RIBOLUTION Biomarker Center

Hamilton Microlab STARlet
© Fraunhofer IZI

About Us

The RIBOLUTION Biomarker Center was founded in 2016 and emerged from the successful cooperation of 5 Fraunhofer Institutes and other clinical partners within the project, funded by the Fraunhofer Zukunftsstiftung. After the completion of the project, the research and contract work in the field of molecular diagnostic analytics and bioinformatic evaluation was established under a quality management according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2015.

The scope of the certificate covers "research and contract work in the field of molecular diagnostic analytics and its bioinformatic evaluation, with a focus on personalized medicine, as well as optimization and development of modern processes and applications for molecular diagnostics including next-generation sequencing." The quality management system at the Biomarker Center, ensures that internal processes, the quality of services, and relationships with partners and customers follow a measurable system. The QM system accurately maps processes, increases their efficiency and minimizes the susceptibility to errors. A central aspect at the Biomarker Center is process validation. By means of a documented process, it can be shown at any time that it meets the requirements of the service offered and provides reliable traceable results. This enables us to drive competitive research and development projects together with our partners from industry, hospitals and research institutions.

Our focus: Transcriptome and genome analyses including bioinformatic evaluation up to prototype development for lab-developed tests (LDT) and In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD).

Management Team & Scientific Advisor

Kristin Reiche

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Kristin Reiche

Head of RIBOLUTION Biomarker Center, Head of Bioinformatics Unit

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology
Perlickstraße 1
04103 Leipzig, Germany

Phone +49 341 35536-5223

Conny Blumert

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Conny Blumert

Head of Next-Generation Diagnostics Unit

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology
Perlickstraße 1
04103 Leipzig, Germany

Phone +49 341 35536-3301

Friedemann Horn

Contact Press / Media

Prof. Dr. Friedemann Horn

Scientific Advisor

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology
Perlickstraße 1
04103 Leipzig, Germany

Phone +49 341 35536-3305

Services

In the Biomarker Center, new diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers are systematically and comprehensively identified and confirmed using state-of-the-art techniques including next-generation sequencing (NGS). Competencies in study and data management are used to plan and conduct clinical cohorts and manage clinical and experimental data. In addition, the biomarker screening process is optimized with the help of technical innovations.

Our competences

Clinical cohorts

 

  • Study design for the biomarker screening process
  • Support from a network of clinical partners (e.g. in the fields of oncology and immuno-oncology)
  • Sample management
  • Experimental design

 

RNA Biomarker Screening

 

Biomarker Identification

  • Comprehensive RNA biomarker screening process
  • Sequencing from many sources incl. tissue, blood, plasma, urine and exosomes
  • Sequencing of low-input and difficult samples (e.g. FFPE tissues, biopsies)

Biomarker Validation

  • Standardized sample preparation and quality controls
  • Validation and assay development by PCR methods

 

Next- and 3rd-Generation Sequencing

 

  • Whole transcriptome & mRNA sequencing
  • Whole genome sequencing
  • Microbiome (16SrDNA)
  • Nanopore sequencing (MinION)
  • Single Cell Sequencing
  • Spatial Sequencing

 

Bioinformatics

 

Data Science for RNASeq

  • State-of-the-art sequencing data analysis
  • Automated pipeline for sequence data mapping, assembly, and analysis
  • Machine learning for high-dimensional expression data

Computational Biology

  • Integration of Omic-wide data sources (e.g. TCGA)
  • RNA biomarkers (lncRNAs, circRNAs, single cell analysis, immune cell profiling)
  • Microbiomics

Statistical Learning

  • Multivariate regression models
  • Survival analysis
  • Differential expression analysis
  • Meta-analysis

Software-Development for IVD prototypes

  • Software requirement specification
  • Processes for sw-development, sw-maintenance, problem resolution, sw-risk-management and sw-configuration-management

Technology / Devices

  • High-performance computing cluster
  • NextSeq 2000 und MiSeq (Illumina)
  • MinION (Oxford Nanopore)
  • Chromium Controller (10X Genomics) 

Why should you work with us?

  • State-of-the-art analysis tools
  • Fast data transfer
  • Fast and direct communication through one contact person
  • Continuous quality control under DIN EN ISO 9001 standard

We are a team of life scientists and bioinformaticians that provides end-to-end support in all phases of sequencing experiments: from experimental design to final analysis!

Please contact us for an individual offer!

Current projects

imSAVAR

New models for assessing pre-clinical safety of immunomodulatory therapies

T2EVOLVE

Accelerate development and increase access of cancer patients to immunotherapy with engineered T cells

SaxoCOV

Saxony-wide field study on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and accompanying research study

Fraunhofer CIMD

Early diagnosis of subclinical arthritis

PIONEER

Improving diagnosis and treatment in prostate cancer through Big Data analytics

RiboTrend

Development of a novel classifier for the prognosis of aggressive disease progression in prostate carcinoma in needle biopsies