[FG] Heinzelmann Viola

Research Focus

Oncology & Hematology

Area of Research

Ovarian cancer, gynecological oncology, precision medicine

Approved Research Projects

Clinical

2023-    Localized Radiotherapy with concurrent Olaparib in platinum-sensitive recurrent Ovarian cancer vs. standard of care: a randomised multicentre phase II trial (LoRiO)

2022-    Molecular profiling and drug prediction in ovarian cancer patients

2021-    Vorhersage eines möglichen Ansprechens der Immun-Checkpoint-Inhibitoren-Therapie durch PD-L1 Antikörper beim Eierstockkrebs.

2020-    Tumor Profiler (Roche Schweiz AG, ETH Zurich, University Basel, University Zurich, Lotte und Adolf Hotz-Sprenger Stiftung, Baugarten Stiftung, Stiftung für naturwissenschaftliche und technische Forschung.

2019-    MATAO Clinical Trial (NCT04111978) (KFS Swiss Cancer Research, Anticancer Fund, Stiftung Fürstlicher Kommerzienrat Giudo Feger.

2019-    PHRT Pioneer Project: Dissect longitudinal evolutionary trajectories in ovarian cancer patients using integrated proteo-genomics.

Translational

Besides her clinical research activities Prof. Viola Heinzelmann-Schwarz also leads the “Ovarian Cancer Translational Research Group” at the Department of Biomedicine and as such is closely involved in research projects with patient-related aspects: these projects include studies with patient material (e.g. tumor tissue, circulating tumor cells, blood, ascites), the use of clinic-pathological data from patients, and molecular and epidemiological databases.

2021-    Multimodal single-cell surfaceome and transcriptome profiling of longitudinal high-grade ovarian cancer ascites samples.

2021-    Innovative ovarian cancer zPDX models for prediction of treatment regime outcomes in precision medicine.

Collaborations

National Collaborations

• MATAO Trial Swiss study centers
• EXPRESSION Trials Swiss study centers
• Tumor Profiler Consortium TPC (ETH Zurich, University Hospital Basel, University of Zurich)
• University of Zurich (Prof. A. Wicki)
• Geneva University Hospital HUG (PD Dr. I. Labidi-Galy)
• ETH Zurich (Prof. N. Aceto, Prof. B. Bodenmiller)
• ZHAW Zurich University of Applied Sciences (Dr. S. Wieser)
• Swiss GO Trial Group (Swiss-GO)

International Collaborations

• MATAO trial study centers in Germany and Austria
• University of New South Wales, Prince of Wales Cancer Centre in Sydney (Prof. M. Friedlander)
• Lowy Cancer Research Centre, University of New South Wales (Dr. C. Ford)
• European Network of Gynecological and Oncological Trial Groups (ENGOT)
• ESMO-ESGO Ovarian Cancer Consensus Conference Working Group

Ongoing Research Projects

• Tumor Profiler - Molecular dissection of melanoma, ovarian cancer, and AML to genetically and molecularly dissect the tumors on single-cell level as support for clinicians in the best choice of therapy (Tumor Profiler Consortium)
• MATAO Clinical Trial - MAintenance Therapy with Aromatase inhibitor in epithelial Ovarian cancer (MATAO): a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled multi-center phase III Trial (NCT04111978): PI Prof. Heinzelmann-Schwarz; Sponsor: Swiss GO Trial Group (www.swiss-go.ch)
• Potential of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy as a rapid, non-invasive diagnostic test in urine for endometrial and ovarian cancer: a proof-of-concept (Tilemachos Kavvadias)