Press releases

To help control the current SARS-coronavirus-2 pandemic and brace for novel pathogens that may cause future pandemics, Fraunhofer researchers have initiated the project BEAT-COVID to develop independent novel therapy strategies and build up platform technologies that will enable rapid and targeted development of new drugs against as yet unknown pathogens that may emerge.

Researchers of the University Hospital Regensburg and of Fraunhofer ITEM have published new findings on the mechanism of metastatic spread in "Nature Communications". A team of researchers headed by Professor Christoph Klein at the University of Regensburg and at Fraunhofer has demonstrated that disseminated cancer cells can acquire stem cell-like properties by interpreting signals from the bone marrow environment, enabling them to form metastases.

Göttingen (Germany), July 31, 2020. In the face of the pandemic spread of SARS-CoV-2 and the worldwide increase in deaths due to this virus, there is an urgent need for effective drugs and vaccines. To speed up the process, existing drugs that have already been approved for treatment of other conditions are tested for their efficacy against the new coronavirus. Scientists of the German Primate Center (DPZ) – Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen (Germany) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM in Hannover (Germany) are now receiving 1.6 million euros from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for a collaborative project investigating the efficacy of nafamostat.

Antibodies open a treatment option for patients who are already infected with SARS-CoV-2. The Braunschweig-based Division of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, in collaboration with Corat Therapeutics GmbH, will begin production of a specific SARS-CoV-2 antibody that is expected to enter clinical trials as early as the beginning of 2021.

What makes tumor cells turn murderous? The Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM is investigating the mechanisms of metastasis formation – and searching for approaches for new treatments in the fight against cancer. Among other things, the research team at Fraunhofer ITEM has developed a method that enables them to analyze entire lymph nodes.

With its rapid spread around the world, the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has triggered a public health emergency of international concern. To date, there is neither a vaccine nor drugs for treating COVID-19 patients available. Researchers of the international consortium iCAIR® are working on the development of novel anti-infective agents to treat or prevent clinically significant diseases of the respiratory tract caused by viruses, fungi and bacteria – and they recently started a project aimed at developing medications to combat the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2.

Resistance to antibiotics is on the rise worldwide. Fraunhofer scientists have joined forces with partners in the Phage4Cure project to explore alternatives to antibiotics. One objective is to vanquish multidrug-resistant pathogens with viruses called bacteriophages. Another is to see these phages approved to treat the dreaded hospital germ Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the most frequent bacterial cause of pneumonia.

Winter is influenza season. In the northern hemisphere, cases of this infectious disease peak between November and March, and fatalities are not uncommon. Influenza vaccines can protect against the illness, but they aren’t always effective. According to the Robert Koch Institute, the vaccines for 2018/2019 were only about 20 percent effective. In the iCAIR® project, Fraunhofer researchers are collaborating with partners to develop new, urgently needed agents against influenza, as well as against other infectious diseases that are gaining ground worldwide. What is particularly interesting here is that the research team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM can test the anti-infective agents in vital human lung slices.

Making novel therapeutics safer: Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM participates in an EU project to develop innovative model systems for the evaluation of immunomodulatory therapeutics

Funded with 8.3 million euros over a period of five years, a platform shall be developed to support small and medium-sized manufacturers of medical devices in the conformity assessment of their products. This will include development of three demonstrator technologies in the fields of inhalers, neural implants, and coatings for hip replacement implants.