Immunology and infection research

Research in the field of infectious diseases became particularly important with the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. At Fraunhofer ITEM, funding programs of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as contract research commissioned by industry helped to get numerous projects up and running within a very short time. The aims were to better understand the infectivity and transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, to develop corona-specific active and passive vaccines and to evaluate the safety and efficacy of therapeutics for treating COVID-19. The findings from a broad range of research projects performed at Fraunhofer ITEM have made a valuable contribution to the fight against the corona pandemic and help to generate knowledge for potential future pandemics. For example, researchers of the Division of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology managed to manufacture neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 as an investigational medicinal product in record time: the IMP was advanced to the stage of clinical testing in less than seven months.

About eight percent of the population worldwide suffer from immune-mediated diseases. Almost any organ or tissue can be affected. In most cases, immune-mediated diseases are treated symptomatically with drugs that non-specifically suppress the patient’s immune system. Therapies that eliminate the cause of the disease and, ideally, are individualized are hardly available at present. There is a great need for research, both on pathophysiological issues and on potential therapeutic targets.

Fraunhofer ITEM has many years of expertise in immunotoxicology and immunopharmacology, centered on the development of biopharmaceuticals and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) in addition to mechanistic research. The focus here is on diseases of the lungs and airways – especially asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), fibrotic lung diseases, allergies and infections. For the investigation of immunomodulatory substances and ATMPs, Fraunhofer ITEM is further developing in-vitro models, innovative testing strategies and endpoints in toxicity studies. Human organ models and materials from patients play a pivotal role in this context to enable an even better pharmacological and toxicological understanding of the immune mechanisms relevant to humans.