Detective on cellular signalling pathways

Curing cancer is a major goal that occupies many researchers and could improve the lives of many people. The individual steps towards this goal, including those of Dagmar Stoiber-Sakaguchi, take place in a micro-world. Research is being carried out all over the world on sections of interlinked signalling pathways that take place simultaneously in our cells and can be involved in tumour development or destruction. Only on a small scale and in detail is it possible to maintain an overview and keep control over which changes may harbour a therapeutic approach: "In the context of tumours, many different signalling pathways in the cell are important. We are investigating the JAK/STAT signalling pathway, about which a lot is already known because many researchers are working on it. As part of our research, we specifically change small aspects of the process in the laboratory in order to observe changes and identify potential starting points for therapies," explains Stoiber-Sakaguchi. In a series of experiments, she and her team produce a lot of a substance, omit a molecule or change the balance in order to find further clues for new therapeutic options.

Ending the deception of the immune system

In the big world of cancer research, the Head of Pharmacology at the Karl Landsteiner University of Health Sciences has become involved in tumour immunology. Many are working on activating the adaptive immune system in the form of T cells to fight tumours. "We are trying to use the innate immune defence, the so-called 'killer cells', to take action against metastases. We also see potential in some types of blood cancer," says Stoiber-Sakaguchi. Getting the body's own mechanism into position may be an elegant way - possibly with fewer side effects - but this needs to be investigated in detail.

Today, she also works as a tumour biologist in translational cancer research, having originally studied microbiology. The fact that microorganisms are able to break down oil slicks fascinated her as a schoolgirl and she wanted to find out more about their abilities. At the same time, she studied Japanese Studies at the University of Vienna and successfully completed both degrees. She worked in Thomas Decker's research group at the Institute of Microbiology and Genetics at the University of Vienna and wrote her dissertation on molecular mechanisms of phagocyte activation in infections, a form of interaction between the innate immune system and microorganisms. "I simply wanted to look into two different worlds during my studies. As a post doc, I was then able to combine my hobby with my main interest. Thanks to my second degree, it was certainly easier for me than for others to find my way around Japan linguistically and culturally." From 2000 to 2001, she did research at the Department of Immunology at the University of Tokyo in Tadatsugu Taniguchi's research group on a scholarship. Back in Vienna, having honed her profile in tumour immunology, she worked as a university assistant at the Institute of Pharmacology at the Medical University of Vienna and headed her own research group at the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Cancer Research, which she co-founded.

Japanese culture is known for its attention to detail and formalised - even everyday - actions. These have not really rubbed off on the researcher. But one thing has become topical for her again: "I remember my amazement at the great effort that was made in Japan to separate waste from the laboratory. Today, we try to do this ourselves and are proud to be a GreenLab."

Pharmacology is detective work

Her subject, pharmacology, lies at the interface of various scientific disciplines, requires some prior knowledge and is therefore not very popular with students. The professor is painfully aware of this. So in addition to theory, she also focusses on the detective side, the strong experimental component, in her lectures. There are many different deregulated signalling pathways in cancer and "for a therapeutic approach, we need to know exactly what changes in the structure and balance and what this does in the cell." Understanding the mechanism of action is particularly important to her. This is sometimes forgotten in everyday clinical practice when prescribing established drugs: "We are interested in evidence, we are curious about the why and want to prove how a therapeutic pathway works."

She encourages prospective researchers to have the courage to deal with various specialised topics and to venture a stay abroad, "because you always learn something new everywhere and your scientific view is sharpened thanks to different perspectives." Under the large umbrella of cancer research, it is important to "approach problems creatively, from different directions and in different ways". In her case, on cellular signalling pathways.

Text: Astrid Kuffner

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