Martin Distel
Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Adjunct Associate Professor of Oncological Sciences
Zebrafish cancer modeling, zebrafish xenografts, drug screening, optogenetics, photopharmacology
Molecular Biology Program
Education
B.Sc. Technical University of Munich
Ph.D. Helmholtz Center Munich, Technical University of Munich
Research
The Distel Lab is interested in understanding the molecular mechanisms governing initiation
and progression of pediatric cancers with a current focus on sarcomas.
We use zebrafish as our model of choice to dissect pediatric tumor formation in the
context of a developing vertebrate organism.
The comparison between zebrafish and humans allows us to identify disease drivers
conserved throughout evolution as targets for novel therapeutic strategies.
Current topics we work on include:
- Applying zebrafish in a cross-species approach to identify the Ewing sarcoma cell-of-origin
- Establishing zebrafish xenotransplantation models for pediatric sarcomas to be applied in screens to identify small compounds with anti-tumor activity
- Developing optogenetic approaches for clonal cancer modeling in zebrafish
- Evaluating light-switchable molecules for cancer therapy
References
Selected Recent Publications
- Varady, A., Grissenberger, S., Fischer, K., Stadler, M. T., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Strobl, M., Zila, N., Kovar, H., & Distel, M. zHORSE as an optogenetic zebrafish strain for precise spatiotemporal control over gene expression during development. Dev Cell, doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2025.06.005 (2025).
- Andreana, M., Sentosa, R., Sturtzel, C., Pfister, M., Werkmeister, R., Schmitt, A., Traver, D., Leitgeb, R., Drexler, W., Distel, M., & Unterhuber, A. Multimodal investigation of angiogenesis and its prevention by small compounds in a zebrafish cancer model. Advanced Science, e15176, doi.org/10.1002/advs.202415176 (2025).
- Varady, A., Grissenberger, S., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Poplimont, H., Sturtzel, C., Schmitner, N., Gao, L., Kimmel, R. A., & Distel, M. Precise photopharmacological eradication of metastatic tumor cells. Disease Models & Mechanisms, 18(2), doi.org/10.1242/dmm.052016 (2025).
- Kirchberger, S., Shoeb, M. R., Lazic, D., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Fischer, K., Shaw, L. E., Nogueira, F., Rifatbegovic, F., Bozsaky, E., Ladenstein, R., Bodenmiller, B., Lion, T., Traver, D., Farlik, M., Schofer, C., Taschner-Mandl, S., Halbritter, F. & Distel, M. Comparative transcriptomics coupled to developmental grading via transgenic zebrafish reporter strains identifies conserved features in neutrophil maturation. Nat Commun 15, 1792, doi:10.1038/s41467-024-45802-1 (2024).
- Sturtzel, C., Grissenberger, S., Bozatzi, P., Scheuringer, E., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Zajec, Z., Dernovsek, J., Pascoal, S., Gehl, V., Kutsch, A., Granig, A., Rifatbegovic, F., Carre, M., Lang, A., Valtingojer, I., Moll, J., Lotsch, D., Erhart, F., Widhalm, G., Surdez, D., Delattre, O., Andre, N., Stampfl, J., Tomasic, T., Taschner-Mandl, S. & Distel, M. Refined high-content imaging-based phenotypic drug screening in zebrafish xenografts. NPJ Precis Oncol 7, 44, doi:10.1038/s41698-023-00386-9 (2023).
- Grissenberger, S., Sturtzel, C., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Radic-Sarikas, B., Scheuringer, E., Bierbaumer, L., Etienne, V., Némati, F., Pascoal, S., Tötzl, M., Tomazou, E., Metzelder, M., Putz, E. M., Decaudin, D., Delattre, O., Surdez, D., Kovar, H., Halbritter, F. & Distel, M. High-content drug screening in zebrafish xenografts reveals high efficacy of dual MCL-1/BCL-XL inhibition against Ewing sarcoma. Cancer Letters, 216028, doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.canlet.2022.216028 (2022).
- Varady, A. & Distel, M. Non-neuromodulatory Optogenetic Tools in Zebrafish.Front Cell Dev Biol 8, 418, doi:10.3389/fcell.2020.00418 (2020).
- Pascoal, S., Salzer, B., Scheuringer, E., Wenninger-Weinzierl, A., Sturtzel, C., Holter, W., Taschner-Mandl, S., Lehner, M. & Distel, M. A Preclinical Embryonic Zebrafish Xenograft Model to Investigate CAR T Cells In Vivo. Cancers (Basel) 12, doi:10.3390/cancers12030567 (2020).
- Mayr V, Sturtzel C, Stadler M, Grissenberger S, Distel, M. Fast Dynamic in vivo Monitoring of Erk Activity at Single Cell Resolution in DREKA Zebrafish. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2018 Sep 25;6:111. doi: 10.3389/fcell.2018.00111. eCollection (2018).
- Kirchberger, S., C. Sturtzel, S. Pascoal, and M. Distel. Quo natas, Danio?-Recent Progress in Modeling Cancer in Zebrafish. Front Oncol, 2017. 7: p. 186.DOI: 10.3389/fonc.2017.00186 (2017).