The historian Dr Ninon Dubourg and the medical scientist Professor Dr Dr Philipp Schommers have each been awarded a Starting Grant by the European Research Council (ERC). The Starting Grant provides funding of up to 1.5 million euros for a period of five years respectively to excellent early-career researchers. “The two ERC Starting Grants highlight the breadth of excellent research being carried out at the University of Cologne. They will enable new insights into both medieval history and into the mechanisms by which lymphoma cells can be treated. I would like to offer my warmest congratulations to our two researchers on receiving this special recognition from the European Research Council,” says Professor Dr Joybrato Mukherjee, Rector of the University of Cologne.
The researchers involved in the project “Mapping Immune Escape in Lymphoma and Overcoming It with Novel Optimized Multispecific Antibodies” (OPTIMsAB) aim to significantly improve the treatment of lymphomas. Under the leadership of Else Kröner Clinician Scientist Professor Dr. Dr. Philipp Schommers (Faculty of Medicine, Department I of Internal Medicine, University Hospital Cologne), the team will investigate innovative immunotherapeutic approaches to enhance the efficacy of antibody therapies.
Bispecific antibodies (BiAbs) are laboratory-produced proteins that have two different binding sites. They have already revolutionized the treatment of lymphomas, but many patients are developing resistance. The OPTIMsAB project aims to understand these resistance mechanisms and to develop new, multi-specific antibodies (msAbs) that can target several targets simultaneously and activate additional immune cells. By combining molecular analyses with innovative experiments, the scientists will map the surface characteristics of lymphoma cells and develop specific monoclonal antibodies (msAbs) that overcome these resistances.
“This funding enables us to improve lymphoma treatment by developing new, highly effective and safe antibodies,” says Professor Dr Dr Philipp Schommers. For him, the project not only holds the promise of concrete new treatment options, but could also advance the fundamental understanding of immune resistance in lymphomas.
The research project “DISability and MATerial Culture in the Middle Ages. Uncovering the Traces of Mobility Aids in Northern France (11th–16th c.)” (DISMAT) , led by Dr Ninon Dubourg (Medieval History, Faculty of Arts and Humanities), examines a hitherto little-studied aspect of medieval life: the use of mobility aids such as crutches, walking sticks, and other assistive devices. Many of these everyday objects have been lost over time; others may not yet have been recognized as mobility aids in collections. However, written sources, images, archaeological finds, and human remains show that such aids were part of everyday life in the Middle Ages.
DISMAT is conducting research into the material history of disability in northern France from the 11th to the 16th century. The researchers are investigating how mobility aids were manufactured, used, adapted, and perceived, and what impact they had on their users’ mobility and everyday lives.
“The absence of, or difficulty in identifying, material evidence is not an obstacle for us, but rather a starting point for our research,” says Dr Dubourg. “By bringing together different lines of evidence, we can investigate how people with reduced mobility organized their daily lives and moved about in their environment.”
DISMAT combines approaches from history, archaeology, disability studies, art history, and bioarchaeology. Texts and images are brought together with physical evidence and findings from skeletal remains; existing museum collections are re-examined, and potential mobility aids are reinterpreted. Experimental reconstructions are also helpful in understanding how such objects were made, how they worked, and which physical experiences were associated with their use.
This way, DISMAT will bring to life an aspect of the medieval world that has long remained elusive in historical research. Mobility aids are seen not merely as practical objects, but as part of the material, social, and cultural experience of disability. The project thus opens up new perspectives on how people with different physical characteristics lived, moved about, and interacted with their environment in the Middle Ages.