Dr. Sarah Theiner from the group of Prof. Gunda Koellensperger was awarded the ‘Förderpreis des Fonds der Stadt Wien für innovative interdisziplinäre Krebsforschung’ for her publication ‚LA-ICP-MS imaging in multicellular tumor spheroids – a novel tool in the preclinical development of metal-based anticancer drugs’ which was published as cover article in the journal Metallomics. The study showed for the first time that metallodrug uptake into tumor spheroids can be assessed by laser ablation ICP-MS as advanced in vitro assay to study drug-tumor penetration. The research was conducted as cooperation between the Institute of Analytical Chemistry and the Institute of Inorganic Chemistry in the frame of the Research Cluster Translational Cancer Therapy Research.  

LA-ICP-MS imaging in multicellular tumor spheroids – a novel tool in the preclinical development of metal-based anticancer drugs
Sarah Theiner, Ekaterina Brynzak-Schreiber, Michael A. Jakupec, Markus Galanski, Gunda Koellensperger, Bernhard K. Keppler Metallomics, 2016, 8, 398-402
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlehtml/2016/mt/c5mt00276a  

Fast High-Resolution Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Imaging of the Distribution of Platinum-Based Anticancer Compounds in Multicellular Tumor Spheroids
Sarah Theiner, Stijn J. M. Van Malderen, Thibaut Van Acker, Anton Legin, Bernhard K. Keppler, Frank Vanhaecke, Gunda Koellensperger Anal. Chem., 2017, 89(23), 12641-12645
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.analchem.7b02681