From lab to medical practice
“We are again quite thrilled to receive so many grant approvals. More than one in six projects funded under this federal program are based in Bonn! This success demonstrates as well how important it is to enjoy advice and support on application filing from the experienced transfer teams at the Transfer Center enaCom and the University of Bonn Faculty of Medicine, who reliably help researchers navigate the application and project execution processes,” said Dennis Daseking, Deputy Head of Section at the University of Bonn’s Transfer Center enaCom. The project teams receiving funding will be further preparing their results for a possible spin-off and market entry next year.
Professor Bernd Weber, Dean of the University of Bonn Faculty of Medicine, is likewise delighted at the success: “Having so many projects receive funding again underscores the high level at which our scientists at the University and University Hospital conduct their research. The project teams are strong in the areas that form the basis for innovation: interdisciplinary collaboration, creative approaches, and scientific curiosity. The funding is a great success and another important step towards valuable findings."
About the GO-Bio initial grant program
The purpose of the GO-Bio initial grant program is to provide life science researchers with funding for their innovative ideas, which in most cases are still in an early stage of exploration. A two-phase funding process is in place to support concept development and subsequent transfer into concrete applications. The teams receiving grant funding have one year to develop ideas and implementation strategies and identify key partners as part of the conceptual phase. The BMFTR then conducts a second selection process in the feasibility phase of up to two years, during which time project realizability must be concretely demonstrated. For further information visit the GO-Bio initial web page.
The funded projects
In industrialized nations, degenerative aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common fatal heart valve disease. The only treatment method at this time is to replace the diseased valve with a prosthesis. The “ALLSTARS” project (ALgenSTerols for the treatment of AoRtic valve Stenosis) is devoted to developing an alternative treatment method for AS using medications which have heretofore not been available due to their severe side effects. The team has now identified a sterol (an organic compound) derived from algae which could serve as a low-side-effect alternative to existing treatment approaches, potentially paving the way for a new drug.
The ALLSTARS project leaders are Privatdozent Julian Jehle and Dr. med. Moritz Nöthel of the University Hospital Bonn Heart Center and Professor Dieter Lütjohann of the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology. The project draws on preliminary work done within the Aortic Diseases Collaborative Research Center.
The purpose of the “CytoSphere X” project is to streamline drug testing through automated, reproducible 3D modeling for human cell cultivation. The method affords cell cultures that are more robust and better suited for preclinical studies. 3D modeling yields a significantly more realistic representation of the complex structure and environment of human tissue than conventional 2D culturing, leading to improved fidelity in preclinical trials.
The efforts of the team led by Yaroslav Zaplatnikov, who is a scientist at the Institute of Reconstructive Neurobiology (IRN) at the UKB, are focused on nerve tissue models known as cortical spheroids. These spheroids are crucial for gaining a deeper understanding of the development, functioning and diseases of the human brain, enabling the targeted study of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, autism and other neurological disorders.
The “SIRS Chip” project is devoted to developing an early warning system for systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). This life-threatening immune response can be triggered by an array of stress factors, such as having heart surgery or other major operations. The project team has identified a new set of biomarkers which appears in higher concentrations in the blood of individuals who later become SIRS patients. A newly developed “SIRS chip” measures the concentration strength of these biomarkers in patients who are to undergo major surgery to provide a warning for the surgeon in case of elevated risk of SIRS. Patients with elevated risk indicators can then receive early or alternative treatment, avoiding SIRS.
The SIRS Chip project is led by Dr. Susanne V. Schmidt, who is a scientist at the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Pharmacology at the University Hospital Bonn.
In the “NanoLazarus” project, nanobodies are deployed as a therapy for autoinflammatory diseases, which is when an immune system response—the body’s defense mechanism—leads to uncontrolled inflammation. Nanobodies are antibody fragments of a special type derived from alpacas; they are only about one tenth as large as a regular antibody. The project team has identified nanobody candidates that effectively block pyroptosis, which is an inflammatory form of programmed cell death. They are intended to be used against the life-threatening condition of sepsis in particular, which is caused by a dysregulated immune response to infection and results in systemic inflammation. The condition leads to organ failure at a high rate of mortality. These promising molecules are now being prepared for clinical application in novel therapies for sepsis and other diseases.
The project leaders are Dr. Alice Trenerry and Professor Florian I. Schmidt of the Institute for Innate Immunity at the UKB and the University of Bonn. The effort originated in research conducted at the ImmunoSensation² Cluster of Excellence and Collaborative Research Center SFB1403 (Cell death in immunity, inflammation and disease).
The project titled “anti-CDCP1 Nanobody Drug Conjugates” (anti-CDCP1-NDK) is aimed at achieving more targeted cancer treatment. The project team is studying the therapeutic potential of special nano-single-domain antibodies in containing the protein CDCP1, the elevated presence of which correlates with advanced tumor stages, poorer prognoses and treatment-resistant forms of cancer. The researchers have developed single-domain antibodies that recognize the CDCP1 protein, creating potential for more targeted therapy for solid tumors, including particularly urological tumors with CDCP1 overexpression.
The project leader is Privatdozent Abdullah Alajati of the Urology and Pediatric Urology Department at the UKB, in collaboration with Dr. Stephan Menzel of the “Nanobodies” core facility at the University of Bonn.
The aim of the “Nuclitaxel” project (development of a nucleus-specific Taxol derivative for targeted cancer therapy) is to study a previously overlooked effect of the cancer drug Taxol (Paclitaxel, PT). PT is one of the most important chemotherapeutic agents in use worldwide because it prevents cancer cells from dividing by stabilizing microtubules, which are key structural elements of cells. The project team’s latest research findings indicate that PT can additionally influence processes within the cell nucleus, providing new possibilities for more effective cancer treatment.
The research group led by Dr. Maximilian Schilling, Hendrik Sinz, and Professor Oliver Gruß of the University of Bonn Institute of Genetics is leveraging this mechanism to develop a new Taxol derivative called “Nuclitaxel” (a combination of “nucleus” and “Taxol”). The goal is to attack tumor cells with even greater precision—particularly cells with lower levels of division activity, which often respond poorly to conventional treatments.