How is the research campus making a difference?

The aim of the research campus M²OLIE is to be better able to treat and above all cure cancer patients with oligometastasis, a stage between a well-delineated tumour and extensive metastasis. At the multi-disciplinary research campus M²OLIE at the University Medical Centre Mannheim, partners from science and industry are establishing a patient-centred and time-optimised infrastructure in order to improve and advance minimally invasive cancer treatment by means of molecular and robot-assisted interventions. Such a future-oriented endeavour can only become reality through the close networking and collaboration between various different researchers from the fields of medicine, science and engineering, but also informatics and business administration. Patient focus is at the centre of all the activities at the research campus M²OLIE. Patients benefit directly from automated and optimised procedures which promise improved efficiency, accuracy and speed in diagnosis and treatment.

What makes the research campus M²OLIE unique is the so-called closed-loop process which speeds up the time patients will take to go through the currently very complex and time-consuming processes of registration, diagnosis and finally treatment and discharge. The experimental operating theatre, the heart of the research campus, provides an ideal testing environment which allows clinical users to immediately evaluate innovative procedures for molecular imaging, robot-assisted diagnostics and therapeutic interventions. Another special feature is the direct integration of the research outcomes into clinical practice thanks to the central location of the research campus on the premises of the University Medical Centre Mannheim.

What is the main focus of the research campus?

Approximately 20 percent of all cancer patients develop oligometastasis, defined as the presence of up to five metastases within the same organ system. As the metastases differ in their molecular biological characteristics both from the primary tumour and from one another, every tumour requires a specific treatment. Therefore, the priority of the research campus M²OLIE is to develop an infrastructure for the operating theatre of the future. In this approach, the research campus links the latest diagnostic and treatment procedures with robot assistance systems to create a closed-loop process. The aim is to establish a one-stop shop. This clear focus of the research campus M²OLIE aims at facilitating a time-optimised, personalised patient pathway from registration to diagnostics, treatment and all the way through to discharge.