Markus Eckstein

Background

About Markus Eckstein

I am a managing senior physician (“Geschäftsführender Oberarzt”) and research group leader at the Institute of Pathology, University Hospital Erlangen, where I lead routine histology diagnostics as well as the central clinical trial and study unit. I also head the tumor tissue biobank within the Central Biobank Erlangen (CeBE). As a clinician scientist, I was selected in December 2024 and appointed to an Else Kröner-Fresenius Clinician Scientist Professorship in Translational Immune Pathology (funding term 2025–2035). My work is supported by multiple independent agencies, including the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung, the German Cancer Aid, the BMBF and multiple industry partners. Since 2016, I have authored and co-authored >220 peer-reviewed publications indexed on PubMed. My research centers on deciphering the tumor immune microenvironment—with a strong focus on locally advanced and metastatic urothelial bladder cancer—and extends to other solid malignancies. I specialize in tissue-based biomarker research, deep spatial tissue phenotyping, and single-cell (spatial) sequencing, and I develop bioinformatic pipelines for multimodal multi-omics and AI-supported analysis. I serve the field through board roles in the European Association of Urology—ESUP (uropathology) and ESUR (urological research)—and by contributing to collaborative clinical and translational programs. Recent recognitions include the 2025 Virchow Prize (DGP).