Science location Leipzig

The Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI is located on the former trade fair grounds in the south-east of the city of Leipzig. The institute’s premises are only about a ten-minute drive away from the city center and can easily be reached with public transport. Moreover, many of the already established and potential future cooperation partners are located in the immediate vicinity. Among these are, for example, the BIO CITY Leipzig, the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, the clinics and institutes of the Medical Faculty, the Chemistry Faculty, the Physics Faculty, the Veterinary Medicine Faculty, as well as the Faculty of Life Sciences, Pharmacy and Psychology.

The BIO CITY Leipzig unites university and industry-related research under one roof. It houses, for instance, the Biotechnological-Biomedical Center (BBZ) of the Leipzig University and has available space for industrial settlements in the vicinity. More than 25 cell technology companies including VITA34 International AG, Haemabank AG and Curacyte AG are already located there. Cooperations with the Fraunhofer IZI have been established in the fields of cell engineering and applied stem cell biology, bioprocess engineering, protein structure analysis, mass spectroscopy, molecular cell therapy and molecular pathogenesis.

The academic landscape within Leipzig also benefits from cooperation with the Fraunhofer IZI: The Leipzig University, the Leipzig University of Applied Science (HWTK) and the Graduate School of Management (HHL) have found in the Fraunhofer IZI a strong partner for research cooperations and the development of joint programs for teaching and advanced vocational training, which enhance local attractiveness from an economic and scientific point of view. Thus, for example, students of business administration from the HHL have already been successfully involved in practical scientific projects with their development of business plans or marketing concepts. A particularly intensive cooperation connects the Fraunhofer IZI and the Institute for Clinical Immunology of the University Leipzig.

The outstanding collaboration work with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and its institutes and clinics directly opposite the Fraunhofer IZI building deserves special mention. Research involving animal experiments does not only serve the development of new products for human medicine, but also contributes to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic procedures in veterinary medicine.

The Faculty of Medicine has traditionally been an extremely important partner with many interactions, also in teaching and advanced education. The Fraunhofer IZI has been working closely together with institutional and clinical areas of radiology, nuclear medicine and diagnostics for several years now in order to develop sophisticated imaging procedures for large animal models.

The neighboring partners of the Leipzig University are, among others, the Medical Faculty, the Veterinary Medicine Faculty, and the University Hospital. Further institutions relevant for cooperation are the Heart Center Leipzig GmbH, the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Leibniz Institute for Surface Modification (IOM), the Interdisciplinary Center for Bioinformatics (IZBI), the Center for Clinical Trials Leipzig GmbH (ZKS), the Institute for Clinical Immunology, the Center for Biotechnology and Biomedicine (BBZ), and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences. Moreover, there are numerous interfaces with different special research areas that are located in Leipzig.