Press releases

The Fraunhofer IZI in Leipzig and the Bioanalytics and Bioprocesses branch (IZI-BB) in Potsdam, Germany, have got the ball rolling on a new research unit at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The collaboration is aimed at the joint development of innovative technologies and products in the fields of immunology and imaging.

Five years of common research has made it possible: An early test which recognises widespread dyslexia in time–and would therefore spare about five per cent of children a long path of suffering. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences and the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology (IZI) have succeeded in laying the foundations for a test which, with the help of brain activity and gene analyses, could predict whether a child could be affected by this disorder. The conclusion of their research project LEGASCREEN offers an opportunity to reflect on current and future dyslexia diagnosis.

The Department of Drug Design and Target Validation at the Fraunhofer IZI is being awarded a €400,000 grant from the State of Saxony-Anhalt to develop new carrier systems for the gene-based treatment of inflammatory diseases. The project will be conducted in close collaboration with Lipocalyx GmbH based in Halle.

Since January 2017, researchers from Immunic GmbH have been working with scientists at the Department of Drug Design and Target Validation of the Fraunhofer IZI in Halle (Saale) on developing new drugs. The aim is the preclinical development of one or several active candidate ingredients for treating chronically inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Physicists at Leipzig's Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology and Leipzig University have found and characterized innovative materials which may be used as adaptive substrates in cell therapy. In their research, the scientists used synthetic DNA tubes to specifically modify the mechanics of polymer networks. The scientists published their findings in the renowned specialist journal Physical Review Letters.

Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI receives funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

On 23 September 2016, Saxony-Anhalt's Minister for Economic Affairs and Science Jörg Felgner visited the Fraunhofer IMWS, where he announced the approval of three grants worth a total of 1.2 million euros. One of these grants will be used to support the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology in its project "Micro and nanoparticle-based application systems for active ingredients in dentalcosmetic and therapeutic applications".

On 20 September 2016, Professor Susanne Aileen Funke, Vice President of Coburg University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HaW Coburg), and Professor Frank Emmrich, Director of the Fraunhofer IZI, concluded a cooperation agreement between the two research institutes.