Central Institute for Cancer Research (Academy Institute)

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View of the Central Institute for Cancer Research, 1979

The Central Institute for Cancer Research (ZIK), also known as the Robert-Rössle-Institut , was a non-university research institute of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR (AdW) with its seat in Berlin-Buch , which existed from January 1, 1972 to December 31, 1991 . In the German Democratic Republic (GDR) it acted as a lead institution for the treatment and research of cancer diseases , and in terms of its tasks in the GDR it was comparable to the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg for the Federal Republic of Germany . From 1976 the ZIK was responsible for the National Cancer Register of the GDR , from November 1984 it was the Collaborating Center of the World Health Organization . The successor to the institute is the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, founded in 1992 .

history

Organizational development

The Robert Roessle Clinic, 1965

The story goes back to the 1964 Institute for Cancer Research of the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin, which was formed from the previously existing Academy Institute for Experimental Cancer Research and the Clinic for Tumor Diseases in Berlin-Buch, founded in 1948. The clinic, which was named after the pathologist Robert Rössle from 1959 , previously belonged to the Academy Institute for Medicine and Biology , whose activities were also primarily focused on cancer research.

The institute was part of the Research Center for Molecular Biology and Medicine of the AdW, founded in 1971, and from 1976 was responsible for the National Cancer Register of the GDR, which was established in 1953 . From 1981 it had a computer tomograph and from 1983 a linear accelerator . From April 1985 the ZIK functioned as a collaborating center for the World Health Organization (WHO). In the same year, the “Experimental and Clinical Immunology” division of the institute was largely affiliated to the Central Institute for Molecular Biology (ZIM), also located in Berlin-Buch , after the division manager Günter Pasternak had been appointed director of the ZIM. As an institution, the ZIK was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold ; the award took place in 1984.

Tasks and activities

The Central Institute for Cancer Research was the leading institution in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) for the treatment and research of cancer . With regard to its role in the GDR, it was comparable to the importance of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg for the Federal Republic of Germany . In 1990 the institute had around 300 employees in the experimental and around 350 in the clinical area. The number of beds in the institute's clinic was 220 in 1985, the number of operations in the 1980s was around 2200 to 2500 per year, the number of outpatients and inpatients treated in 1987 was around 67,000 each.

Directors

The founding director was the surgeon Hans Gummel , who had headed the Robert Rössle Clinic from 1955. Arnold Graffi worked as his deputy for the experimental area and Theodor Matthes for the clinical area. After Gummel's death in 1973, both took over provisional management of the institute before Stephan Tanneberger served as director from 1975 to 1990 . He was followed by Manfred Lüder in the period of political change in the GDR in 1990/1991 and Dieter Bierwolf until the end of 1991 .

Successor organization

After German reunification , the Central Institute for Cancer Research and the Central Institutes for Molecular Biology and Cardiovascular Research became the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) at the beginning of 1992 . The sponsorship of the Robert-Rössle-Klinik, which cooperates as a research clinic with the MDC, was taken over by the Free University of Berlin until 1998 and then by the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin . Since 2001, the clinic has been part of the Helios Clinic Berlin-Buch owned by the private Helios Group .

literature

  • The Central Institute for Cancer Research (ZIK). In: Heinz Bielka : History of the medical-biological institutes Berlin-Buch. Second edition. Springer-Verlag, Berlin and Heidelberg 2002, ISBN 978-3-540-42842-8 , pp. 99-101
  • Heinz Bielka: Berlin book: Center of cancer research in the GDR. In: Wolfgang U. Eckart (Ed.): 100 Years of Organized Cancer Research. Georg Thieme Verlag, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-13-105661-4 , pp. 83-88

Individual evidence

  1. Neues Deutschland , May 2, 1984, p. 2