The Bonn-based teams are developing practical solutions for epilepsy and the eye condition known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by helping to develop new drugs and new human photoreceptor cells, among other things. Here is an overview of the projects:
EpiTher—beating drug-resistant epilepsy
The EpiTher project, the brainchild of Professor Heinz Beck and Dr. Kunihiko Araki (Institute of Experimental Epileptology and Cognition Research, UKB), is developing new drugs to fight epilepsy, which affects over 65 million people globally. Medication is unable to control the seizures experienced by about 30 percent of patients, a rate that has remained persistently high despite numerous new anti-epileptics being developed and approved. The EpiTher team has now discovered a key mechanism of drug resistance and invented a test system that allows it systematically to identify substances that circumvent this resistance mechanism. In the EpiTher project, therefore, potential active substances that show promise are being validated, patented and progressed to the preclinical development stage for a new anti-epileptic drug. The project is being funded with €850,000 million as part of the Go-Bio initial programme.
ReRetina—human photoreceptors for studying and treating retinal diseases
With their equally innovative ReRetina project, Professor Volker Busskamp and Johannes Striebel (Eye Clinic, UKB) and their team have succeeded in creating human photoreceptor cells in the laboratory. The aim is to use these to study and treat retinal diseases such as AMD, which affects one in four over-60s but, as yet, has no cure. AMD is caused by a loss of special photoreceptors known as cone cells (or simply “cones”). Using this innovative technique, the team can produce large quantities of these cones quickly. The technology has already been patented and is laying the foundations for developing a form of cell therapy that will, in future, see healthy photoreceptors transplanted in place of damaged ones. The project will receive €1 million in funding from the Go-Bio initial programme.
Transferring life sciences research into medical practice
The University of Bonn is supporting the projects through its Transfer teams based in the Faculty of Medicine and in its central Transfer Center enaCom. “Having not one but two projects approved shows how much innovation there is in Bonn, especially in the life sciences,” says Dennis Daseking, Deputy Head of the Transfer Center enaCom. “We’re delighted to be accompanying these highly practical research projects as they continue their journey toward market launch.” Dr. Stefan Fasbender from the Transfer team in the Faculty of Medicine adds: “For both teams, the decisive development step begins now. Having advised them on their funding applications for the exploratory phase last year, we’re happy to see the projects progressing in the feasibility phase.” In this second funding phase, which can last up to two years, the teams are now focusing on getting their products ready to launch on the market.
About the GO-Bio funding initiative
The GO-Bio funding initiative is targeted at life sciences researchers with innovative ideas, which are to be finalized on a conceptual level and turned into an actual application over the two stages of the process—the exploratory and the feasibility phase.
