CCBIO-seminar 28. august 2025 – Jochen Hess

Foreleser: Professor Dr. Jochen Hess, Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany.

Tittel: Sex-related disparities in the pathogenesis and therapy of head and neck cancer

Vert: Dana Costea

Sted: Auditorium 4, BB-bygget

Når: 28. august 2025 kl. 14.30-15.30

Påmelding er ikke nødvendig. 

Sammendrag: vil bli annonsert.

Undervisningsspråk: Engelsk (sammendrag vil også bli på engelsk:)

Abstract: Head and neck cancers are among the most prevalent and destructive cancers in humans worldwide, causing significant morbidity and mortality. As with many other human malignancies, there are differences between women and men in terms of incidence, risk factors, prognosis and treatment response. Cancer-related sex dimorphism is thought to originate from the complex interplay between hormones and sex chromosomes on the intrinsic control of cancer-initiating cells, the tumor microenvironment and systemic determinants of cancer development, such as the immune system and metabolism. However, the underlying principles of sex dimorphism in cancer, including head and neck cancer, remain largely unknown. The main objectives of our studies are to establish prognostic risk models based on sex-related differences and to identify potential vulnerabilities that are specific to women or men with cancer. To achieve these aims, we conduct integrative analyses of multi-omics and clinical data, complemented by in vitro and in vivo functional experiments, as well as validating key findings with tumor samples from HNSCC patients.

Professor Jochen Hess: PhD in 1999 at the University of Würzburg, Germany, and from 2000-2009 Postdoc and Senior Scientist at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. From 2009-2013 Head of the Research Group Experimental Head and Neck Oncology at the Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany, and from 2010-2023 Head of the research group Molecular Mechanisms of Head and Neck Tumors at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany. Since 2013 Head of the Section Experimental and Translational Head and Neck Oncology at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospital Heidelberg, Germany.

Main research fields and experimental portfolio of the research group: Bioinformatics, cancer cell plasticity, cancer-neuron interaction, gene regulatory and signaling networks, head and neck cancer, HPV-related carcinogenesis, integrative multi-omics analysis, molecular mechanisms of treatment failure, mutational and epigenetic landscapes, pre-clinical models, sex-related disparity in cancer, tumor cell evolution and dissemination, tumor immune microenvironment.