Gastric cancer is the third leading cause of cancer deaths. A large part of these cases can be attributed to infections with one of two pathogens: Helicobacter pylori and the Epstein-Barr virus. It is currently unclear how these two pathogens cause cancer and why some patients develop cancer while others stay healthy. Using gastric organoids from patient tissue, the lab of Dr. Sina Bartfeld at the Research Center for Infectious Diseases at the University of Würzburg studies the effect of the pathogens on the gastric cells to better identify risk factors and develop new therapies against stomach cancer. Dr. Bartfeld will talk about her research at the Integrative Research Institute (IRI) for the Life Sciences at HU Berlin on May 3, 2018, at 4 p.m. Her lecture, titled “Infection, inflammation and cancer in the GI tract – stem cell-derived organoids as model,” kicks off the IRI-Schering Colloquium on “Organoids – Life in 3D,” which is offered by the IRI Life Sciences in the summer term.