News and press releases

The Saxon SaxoCell future cluster is pleased to announce that it has been selected for the second funding phase by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). This decision by the ministry highlights the potential, as well as the successes, of SaxoCell, the pioneering cluster for innovative cell and gene therapies.

The Executive Board of Dresden Technical University has appointed PD Dr Stephan Fricke, Head of the Department of Cell and Gene Therapy Development, as adjunct professor at the TUD Faculty of Medicine with effect from 21 May 2024.

Together with Leipzig University Hospital and the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI is researching the AI-based development of a tumor-specific CAR T-cell immunotherapy for the treatment of malignant melanoma.

Together, stakeholders from science, business, politics and society have developed a strategy paper to improve the translation of new research findings into medical care applications. The results were presented to Federal Minister of Education and Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger, at the Futurium in Berlin on 12 June 2024.

On 1 July, the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology and Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg launched a multi-centre confirmatory preclinical study to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of a new agent for the treatment of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.

On 2 May 2024, Reinhard Meyer, minister for economic affairs of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, presented the awards to the winners of the “Innovative ideas for the healthcare sector” competition, in the state’s capital, Schwerin. The seven winners included a project proposal by Fraunhofer IZI’s Rostock Department of Extracorporeal Therapy. The successful project was “mi4ASSESS-MED – A marketing and innovation strategy to strengthen the market position and competitiveness of ASSESS-MED”.

CAR-T cell therapy has been established as an effective treatment for various haematological cancers. However, the treatment does not have the same level of success in all patients. In a current clinical study, researchers from the University of Leipzig Medical Center and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI have identified various biomarkers which are linked to the response to CAR-T cell therapy in multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer. The results of their study were published in the renowned journal Nature Cancer.

A new branch of the Fraunhofer IZI was established in Würzburg at the beginning of 2024. Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Michael Hudecek, new technologies for cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of various cancers are being developed and clinically tested.

In her doctoral thesis, Dr. Susann Allelein from the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI investigated a new approach for the early detection of prostate cancer in particular. She was awarded the 3rd Hugo Geiger Prize 2023 on February 28, 2024. The prize, awarded by the Free State of Bavaria and the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, recognizes outstanding, application-oriented doctoral theses.

The JOIN4ATMP project was launched in January. The project aims to help accelerate the development and broad availability of novel therapies in Europe. The Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI is one of the 14 project partners from 9 countries.