Lecture: "Targeted strategies to discover chemical compounds against cancer and aging", Dr. Wolfgang Link.

For over a decade, research in the Link has been directed at understanding and targeting cellular signaling, in particular protein translocation in cancer and anti-cancer drug resistance. The major objective of the lab is to discover chemical compounds and molecular targets that interfere with PI3K/AKT/FOXO signaling and thereby improve the treatment of cancer patients.

The Link lab generated cutting edge screening technologies for high throughput and high content drug discovery. Importantly, the first drug candidate ever discovered and developed based on High Content technology emerged from a systematic FOXO translocation screen performed by his research group.

His group is unique in the world in having access to a collection of over 200 small chemical compounds capable of activating FOXO factors. From these compounds several anti-cancer drug candidates have been developed. Given the fact that FOXO3a is the gene in our genome most consistently associated with human longevity the possible impact of FOXO activator compounds on aging-related processes in C elegans is being explored.

A major breakthrough has been accomplished with the discovery of the FOXO repressor protein TRIB2 as a oncogene that mediates a novel mechanism of anti-cancer drug resistance.