Outstanding bachelor thesis awarded
Lukas Nöltner, a student at Biberach University of Applied Sciences, was honored for his bachelor's thesis on "Characterization of monoclonal antibodies against the HERV Fc1 envelope protein", which was written at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and Immunology IZI. Biberach University of Applied Sciences honors students for outstanding achievements twice a year. The 500 euro prize in the field of pharmaceutical biotechnology was sponsored by the company Boehringer Ingelheim.
In his bachelor thesis, Lukas Nöltner investigated novel therapeutic antibodies that bind the envelope protein of the human endogenous retrovirus HERV Fc1. This is suspected of being involved in the development of autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer and is therefore the subject of drug research at the Fraunhofer IZI. He was supervised by Dr. Anke Piechotta and Dr. Holger Cynis, head of the Molecular Biotechnology Unit at the Fraunhofer IZI Molecular Drug Biochemistry and Therapy Development Branch in Halle (Saale). The findings will be incorporated into the project: "Characterization of HERV envelope proteins aimed at developing therapeutic antibodies for HERV-associated autoimmune and tumor diseases", which is being carried out in collaboration with the University Medical Center Halle and is funded by the state of Saxony-Anhalt with money from the European Regional Development Fund.
In total, Biberach University of Applied Sciences honored 44 award winners. The awards were sponsored by 14 different companies, associations and foundations, covering the entire range of content taught at Biberach University of Applied Sciences.
- Press release of the Biberach University of Applied Sciences on the awarding of the prizes (in German only)
- Fraunhofer IZI press release on the project "Characterization of HERV envelope proteins aimed at developing therapeutic antibodies for HERV-associated autoimmune and tumor diseases" (izi.fraunhofer.de)