Press releases

Are algae the superfood and active ingredient suppliers of the future? Under the direction of Professor Carola Griehl, researchers at the Competence Center Algal Biotechnology at Anhalt University of Applied Sciences have been working on this question for many years. On May 27, 2021 the Anhalt University of Applied Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI open the Center for Natural Product-Based Therapeutics (ZNT). In addition to the invited guests on site, all interested parties are invited via live stream to the ceremonial opening.

CAR T-cell therapy, a novel cancer immunotherapy, uses patients' own T cells, which have been genetically engineered, for treatment. Currently, this therapy is used for some forms of blood cancer and lymphoma. In order to assess both the success and side effects of CAR T-cell therapies, intensive monitoring after administration is necessary.

From a Danish-German consortium intend to develop a vaccine protecting against urinary tract infection. The SVEET project (Sugar-modified Vaccine Epitopes; Exploration and Translation) is funded by the German DLR and the Innovation Fund Denmark with 702,800 Euro within the eurostars® programme.

Vaccines are currently a great source of hope for many people, as it is believed they will help to protect society against COVID-19 and pave the way back to a normal life. The current focus is clearly on coronavirus — but vaccines are also fundamental to combating other pathogens. A team of researchers from three Fraunhofer Institutes has now developed a method of producing vaccines that is faster, more efficient and more environmentally friendly than the conventional production process — and their efforts have earned them the Fraunhofer Prize for “Human- and Environment-Centered Technology”. The award ceremony took place during the annual conference of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft on May 5, 2021.

Targeted, efficient and with few side effects: A new method for combating periodontitis could render the use of broad-spectrum antibiotics superfluous. It was developed and tested for the first time by a team from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI and Periotrap Pharmaceuticals GmbH, a Fraunhofer IZI spin-off. The aim is to neutralise only bacteria that cause periodontitis while sparing harmless bacteria. The study appeared in the "Journal of Biological Chemistry".

Saxony-based consortium comes out on top in the BMBF Clusters4Future initiative. In a digital press conference held by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) on February 3, 2021, the SaxoCell research consortium was announced as one of the clusters selected for funding. The consortium comprises experts from the TU Dresden, Leipzig University, Chemnitz Hospital and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology. Over the next three years, the project partners will collaborate with partners from academia and industry to provide novel cell and gene therapies for previously incurable diseases.

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI and Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH (Chemnitz hospital) expand cooperation

A molecular biological, chip-based rapid test for the diagnosis of the eye infection trachoma developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI has proven promising in first studies. The results of the study carried out together with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Tanzania, have now been published in the journal "Parasites & Vectors". The development of the DjinniChip was supported by the ClearTrachoma project of the non-profit organization Task Force for Global Health in a program of the Coalition for Operational Research on Neglected Tropical Diseases (COR-NTD).

The first Fraunhofer Solution Days will take place digitally from October 26 to 29, 2020. The online event of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is dedicated to the four topics health, digital economy, plant and mechanical engineering and mobility. The Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI is participating with various exhibits and lectures, particularly in the field of health.

A project team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI and Lipocalyx GmbH (today: BioNTech Delivery Technologies GmbH) has now been able to prove that viromers are a suitable carrier material for messenger RNA (mRNA). In studies, the viromers developed by Lipocalyx proved to be a suitable therapeutic option for mRNA delivery in the treatment of a model for inflammatory diseases. The results were published in "Scientific Reports", an open access journal of the Nature Publishing Group.