Philipp Rathert receives funding from the Terra Incognita Program of the University of Stuttgart.
Dr. Philipp Rathert and Dr. Andrew Clark were successful in securing funding from the University Stuttgart. The grant will support a project aiming to explore the study early stages of tumor formation in colorectal cancer, one of the leading cancer types and causes of cancer-related death.
The research area of Dr. Rathert, group leader at IBTB, deals with the functional characterization of chromatin complexes and chromatin regulatory networks. Misregulation of these networks is a feature of many different diseases, especially cancer. To study these mechanisms, the group of Philipp Rathert combines state-of-the-art functional genetic tools (CRISPR/Cas9) with cell biology and biochemical assays.
Dr. Clark, Junior Group Leader at the IZI, is interested in understanding how collective cell migration and tissue mechanics contributes to intestinal function and disease.
The project is funded with 50.000€ and employs a multidisciplinary approach, combining loss-of-function genetic tolls (CRISPR) with live imaging and quantitative analytical methods, biophysics and theoretical modeling.