In order to be able to meet and realize the performance requirements of cutting-edge university medical care, a close and natural combination of basic scientific and translational research, state-of-the-art and forward-looking application-oriented diagnosis of molecular and immunological predictive factors for the course of disease and response to treatment on the one hand, and clinical study and research activities on the other, is a necessary prerequisite. In the basic approach of III Medicine, work on the molecular and immunological causes of tumor diseases creates the basis for the necessary understanding of targeted modern therapeutic strategies. This part of the research activity is carried out by the Laboratory for Immunological and Molecular Cancer Research of III. Medicine (LIMCR), which is characterized by close cooperation with all clinically active employees of III. This ensures that research is optimally embedded in the concerns of patients and thus for the development of future solutions for tumor diseases. With 20 research staff, this laboratory is the largest basic science research laboratory at the PMU Salzburg. The knowledge gained from this combination of patient care and cutting-edge research is translated into state-of-the-art methods for the diagnosis of tumors and leukemia and new definitions of risk factors. In the medium term, the aim is to enable individualized therapy, i.e. therapy that is optimally tailored to the individual patient. This is achieved through close networking with the Molecular Cytology Diagnostic Laboratory of the Department of Medicine III.

Oncology is currently developing extremely rapidly, particularly due to the long-standing efforts to understand the complex cell biological and molecular basis of tumor development. In oncology, Department III Medicine sees itself as an institution that aims to provide all patients with the best and most appropriate treatment options. We strive to work for our patients at the forefront of oncological clinical research in order to be able to offer our patients, even in very difficult situations, drugs and forms of care that would otherwise take several years to be approved on the drug market and thus be available for use. For this reason, a Center for Clinical Cancer and Immunology Trials was established at the Department of Medicine III, which offers the professional prerequisites for state-of-the-art studies with new substances in the fields of tumor diseases, hematology, HIV and rheumatology. More than 150 clinical studies are currently being conducted at this clinical study center, which was established and financed exclusively through the work of the physicians of the Department of Medicine III. This maximum integration into the international clinical research landscape is the basic prerequisite for a modern form of university medical care. The Department of Medicine III has a history of close cooperation with the Department of Special Gynecology and other SALK facilities and has worked closely with these clinics for decades in the Salzburg Breast Center. The Department of Medicine III is also responsible for coordinating the clinical studies of the ABCSG (Austrian Breast and Colon Cancer Study Group) for a significant part of western Austria and is responsible for the inauguration and implementation quality of these studies for this globally recognized clinical study group researching new treatment options for breast cancer and colon cancer (www.abcsg.at).

Compared to 2003 and under the new management since January 2004, Department III Medicine has developed massively. The number of inpatients and day clinic patients undergoing system treatment has almost doubled, while the proportion of patients being treated for lymph node cancer or leukemia or requiring high-dose therapy with stem cell transplantation has tripled to quadrupled. Across all forms of solid organ tumor disease, patient confidence has been reflected in a corresponding massive increase in the number of patients seeking the support and treatment of III Medicine. We are aware of the responsibility and trust that patients place in this care and will continue to work hard to live up to this responsibility.