For more than 25 years Ferry Ossendorp is investigating the immune system and cancer and is now head of the Tumor Immunology Group.

Basic research of the T cell immune system in many different aspects is central in his team. Studies to antigen uptake, processing and presentation to T cells, the biology of dendritic cells and the regulation of immunity are aimed to raise our understanding of the immune reactions to tumor cells and improve immunotherapy of cancer. Recently the research findings from the laboratory and in experimental animals are translated to an early clinical study in which cancer patients are injected with and experimental tumor-specific peptide-conjugate vaccine.

Molecular Vaccin Biology and Tumor Immunology
Immunotherapy has established a firm position in the battle against cancer next to theclassical chemo- and radiation therapies. The observation that the immune system can also attack malignant cells has been known for many years but the cellular and molecular mechanisms have become clear in the last decades. Molecular design of cancer-specific vaccines making use of modern knowledge is a central research theme. Therapeutic vaccination has the major advantage that the induced immune response selectively attacks tumors while leaving the healthy cells untouched. So in theory this is the ideal therapy without severe side effects. The current research aims to better understand the vaccination mechanisms and develop ways to influence the suppressive environment in tumors to allow effective immunotherapy. Therefore novel combination therapies are studied in detail.