2 June 2026
The Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space is funding the "TriNova" research project to develop new therapies for triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The three-year project will receive approximately 1.59 million euros and relies on artificial intelligence to develop innovative drugs against a particularly aggressive form of breast cancer.
TNBC accounts for about 10 to 20 percent of all breast cancer cases worldwide and affects younger patients at a higher-than-average rate. Since the tumor cells lack key receptors that can be targeted therapeutically in other types of breast cancer, treatment options have been limited to date. In addition, TNBC frequently develops resistance to existing therapies and metastasizes early.
The project focuses on tumor stem cells, which contribute significantly to treatment resistance and the spread of the disease. Researchers at HHU and the University Hospital Düsseldorf have already identified two promising molecular targets. Inhibiting these targets could weaken the stem cell-like properties of the tumor cells.
"Building on this, we aim to develop and optimize novel drug candidates using generative AI," explains project coordinator Prof. Dr. Holger Gohlke from the Jülich Institute of Bioinformatics (IBG-4) and the Institute of Pharmaceutical and Medicinal Chemistry at Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf. AI-supported methods are intended to generate new chemical structures and predict key properties of potential drug candidates. Promising candidates will then be synthesized in the laboratory and tested experimentally.
TriNova brings together expertise from pharmaceutical chemistry, structural biology, computer-aided drug discovery, nuclear medicine, and gynecological oncology. The goal is to develop new therapeutic approaches for forms of breast cancer that have been difficult to treat until now.
Press release of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf (HHU) in German
