The joint project, “Infrared spectroscopy of blood serum predicts tumor stage and survival in lung cancer patients”, was awarded the Poster Prize at this year's German Society of Thoracic Surgery (DGT) meeting in Bregenz, in September 2025.
As part of the “Laser for Life” (L4L) study, this research explores how infrared spectroscopy, applied through a liquid biopsy, can provide a molecular fingerprint of blood serum. For the first time, it demonstrates a strong correlation between infrared spectral data, lung cancer stage, and patient survival. CPC-M group leader Gabriel Stoleriu (Asklepios Lung Clinic and Biobank Gauting) supported this project over five years by continuous patient enrollment, systematic data collection, and long-term follow-up.
This achievement reflects the collaborative efforts of a multidisciplinary team of surgeons, oncologists, and researchers from Asklepios Lung Clinic and Biobank Gauting, LMU University Hospital Munich, with visionary contributions from Prof. Ferenc Krausz (Nobel Laureate in Physics 2023) and the leadership of Dr. Mihaela Zigman (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, LMU; Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, MPQ).