The CRONIC-PPF Faculty

	Ellen HEITZER Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. rer. nat. (PhD) Utilizing Circulating Free DNA (cfDNA) to differentiate idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) from other progressive pulmonary fibrosis
Full Professor for Liquid Biopsy, Diagnostic and Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine, Head of the research unit “Liquid biopsies for personalized medicine in cancer” Diagnostic and Research Institute of Human Genetics, Medical University of Graz, Neue Stiftingtalstraße 6, 8010 Graz Phone: +43-316-385 73819, ✉ e-mail WWW: Forschungsportal Med Uni Graz ORCID: 0000-0002-8815-7859 PubMed: PubMed (nih.gov)
• Profile      • Curriculum vitae     • Publications

List of publications:

• For a full list of publications see → Fodok Med Uni Graz

10 most significant publications:

1. Vlachos G, Moser T, Lazzeri I, Moser MJ, Glawitsch L, Bauernhofer ET, Eberhard A, Beichler C, Sadeghi H, Blatterer J, Kühberger S, Monsberger N, Terbuch A, Kashofer K, Geigl JB, Bauernhofer T, Heitzer E: Functional footprints of homologous recombination deficiency in prostate cancer revealed by ctDNA fragmentation and transcription factor accessibility. Br J Cancer, 2026; 134(6):​949–960.
2. Eberhard A, Moser T, Ziegler L, Vlachos G, Loibner M, Bauernhofer T, Balic M, Gerger A, Dandachi N, Beichler C, Glawitsch L, Moser M, Graf R, Abuja PM, Schmitz M, Krenz T, Voss T, Mancarella D, Heitzer E: Evaluation of urinary cfDNA workflows for the molecular profiling of malignant disease. iScience, 2025; 28(10):​113632.
3. Zhou Q, Gampenrieder SP, Frantal S, Rinnerthaler G, Singer CF, Egle D, Pfeiler G, Bartsch R, Wette V, Pichler A, Petru E, Dubsky PC, Bago-Horvath Z, Fesl C, Rudas M, Ståhlberg A, Graf R, Weber S, Dandachi N, Filipits M, Gnant M, Balic M, Heitzer E: Persistence of ctDNA in Patients with Breast Cancer During Neoadjuvant Treatment Is a Significant Predictor of Poor Tumor Response. Clin Cancer Res, 2022; 28(4):​697–707.
4. Lampignano R, Neumann MHD, Weber S, Kloten V, Herdean A, Voss T, Groelz D, Babayan A, Tibbesma M, Schlumpberger M, Chemi F, Rothwell DG, Wikman H, Galizzi JP, Riise Bergheim I, Russnes H, Mussolin B, Bonin S, Voigt C, Musa H, Pinzani P, Lianidou E, Brady G, Speicher MR, Pantel K, Betsou F, Schuuring E, Kubista M, Ammerlaan W, Sprenger-Haussels M, Schlange T, Heitzer E: Multicenter Evaluation of Circulating Cell-Free DNA Extraction and Downstream Analyses for the Development of Standardized (Pre)analytical Work Flows. Clin Chem, 2020; 66(1):​149–160.
5. Smith CG, Moser T, Mouliere F, Field-Rayner J, Eldridge M, Riediger AL, Chandrananda D, Heider K, Wan JCM, Warren AY, Morris J, Hudecova I, Cooper WN, Mitchell TJ, Gale D, Ruiz-Valdepenas A, Klatte T, Ursprung S, Sala E, Riddick ACP, Aho TF, Armitage JN, Perakis S, Pichler M, Seles M, Wcislo G, Welsh SJ, Matakidou A, Eisen T, Massie CE, Rosenfeld N, Heitzer E, Stewart GD: Comprehensive characterization of cell-free tumor DNA in plasma and urine of patients with renal tumors. Genome Med, 2020; 12(1):23.
6. Ulz P, Perakis S, Zhou Q, Moser T, Belic J, Lazzeri I, Wölfler A, Zebisch A, Gerger A, Pristauz G, Petru E, White B, Roberts CES, John JS, Schimek MG, Geigl JB, Bauernhofer T, Sill H, Bock C, Heitzer E, Speicher MR: Inference of transcription factor binding from cell-free DNA enables tumor subtype prediction and early detection. Nat Commun, 2019; 10(1):​4666.
7. Heitzer E, Haque IS, Roberts CES, Speicher MR: Current and future perspectives of liquid biopsies in genomics-driven oncology. Nat Rev Genet, 2019; 20(2):​71–88.
8. Ulz P, Thallinger GG, Auer M, Graf R, Kashofer K, Jahn SW, Abete L, Pristauz G, Petru E, Geigl JB, Heitzer E, Speicher MR: Inferring expressed genes by whole-genome sequencing of plasma DNA. Nat Genet, 2016; 48(10):​1273–1278.
9. Ulz P, Belic J, Graf R, Auer M, Lafer I, Fischereder K, Webersinke G, Pummer K, Augustin H, Pichler M, Hoefler G, Bauernhofer T, Geigl JB, Heitzer E, Speicher MR: Whole-genome plasma sequencing reveals focal amplifications as a driving force in metastatic prostate cancer. Nat Commun, 2016; 7:​12008.
10. Ulz P, Heitzer E, Speicher MR: Co-occurrence of MYC amplification and TP53 mutations in human cancer. Nat Genet, 2016; 48(2):​104–106.

03.04.2026 CRONIC-PPF · Doctoral Programme “Clinical & Research Oriented Network for Innovative Classification of Progressive Pulmonary Fibrosis”