microenvironment in normal haematopoiesis and in haematopoiesis in leukaemia patients. The intention is to use therapeutic targets and combine them with established cancer therapies in order to improve the efficacy of treatment.
The PEI, in conjunction with the town of Langen, launched the Langen Science Award in 1993. Since then, the prize endowed with 15,000 euros has been awarded to successful researchers every two years and is now very highly regarded. "The Langen Science Award allows us to demonstrate that we – the town of Langen – consider the promotion of science to be a social obligation,"
emphasised Frieder Gebhardt, Mayor of Langen, who added: "We are delighted that in summer this year It was decided that the new PEI building will be located in Langen, so that this federal institute, which does such important work in safeguarding public health, will continue to be based in Langen."
Stadtwerke Langen has been sponsoring the award ceremony since the very first Langen Science Prize. Stadtwerke Langen is majority-owned by the municipality and CEO Manfred Pusdrowski sees this sponsorship as being part of the company’s tradition of taking responsibility for the common good, socially, culturally and economically, and promoting social issues. An event such as the award ceremony also serves to encourage dialogue, as Mr Pusdrowski told the large number of guests from the worlds of politics, business and science, who then took advantage of the opportunity to exchange ideas and opinions at the neighbouring premises of Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH (DFS).
The PEI has been based in Langen for around 30 years. As a marketing authorisation agency, the federal institute ensures high standards in the quality, efficacy and safety of biological medicinal products for human and veterinary use. The non-profit "Association for the Promotion of the Langen Science Award" was founded in 2003, with the aim of ensuring the funding of the award through donations.
Who can communicate more convincingly just how exciting and important biomedical research is than the people who actually carry it out? Following a longstanding tradition, this year’s prize winner will also be visiting a Langen school to report on her research.
Leukaemia – also known as blood cancer – originates in cells of the bone marrow, the site where blood is formed. Acute leukaemia can occur at any age, while chronic leukaemia is particularly common in adults. Current therapies often fail to eliminate the leukaemia stem cells that are responsible for the progression of the cancer and its recurrence. Leukaemia cells contain a proportion of cancer stem cells that lead to the replication of leukaemia cells. They interact with the microenvironment of the bone marrow, a complex of very diverse cell types, as well as with the extracellular matrix and the physical environment. As a result of these interactions, the cancer stem cells in particular are often able to evade conventional cancer therapies.
Professor Daniela Krause and her team are conducting research into the role of the bone marrow microenvironment in normal haematopoiesis as well as in malignant – leukaemia-associated – haematopoiesis. They are looking for suitable inhibitors that will specifically disrupt the interactions of the leukaemia cells with the bone marrow microenvironment. The goal is to combine these inhibitors of tumour environment interaction with established cancer therapies in order to develop effective therapies for eliminating dangerous leukaemia stem cells. To achieve this, the scientists are pursuing various approaches. For example, in recent research they showed that mice with a specific form of leukaemia who were treated with an inhibitor of the surface protein E-selectin in combination with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib survived significantly longer than mice who received only imatinib. The surface protein E-selectin is found on vascular cells.
Another focus of their research is vitamin K antagonists and their influence on haematopoiesis; vitamin K antagonists are used worldwide for the prevention of thromboses. In the context of this research, the research group found that treating haematopoietic stem cells with periostin prior to allograft stem cell transplantation (transplantation of stem cells from another donor) results in improved implantation of the transplanted haematopoietic stem cells. Periostin is a component of the extracellular matrix and plays a role in cell migration, proliferation, survival and adhesion. The research group holds a patent for this innovative therapeutic approach. Professor Krause and her colleagues have also identified a cell cycle regulator and apoptosis inhibitor in leukaemia with the protein FUBP1 (far upstream element binding protein 1). Other approaches used by Professor Krause’s research group, some of which have also been patented, target the therapeutic modulation of the cellular and non-cellular components of the bone marrow microenvironment with the goal of bringing these new research findings into clinical application as quickly as possible.
From 1992 to 1998 Professor Daniela Krause studied human medicine at the Free University of Berlin and completed her doctorate at the Medical Faculty of the University of the Saarland. After an internship in haematology/oncology at the Charité University Hospital in Berlin, she carried out research at Harvard University in Boston from 2000 to 2014 and completed her training as a specialist in laboratory and transfusion medicine at Harvard University's Massachusetts General Hospital. Since 2015 she has been Professor of Cell and Gene Therapy at the LOEWE Centre for Cell and Gene Therapy at the Faculty of Medicine of Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. In addition, since 2016/2017 she has also been a specialist in laboratory and transfusion medicine in Germany and is active in this capacity at the Blood Transfusion Service in Frankfurt and in the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory at the University Hospital of Goethe University.
Krause DS, Fulzele K, Catic A, Sun CC, Dombkowski D, Hurley MP, Lezeau S, Attar E, Wu JY, Lin HY, Divieti-Pajevic P, Hasserjian RP, Schipani E, Van Etten RA, Scadden DT (2013). Differential regulation of myeloid leukemias by the bone marrow microenvironment. Nature Medicine; 19(11):1513-1517
Verma D, Kumar R, Pereira RS, Karantanou C, Zanetti C, Minciacchi VR, Fulzele K, Kunst K, Hoelper S, Zia-Chahabi S, Jabagi M-J, Emmerich J, Dray-Spira R, Kuhlee F, Hackmann K, Schroeck E, Wenzel P, Müller S, Filmann N, Fontenay M, Divieti-Pajevic P, Krause DS (2019). Vitamin K-antagonism impairs the bone marrow microenvironment and hematopoiesis. Blood., 134(3):227-238
Godavarthy PS, Kumar R, Herkt SC, Pereira RS, Hayduk N, Weissenberger ES, Aggoune D, Manavski Y, Lucas T, Pan K-T, Voutsinas JM, Wu Q, Müller MC, Saussele S, Oellerich T, Oehler VG, Lausen J, Krause DS
The vascular bone marrow niche influences outcome in chronic myeloid leukemia via the E-selectin - SCL/TAL1 - CD44 axis
Haematologica. 2019 Apr 24. pii: haematol.2018.212365. doi: 10.3324/haematol.2018.212365
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Updated: 15.11.2019
