Symposium on cell therapy in Saxony-Anhalt
Current successes and prospects for the future
State-of-the-art medicine in central Germany: On March 19 and 20, 2026, the University Medical Center Saxony-Anhalt will host a joint symposium on advances in cell and immunotherapy. The focus will be on developments in the field of CAR-T cell therapy for the treatment of cancer and immune disorders. In addition, technical, economic, and ethical requirements for the future independent production of cell therapeutics will be discussed. With Bernburg as the venue, the University Medical Centers in Halle and Magdeburg will come together right in the middle.
The specialist event highlights how rapidly cell and immunotherapies are developing and what progress they are already enabling. A particularly vivid example is CAR-T cell therapy, in which the body's own immune cells are genetically modified to specifically recognize and destroy cancer cells or harmful immune cells. A few years ago, such therapies were still considered visionary – today they are a reality and open up new treatment options.
Research and care: Boom for cell therapy in Saxony-Anhalt
The university medical centers in Magdeburg and Halle are involved in clinical studies and are working to bring scientific findings quickly to the bedside. Both locations have now established cell therapies in routine care and are implementing pioneering projects in this field.
Magdeburg University Medical Center is one of the few locations internationally with substantial clinical experience in applying T-cell-based immunotherapies, including for severe autoimmune diseases. Magdeburg was the first location worldwide where a patient with a severe, therapy-resistant form of myasthenia gravis—a rare autoimmune disease with pronounced muscle weakness—was successfully treated with CAR-T cells. This is an international breakthrough in the field of autoimmune medicine. The approach in Magdeburg has now been successfully extended to other, in some cases very rare, diseases.
Over the past 20 years, more than a thousand cell therapy treatments have been carried out at the State Center for Cell and Gene Therapy at the University Medical Center Halle to cure malignant diseases of the blood and lymphatic system. The 600th allogeneic stem cell transplant was recently performed here. Another unique feature of Saxony-Anhalt is the possibility of stem cell transplants for children and adolescents.
Regional production of cell therapies planned
The production of CAR-T cells, for example, is time-consuming, cost-intensive, and requires specialized laboratories, which are often located far away. To treat serious diseases even faster and more individually tailored to patients' needs in the future, the University Medical Centers in Halle and Magdeburg are establishing their own structures for the development and production of modern cell therapies.
The Institute for Cell Therapy (IZH) at the University Medical Center Halle, founded in spring 2025, already has access to comprehensive technical facilities and biosafety level 2 laboratories for the cultivation and genetic modification of T cells. The staff are currently undergoing highly specialized training in the production of CAR-T cells and the corresponding quality control of the process. New equipment is being invested in for the planned development of innovative cell therapies, as well as their production and quality assurance.
With the Magdeburg Center for Cell and Immunotherapies (MAZI), founded in early 2026, the University Medical Center Magdeburg is pooling its expertise in this area. In addition to CAR-T cells, alternative and less complex approaches, such as special antibodies, will also be developed there – with the aim of making innovative cell therapies more cost-effective, efficient, and widely available. At the same time, the establishment of an infrastructure for in-house development and the prospective production of genetically modified cell therapies is being advanced.
Central German Center for Cell Therapy planned
In addition, the University Medical Center in Saxony-Anhalt is planning to establish a Central German Center for Cell Therapy. The long-term goal is to establish the region internationally as a high-performance research and care location for modern cell and immunotherapies. The joint specialist event in Bernburg is an important step in this direction.
The efforts are being carried out in close cooperation with other partners. Among others, the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI, which collaborates with the universities in Halle and Magdeburg in this field, is participating in the symposium.
Voices from university medicine
“CAR-T cells are a milestone, but not the only answer. Our goal in Magdeburg is to further develop the entire spectrum of modern cell and immunotherapies: from highly individualized cell therapies to targeted antibody strategies that can be used more broadly in the future,” explains Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Mougiakakos, Director of the University Clinic for Hematology, Oncology, Cell and Radiation Therapy Magdeburg.
Photo: Prof. Dr. Dimitrios Mougiakakos in the cell culture laboratory at UMMD. Photo: Jana Dünnhaupt / OVGU Magdeburg
"Cellular therapies are being researched and developed in Halle from a wide variety of perspectives. Working groups at Halle University Hospital from the fields of oncology, immunology, pediatrics, endocrinology, and transfusion medicine are intensifying their activities in both basic research and clinical application," summarizes Prof. Dr. Michael Heuser, Director of the University Clinic and Polyclinic for Internal Medicine IV (Hematology and Oncology).
"When we talk about the future of cellular therapies, it's not just about clinical efficacy, but also about fast and safe manufacturing, quality, and accessibility. We want to design innovations in such a way that they will be available to as many patients as possible in the long term," explains Prof. Dr. Stephan Fricke, Head of the Institute for Clinical Immunology and Cell Therapy in Magdeburg and Director of Clinical Transfer at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI.
Photo: Prof. Dr. Stephan Fricke. Photographer: Ramon Kubatzki / UMMD
“Halle has the structural and technical prerequisites to start its own production in the near future. Qualified personnel are currently working out the details of the production process. A particular focus in the clinical application area is on hematological oncology – together with our strong pediatrics department,” says apl. Prof. Dr. Lutz Müller, Head of the Stem Cell Transplantation Unit at Halle University Medical Center.
Scientific contacts
Prof. Dr. med. Dimitrios Mougiakakos, Director of the University Clinic for Hematology, Oncology, Cell and Radiation Therapy Magdeburg, dimitrios.mougiakakos@med.ovgu.de, Tel: +49 391 67 13266
Prof. Dr. med. Stephan Fricke, Director of the Institute for Clinical Immunology and Cell Therapy, Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg, stephan.fricke@med.ovgu.de, Tel.: +49 0391 67 15338
Prof. Dr. med. Michael Heuser, Director of the University Clinic and Polyclinic for Internal Medicine IV (Hematology and Oncology), University Medicine Halle, innere4@uk-halle.de, Tel.: +49 345 557 2924
Associate Professor Lutz P. Müller, MD, Head of Clinical Stem Cell Transplantation, State Center for Cell and Gene Therapy (LZG), University Medical Center Halle, innere4@uk-halle.de, Tel.: +49 345 557 2924
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