Oliver Thews studied medicine at the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, and received his doctoral degree in biomedical engineering/physiology in 1988. After spending some years in medical informatics, he changed to the field of tumor pathophysiology. After a professorship at the University of Würzburg, he became professor at the Julius Bernstein Institute of Physiology at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. His recent research projects focus mainly on the impact of the regional distribution of microenvironmental parameters (e.g., tumor pH, oxygen, perfusion and nutrient supply) on the malignant potential of tumor cells and the efficacy of non-surgical tumor treatments. Within these parameters the local extracellular tissue pH is of most interest. In several current projects the intracellular signaling is analyzed by which tumor acidosis affects migration, invasiveness, proliferation and apoptosis of tumor cells. One focus is the role of small non-coding (regulatory) RNAs (microRNAs). As a translational approach these studies are performed in vitro (cell culture) as well as in vivo (experimental tumor models). In addition, the impact of the acidic tumor environment on the efficacy of different chemotherapeutic drugs is studied. A second focus of the current research activities is functional imaging of physiological parameters in tumors using different non-invasive techniques. In these projects new tracers for positron-emission-tomography (PET) or photo-acoustic imaging are developed to visualize the intratumoral distribution of physiological parameters (e.g., oxygenation) and assess parameters relevant for the treatment-sensitivity of solid tumors.