The Board of the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation, consisting of physiologists from the Universities of Bern, Geneva, and Zurich under the direction of Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Rohr of the University of Bern, awards the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Prize 2025 to Dr. Anna Christina Obenauf, research group leader at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology at the University of Vienna. Dr. Obenauf receives the prize in recognition of her pioneering research into the molecular mechanisms of therapy resistance and evasion of the immune response in cancer.
The research prize for the promotion of cancer research, a legacy of the pharmacist Dr Josef Steiner in Biel in the 1980s, is awarded every second year for an outstanding and innovative cancer research project. It comprises a research grant of 1 million Swiss francs and a personal award of 50,000 Swiss francs.
Understanding how tumors develop resistance to therapy
Cancer poses a particular challenge because many tumors develop resistance mechanisms during treatment, making effective therapy considerably more difficult. In recent years, Dr Anna Christina Obenauf has made a significant contribution to understanding the biological basis of these adaptation processes. Her research demonstrates how tumor cells can survive even during treatment with targeted therapies. Using innovative experimental models and integrative molecular analyses, her team discovered that such cancer therapies trigger the production of factors that alter the immediate tumor environment. This alters the function of tumor-adjacent cells in such a way that targeted immunotherapies lose their effect.
By identifying the molecules responsible for therapy resistance and the immune system responses involved, Dr Obenauf's work opens up new possibilities for combating therapy resistance. Together with her team, she has developed innovative approaches to influence the immune response specifically, which have the potential to significantly increase the effectiveness of cancer therapies. The Dr Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award will fund further research into these approaches as part of the 'Decode-iTME' project. Dr Obenauf hopes that this project will overcome therapy resistance in difficult-to-treat cancers, such as melanoma, pancreatic cancer and lung cancer, while also inducing effective immune responses.
The President of the Foundation Board, Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Rohr, from the Institute of Physiology at the University of Bern, says of the award winner: “From the many high-quality applications for the 24th Dr Josef Steiner Cancer Research Prize, we selected Dr Obenauf's project because her research provides groundbreaking insights into overcoming resistance to cancer therapy. The award will support Dr Obenauf in developing new therapeutic approaches that could greatly improve treatment outcomes for patients with metastatic cancer. This knowledge is crucial for developing innovative cancer treatment strategies."
Short biography of Anna Christina Obenauf
Anna Christina Obenauf completed her Molecular Biology studies at the University of Graz, Austria, in 2006, receiving her doctorate in human genetics in 2010. She then undertook a postdoctoral fellowship at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) in the USA, researching innovative approaches to overcoming therapy resistance in metastatic cancer. Since 2016, she has led her own research group at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology at the Vienna BioCenter. She has been a member of the prestigious European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) since 2023 and has received both an ERC Starting Grant and an ERC Consolidator Grant.
Media representatives are cordially invited to the public award ceremony:
Date/Time: Friday, September 19, 2025, 17:00
Venue: University of Bern, Auditorium of the Main Building, Hochschulstrasse 4, 3012 Bern
Further information: https://www.steinerstiftung.unibe.ch/
The Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award
To promote cancer research efficiently and sustainably, in the spirit of the founder, the Dr Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award is presented to an exceptional young researcher in this field for their outstanding research project. The first winner of the award was Dr Peter Cerutti of Switzerland in 1986. Since then, numerous exceptional researchers from Europe, the US and Australia have received the award. It has been awarded every two years since 1998. The winning project receives funding of 1 million Swiss francs for a period of four years. It is the world's most highly endowed award by a private foundation and was originally referred to as the 'Nobel Prize for Cancer Research'. Winners are selected through a multi-stage process that considers scientific quality, originality, the qualifications of the project authors, and the feasibility of the proposed studies.
The Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation
Dr. Josef Steiner, former proprietor of “Dr. Steiner’s Pharmacy and Railway Station Pharmacy” in Biel/Bienne, left behind a large fortune when he died in 1983. In accordance with his will, the entire fortune was to be used to establish the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation. The aim of the foundation is to promote cancer research and honor worthy scientists in all areas of cancer research. The Board of the Dr. Josef Steiner Cancer Foundation consists of full professors from the Physiology Departments of the Universities of Bern, Geneva, and Zürich. In accordance with Dr. Steiner’s will, the Board is chaired by a member from Bern, currently Prof. Stephan Rohr.
Further information: www.steinerstiftung.unibe.ch
Contact
Prof. Dr. Med. Stephan Rohr
President of the Board of the Foundation, Department of Physiology, University of Bern
+41 79 225 99 05
stephan.rohr(at)unibe.ch