Understanding the physics of cancer, preventing metastases: Jochen Guck receives the Leopoldina Greve Prize
In honour of his groundbreaking insights into the movement of tumour cells, Professor Dr Jochen Guck from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen receives the 2024 Greve Prize from the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. Dealing with metastases is one of the major challenges of cancer therapy. More than 90 percent of deaths caused by cancer are linked to metastases. Understanding the conditions that cause cancer metastases and how these move through the body is key to developing new approaches to cancer treatment. The award, endowed with 250,000 euros, is donated by the Helmut and Hannelore Greve Foundation for Science, Development and Culture.
The biophysicists Professor Dr Jochen Guck from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light (MPL) and Professor Dr Josef Käs from the University of Leipzig, Germany are leading global scientists in the physics of cancer. Their research, some of which they have conducted jointly, investigates the physical properties of cells when they interact with surrounding tissue. They have managed to demonstrate how tumour cells actively change from solid and stiff to a fluid and soft condition in order to move between the dense tissue of the human body and form metastases. This discovery has led to a paradigmatic shift in how cancer cells are viewed and motivated collaboration with the physician Professor Dr Bahriye Aktas from the University of Leipzig Medical Center. She raises the question of what limits cancer cells in the body experience. “Bahriye Aktas, Jochen Guck, and Josef Käs provide an impressive example of how interdisciplinary basic research can significantly deepen the understanding of cancerous diseases,” says Leopoldina President Professor (ETHZ) Dr Gerald Haug. “Studying the behaviour of tumour cells from the perspective of physics and linking it to direct insights gained from medical institutions has the potential to develop completely new means of treating cancer.”
The potential for cancer treatment is already apparent with respect to breast cancer. Whether the cancer has metastasised or not is key in determining the success of therapies. To date, however, it has not been possible to accurately predict when a tumour forms metastases. Käs and Aktas, working together with Professor Dr Axel Niendorf (Hamburg/Germany), managed to identify markers that, in combination with existing criteria, are significantly better at indicating a tumour’s potential to metastasise. They have done so using biophysical concepts, the central idea of which – that metastasising cancer cells must be softer – Jochen Guck played an important role in developing. Cancer cells in primary tumours are, at the local level, very solid and densely packed. In order to release themselves from the original tumour and move through the human body, cancer cells must soften, allowing the cancer cell aggregate to become fluid. Guck developed a high-throughput method to measure the deformability of cells (real-time deformability cytometry, RT-DC). This method is particularly suited to finding substances that can change cancer cell mechanics to prevent metastases.
The award ceremony takes place on Friday, 6 December 2024 at 11.00 a.m. at the Hamburg City Hall. Journalists who are interested in the ceremony should please make contact by email at presse@leopoldina.org by 15 November. Interviews with the prize winners are facilitated happily.
The event will be livestreamed on the Leopoldina’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/NationaleAkademiederWissenschaftenLeopoldina
About Prof Dr Jochen Guck
Jochen Guck studied physics in Würzburg/Germany and obtained his doctorate at the University of Texas in Austin/USA under Josef Käs. They jointly developed tools to investigate cell mechanics (optical cell stretcher). Following research stays at the University of Leipzig and the University of Cambridge/UK, in 2012 Guck was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship of Cellular Machines at the Biotechnology Centre of the Technical University of Dresden/Germany and was Senior Director there. Since 2018 he has been Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light and, since 2020, Professor of Biological Optomechanics at the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg. He has developed further photonic and biophysical instruments, including real-time deformability cytometry. These form the basis for many partnerships with medical institutions in Erlangen and at the new Max-Planck-Zentrum für Physik und Medizin (MPZPM).
About the Greve Prize
The German National Academy of Science Leopoldina’s Greve Prize is awarded to scientists or research teams that work at German universities, non-university research institutes, or commercial enterprises. The prize is awarded every two years and honours outstanding research achievements in the natural sciences/medicine and engineering sciences. The Greve Prize, on each occasion, focuses on a specific topic. This year, the topic is the foundations of new cancer therapies. The prize is endowed with 250,000 euros, with funds from the Greve Foundation. Further information on the Greve Prize: https://www.leopoldina.org/en/about-us/distinctions-of-the-academy/awards-and-honours/greve-prize/
About the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
As the German National Academy of Sciences, the Leopoldina provides independent science-based policy advice on matters relevant to society. To this end, the Academy develops interdisciplinary statements based on scientific findings. In these publications, options for action are outlined; making decisions, however, is the responsibility of democratically legitimized politicians. The experts who prepare the statements work in a voluntary and unbiased manner. The Leopoldina represents the German scientific community in the international academy dialogue. This includes advising the annual summits of Heads of State and Government of the G7 and G20 countries. With around 1,700 members from more than 30 countries, the Leopoldina combines expertise from almost all research areas. Founded in 1652, it was appointed the National Academy of Sciences of Germany in 2008. The Leopoldina is committed to the common good.
About the Helmut and Hannelore Greve Foundation for Science, Development and Culture
Prof. Dr. h. c. Helmut Greve and Prof. Dr. h. c. Hannelore Greve founded the Helmut and Hannelore Greve Foundation for Science, Development and Culture in 1995. In the area of science the foundation provided start-up capital spread over three years to establish the Academy of Sciences in Hamburg, the creation of the highly endowed Hamburg Science Prize, and since 2022 the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina’s Greve Prize. The highly conscientious approach of the foundation’s founders, their keen sense for quality, and their insight into what is necessary and what is possible shape the foundation’s work to this day. Directors Eva-Maria Greve and Wolfgang Peter Greve continue to guide the foundation according to these principles.
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