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JEOL-IDES Licenses Advanced TEM Technology from Max Planck Society and Georg-August-University Göttingen

| Press release

Göttingen Ultrafast TEM laboratory featuring an enhanced JEOL transmission electron microscope. © Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences

JEOL-IDES, a leading company in the development of scientific instruments, has licensed an innovative electron beam technology from the Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences (MPI-NAT) and the Georg-August-University Göttingen (Germany). Developed in the research team led by Professor Claus Ropers, the technology drastically enhances ultrafast transmission electron microscopy (UTEM), providing unprecedented precision for advanced imaging applications.

Start-up Days 2024 – Inspiration for Entrepreneurs

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Start-up Days 2024: Networking, expert insights, and hands-on workshops inspiring future entrepreneurs. © Sarah Oppenländer

On October 17-18, 2024, the Start-up Days took place in Munich, organized by the transfer offices of the Leibniz, Fraunhofer, Max Planck, and Helmholtz associations. Around 120 science professionals interested in founding start-ups took part in workshops, lectures, and panel discussions to gain valuable insights into building a company.

Nanoscope Therapeutics Licenses Optogenetic Technology

| Press release

© is / Adobe Stock

The US biotech company Nanoscope Therapeutics Inc. has acquired a license for the CatCh technology from Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society. Based on research findings from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysics, and the pioneering work of Prof. Ernst Bamberg in the field of optogenetics, this patented technology enhances the light sensitivity of a multi-characteristic opsin (MCO-010, a tri-protein fusion complex including CatCh) developed by Nanoscope as a gene therapy to restore vision in patients suffering from genetically caused visual impairments. Nanoscope’s groundbreaking MCO platform is the first optogenetic approach to combine multiple light-sensitive components, the sum of which produces a fusion protein that is sensitive across the visible spectrum at ambient light levels with fast kinetics. Nanoscope has already successfully completed several clinical studies on MCO-010 for the two leading inherited retinal degenerative diseases: retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and Stargardt disease. The company now plans to seek approval of the therapy and expand to broad therapeutic indications.

€1.3 million pre-seed funding for Lucid Genomics to fine-tune their AI models for diagnostics and biomarker discovery

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The Berlin-based start-up Lucid Genomics, a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics and the Institute of Medical Genetics and Human Genetics at the Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, has raised €1.3 million in pre-seed funding in a funding round led by Caesar Ventures, with support from BIF Partners, another.vc and the MPF Accelerator. The funds will be used to further expand their AI-Digital HealthTech Platform, which extracts all genomic information to improve diagnostics and drug discovery.

MPG spin-off GlycoUniverse wins the Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024

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The GlycoUniverse team has received the Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024 for the Glyconeer® 3.1, a device for the production of complex carbohydrate chains. © Benjamin Maltry

GlycoUniverse GmbH & Co. KGaA is one of the four winners of the Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024, which was awarded on July 3rd in Potsdam. The award was given to the development and sale of the glyconeer® 3.1 automatic sugar synthesizer, a device for the production of complex carbohydrate chains. The innovative technology is based on research work by the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces (MPIKG) and is used in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries.

Batene receives the renowned Max Planck Start-up Award for innovative battery technology

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The winning team from the start-up Batene accepted the Start-up Award of the Stifterverband on June 11, 2024 at Asanta in Berlin - Joachim Spatz (2nd from left), director at the MPI for Medical Research and the two Batene managing directors Thanh Nguyen (center) and Martin Möller (2nd from right). In the picture (from left to right) Anna Christmann, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Start-Ups at the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Change, Max Planck President Patrick Cramer and Volker Meyer-Guckel, Secretary General of the Stifterverband. © David Ausserhofer/MPG

On June 11th, Batene GmbH received the coveted Max Planck Start-up Award for its innovative battery technology. The award ceremony took place as part of the annual meeting of the Max Planck Society in Berlin and recognizes Batene's commitment to the development of lighter and environmentally friendly batteries. The technology, which is based on fine metal fleeces and was originally developed by the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, promises a significant improvement in energy storage, drastically reduced material consumption during production and lower manufacturing costs.

Novo Nordisk to acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals

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Cardior´s lead candidate CDR132L has a distinctive mode of action and potential to become a first-in-class therapy designed to halt or partially reverse the course of disease for people living with heart failure. CDR132L is based on initial research from the Max Planck Institute for biophysical chemistry, amongst others. ©Sebastian Kaulitzki

Novo Nordisk has agreed to acquire Cardior Pharmaceuticals for up to 1.025 billion Euros, including an upfront payment and additional payments if certain development and commercial milestones are achieved. Cardior is a leader in the discovery and development of therapies that target RNA (Ribonucleic acid) as a means to prevent, repair and reverse diseases of the heart. The company’s therapeutic approach targets distinctive non-coding RNAs as a platform for addressing root causes of cardiac dysfunctions with an aim to achieve lasting patient impact. The agreement includes Cardior’s lead compound CDR132L, which is based on initial research from the Medical School Hannover (MHH) in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for biophysical chemistry in Göttingen (now Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Sciences), amongst others. It is currently in phase 2 clinical development for the treatment of heart failure.

Electronic music with a human rhythm

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New software allows producers to make rhythms sound more natural in computer-produced music. ©Aleksandrs Muiznieks

Electronically generated rhythms are often perceived as too artificial. New software now allows producers to make rhythms sound more natural in computer-produced music. Research at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPI-DS) and at Harvard University forms the basis for new and patented methods of electronically generated rhythms according to patterns of musicians following fractal statistical laws. The process, which produces natural-sounding rhythms, has now been licensed to Mixed In Key LLC, whose music software is used worldwide by leading music producers and internationally renowned DJs. A product called “Human Plugins”, which uses this technology, has now been launched.

MPG projects successful at GO-Bio initial

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Several projects that applied as part of the GO-Bio initial funding program receive funding. ©aicandy

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) has made a positive decision on the GO-Bio initial funding program applications from various Max Planck Institutes (MPIs).  3 life science projects have been selected for the first funding phase. In addition, another project from 2022 has been accepted for phase 2 in order to translate the research results into products and services.

Bram Wijlands becomes second managing director of Max Planck Innovation

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The managing directors of Max Planck Innovation: Jörn Erselius and Bram Wijlands

In recent years, the Max Planck Society (Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, MPG), together with Max Planck Innovation (MI), has increasingly launched activities to further promote entrepreneurship at the Max Planck Institutes (MPI). On October 1, 2023 Bram Wijlands became second managing director of Max Planck Innovation and takes over the management of the Spin-off business unit to further develop existing and newly developed approaches and partnerships to promote spin-offs.

FLASH 2 is well received in research

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Examination situation of a real-time head examination of an infant in the pediatric radiology department in Leipzig by senior physician Daniel Gräfe and Prof. Hirsch. The child is carefully held by the mother in the MRI. The whole examination takes only a few seconds (photo with the consent of the mother, photographer: Stefan Straube/Leipzig University Hospital).

A revolutionary new method of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called FLASH 2 is being used at the Institute for Pediatric Radiology at the University Hospital Leipzig, which offers immense advantages for the radiological examination of children. With FLASH 2, which was developed at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (today Max Planck Institute for Multidisciplinary Natural Sciences), MRI imaging becomes even faster and more efficient. The procedure, which makes processes in the body visible even in movement, makes it possible for the first time to examine small children without sedation and anesthesia, which is a sensation in pediatric radiology.

BiondVax signs exclusive license agreement

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BiondVax has signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop and commercialize VHH antibodies (NanoAbs) targeting Interleukin-17 (IL-17) as treatments for all potential indications, starting with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. © Quality Stock Arts/AdobeStock

BiondVax Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Nasdaq: BVXV), a biotechnology company focused on developing, manufacturing, and commercializing innovative immunotherapeutic products primarily for the treatment of infectious and autoimmune diseases, has signed an exclusive worldwide license agreement to develop and commercialize VHH antibodies (NanoAbs) targeting Interleukin-17 (IL-17) as treatments for all potential indications, starting with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis. The technology is originally based on research results of the Max Planck Institute of Multidisciplinary Sciences and has since been further developed in a broad-based collaboration with the Max Planck Society and the University Medical Center Gottingen (UMG).

7 million euros for MPG spin-out Proxima Fusion

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Proxima Fusion, the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, develops fusion power plants based on the stellarator concept. The start-up has now completed its pre-seed fundraising of €7m. The fundraising is co-led by Plural and UVC Partners, and joined by High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and the Wilbe Group.

MPG spin-off Thermosome starts Phase I trial

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Thermosensive liposomes loaded with active substances (© Thermosome)

Thermosome, a drug development company specializing in targeted tumor therapies, today announced that the first patient has been dosed in April 2023 in the ongoing Phase 1 trial with its lead program THE001. Additional patients will be enrolled following a 6-week monitoring period that includes two treatment cycles. With this lead candidate, the spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry (now MPI for Multidisciplinary Sciences) is ideally positioned to improve conventional DOX confirmed as  gold standard for the neoadjuvant treatment of LA-STS (locally advanced soft tissue sarcoma).

New method for micromanipulation goes into practice

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The FLUCS system allows non-invasive manipulation of cells, for example in developmental biology, for the first time (© Rapp OptoElectronic)

A new laser technology called FLUCS (Focused Light-induced Cytoplasmic Streaming) makes it possible to influence and specifically control movements within living cells and embryos. The technology developed at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) has now been licensed by Rapp OptoElectronic GmbH and can help to better understand embryonic developmental disorders. As an additional module for high-resolution microscopes, FLUCS shall not only improve cell biological and medical research in the future, but also open up new possibilities in microfluidics.

Life Science Inventions on the Biovaria

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© Ascenion

Max Planck Innovation and the Lead Discovery Center (LDC) are presenting their latest life science technologies at this year's Biovaria. The technology fair for life sciences will take place in Munich from March 24th to 25th, 2023 and brings together scientific research with representatives from industry, biotech and pharmaceuticals.

4Investors Day

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Sebastian Blatt of Max Planck start-up "planqc" started off the Deep Tech Pitch stage.

On 29 March, 39 start-up teams and young companies from the 4 large German non-university research institutions Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, Leibniz and Helmholtz Associations and the Max Planck Society presented their business ideas together for the first time in front of numerous investors. Max Planck Innovation nominated 10 selected start-up projects from the fields of Life Sciences and Deep Tech from the Max Planck Society to pitch on the stages of the Munich "coal bunker". For the first time, the four major non-university research institutions joined forces for the new event format.

225 million euros for Max Planck innovation start-ups

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Management Team of Batene
Managing Director Martin Möller and Thi Dieu Thanh Nguyen of the start-up Batene received support from Max Planck Innovation during the spin-off and financing process (© Batene).

A successful business year for Max Planck Innovation includes increasing investment sums for the start-ups managed. Especially life sciences start-ups with a high degree of maturity provided a record sum of 225 million euros.

Yearbook 2022: Max Planck Innovation – the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society

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50 years Max Planck Innovation: Stefan Hell, Martin Stratmann, Jörn Erselius und Mario Brandeburg (starting left). © David Ausserhofer

Max Planck Innovation (MI) evaluates an average of 135 inventions per year, of which just over 60% lead to a patent application. Since 1979, more than 4,860 inventions have been accompanied and around 2,935 exploitation agreements concluded. Since the early 1990s, 181 spin-off companies have emerged from the Max Planck Society (MPG), the vast majority of which have been actively supported by Max Planck Innovation. Since then, almost 9,300 jobs have been created in these spin-offs. Since 1979, a total turnover from licenses and the sale of participations of around 550 million euros has been achieved.

New research project aims to accelerate screening for active pharmaceutical ingredients

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High-resolution image of a living human cancer cell. ©Abberior GmbH

In January the BMBF-funded project HRDS (High Resolution Drug Screening) took off. The researchers want to improve the testing of active pharmaceutical ingredients for drugs using a high-resolution light microscope and artificial intelligence (AI). Two Max Planck spin-offs, Abberior GmbH and Lead Discovery Center GmbH, are also involved.

Clemedi AG concludes license agreement for detecting latent tuberculosis

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© pressmaster/Adobe Stock

Clemedi aims to extend its tuberculosis product line to cover latent tuberculosis. This requires the ability to extract M. tuberculosis DNA from a patient’s blood. The Intellectual property related to this discovery is jointly owned by Max-Planck Society (MPG) and the Medical University of Vienna (MedUni Vienna). All parties have recently concluded a license agreement which will allow Clemedi to commercialize the invention.

50+2 years of technology transfer for the Max Planck Society

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On December 14th, the celebration »50+2 years Max Planck Innovation, 50+2 years of technology transfer for the Max Planck Society« took place in The Villa Elisabeth & St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin.

On December 14th in Berlin, the focus was on the results of more than 50 years of technology transfer and the benefits of technological innovations for society. In addition to the President of the Max Planck Society (MPG), Martin Stratmann, speakers were also the Member of Parliament and Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister of Education and Research, Mario Brandenburg, and the Managing Director of Max Planck Innovation, Jörn Erselius. In a panel discussion with high-ranking representatives from science, interesting insights into research and the transfer of results into practice were granted. In addition, numerous successful start-ups were presented that originated at one of the 86 Max Planck Institutes.

Bayer Acquires Targenomix

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Biotech start-up Targenomix with its unique expertise in systems and computational biology will significantly strengthen and broaden the capabilities of Bayer in the area of crop protection and beyond. © shaiith/Adobe Stock

Bayer announced today the acquisition of German biotech start-up Targenomix. The spin-off of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Plant Physiology (MPI MPP) uses novel systems biology and computational life science tools to identify new modes of action for crop protection compounds. The Targenomix expertise, personnel, and platforms will be an important part of delivering on Bayer Crop Science’s commitment to the design of safe and effective molecules, and will accelerate the discovery and development of molecules with the potential to make agricultural production more sustainable despite dynamic challenges like climate change, and increasing weed, disease and insect resistance.

A Max Planck spin-off develops more powerful and resource-saving batteries

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Standard (left) and batene fleece-based (right) battery cell, containing same amount of active material (© Batene GmbH)

An invention by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research could make batteries much more energy dense, efficient and safer. The research team has found a way to produce very fine metal fleeces, the batene fleece, that can serve as current collectors in batteries and make them more powerful. Batene GmbH, a spin-off of the institute, has licensed the technology through the Max Planck Society’s central technology transfer company, Max Planck Innovation, and is now marketing it. For this, the start-up is receiving initial funding of 10 million euros.

Start-up CalTIC secures up to EUR 3 million in seed financing to develop a new class of drugs targeting TRPC channels

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The spin-off CalTIC is developing a new class of drugs. The novel TRPC inhibitors block binding sites originally discovered as englerin A targets by Prof. David J. Beech (UoL) and Prof. Herbert Waldmann (MPI-MP). © katrin_timoff/Adobe Stock

The KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I (KHAN-I) has committed up to EUR 3 million in milestone dependent payments to CalTIC, a Dortmund based start-up, for the discovery of a new class of drugs.

QLi5 Therapeutics Attracts EUR 10 Million in Series A Financing

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© Gorodenkoff/Adobe Stock

Qli5 Therapeutics GmbH (QLi5), a German-Korean joint venture developing a new class of proteasome inhibitors, has closed a EUR 10 million series A financing round with an international consortium of investors including SV Investment (Korea), KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I (Germany), Atinum Investment (Korea) and DAOL Investment (former KTB, Korea).

Tuberculosis vaccine passes safety test

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Stefan H.E. Kaufmann (right) performs immunogenicity testing of human samples. © Max Planck Society

No other infectious disease has killed more people than tuberculosis. Currently, only one vaccine is available to prevent severe courses: Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG). However, it is not equally effective against all types of tuberculosis. Especially infants and immunocompromised patients are therefore in urgent need for more effective tuberculosis vaccines. A clinical trial in South Africa has now shown that the new vaccine candidate VPM1002, developed by Max Planck researcher Stefan H.E. Kaufmann and his team, is equally safe for newborns with and without HIV exposure and has fewer side effects compared to BCG.

Max Planck Foundation Award Ceremony in Berlin

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Cheering at the award ceremony: About half of the 15-member Meshcapade team celebrated their success together with co-founder Michael Black (2nd from left) and Florian Kirschenhofer. With the prize money of 50,000 euros, the start-up wants to expand and hire new employees – at the Tübingen location, but also worldwide. © Max-Planck-Gesellschaft / David Ausserhofer

On the eve of the Annual Meeting, the Max Planck Start-up Award was presented to Meshcapade in Berlin-Charlottenburg. The young start-up team was presented with the newly established award, jointly conferred by the Max Planck Society and the Stifterverband. Around 100 invited guests followed the award ceremony and the spirited debate on the challenges of technology transfer in Germany.

More start-ups, please!

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The MAXpreneurs initiative is intended to encourage researchers to explore the application potential of their scientific results to a greater extent. ©NDABCreativity/Adobe Stock

Germany has a problem: it is still strong in basic research, as recently demonstrated by the successful acquisition of a total of 61 ERC Advanced Grants, which secured the country first place in Europe. Twelve of these grants went to Max Planck researchers. But at the same time, Germany is not in a position to put this horsepower on the road and turn it into successful start-ups and companies, as Thomas Sattelberger, former State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, recently stated in an article in WirtschaftsWoche.

Max Planck spin-off Meshcapade wins new startup award

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The founding team of Meshcapade (from left to right): Talha Zaman, Naureen Mahmood, Michael Black ©Meshcapade GmbH

Meshcapade, a start-up from Cyber Valley is planning nothing less than a minor revolution: their SMPL technology makes it possible to automatically create accurate and realistic humans in an easily accessible 3D format using a wide variety of data sources, such as images, sensor-based devices and body measurements. The resulting avatars have facial expressions, can reproduce subtle gestures as well as realistic movement, and are compatible with all major 3D visualization programs. It is expected that the technology will eventually be used in the fashion, gaming, and film industries, but it also has enormous potential in the medical and healthcare fields due to the ease with which real, life-like humans can be recreated in 3D.

Yearbook 2021: Max Planck Innovation – the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society

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BiondVax Pharmaceuticals is developing a new COVID-19 antibody therapy based on research results from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, among others (© Benedikt/AdobeStock)

Max Planck Innovation evaluates an average of 130 inventions per year, about half of which lead to a patent application. Since 1979, more than 4,700 inventions have been accompanied and around 2,850 exploitation agreements concluded. Since the early 1990s, 170 spin-off companies have emerged from the Max Planck Society (MPG), the vast majority of which have been actively supported by Max Planck Innovation. Around 8,200 jobs have been created in these spin-offs since then. Since 1979, a total turnover from licenses and the sale of participations of more than 530 million euros has been achieved.

Novel cancer therapy enters clinical trials

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A phase 1/2 clinical trial for Q901 is scheduled to start in Q2 2022 with up to 70 patients with advanced solid tumors. The CDK7 inhibitor stops tumor growth and could represent a new therapy for several types of cancer. © momius/Adobestock

Qurient Co. Ltd., a clinical stage biotech company from Korea, received a clearence from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational new drug (IND) application for Q901, a small molecule oncology drug candidate targeting cyclin dependent kinase 7 (CDK7). The CDK7 project originally emerged from a scientific collaboration of the Lead Discovery Center GmbH with research groups from the Westfälische Wilhelms-University of Münster and the Max Planck Institute for Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg.

Takeover of terraplasma medical GmbH by the Viromed Group

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Cold plasma treatment reduces the use of antibiotics or cortisone and does not cause allergic side effects or pain. The plasma care® product line developed by terraplasma medical GmbH for this purpose, which uses cold atmospheric plasma in medical technology, is to be expanded further in the future.© terraplasma medical

The majority takeover of terraplasma medical GmbH by Viromed Plasma GmbH, a company of the Viromed Group, was announced today. Terraplasma GmbH, a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for extraterrestrial physics, will continue to be involved in terraplasma medical as a partner in order to continue contributing its expertise in the field of cold atmospheric plasmas in the future. With plasma care® terraplasma medical has developed a mobile medical product and launched it on the market, which can treat chronic and acute wounds with its plasma technology, which is based on research results of the MPI.

Technology transfer award for light microscopes with molecular resolution

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Only possible through successful innovation and transfer work: High-resolution microscopy makes what is happening in living cells accessible. The structure of the fibers of the cell skeleton (visible in blue) and the mitochondria (visible in yellow) are clearly recognizable. The microscope used and the dyes are being (further) developed at the same time at abberior. We would like to thank Francesca Bottanelli, FU Berlin, for providing the labeling construct. (Image: abberior Instruments GmbH)

The German Physical Society (DPG) has awarded the technology transfer prize to abberior Instruments GmbH, the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry and Max Planck Innovation GmbH. The three institutions receive the award for the entrepreneurial implementation of research results in the field of high-resolution light microscopy.

Highly potent, stable nanobodies stop Sars-CoV-2

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Two of the newly developed nanobodies (blue and magenta) bind to the receptor-binding domain (green) of the coronavirus spike protein (grey), thus preventing infection with Sars-CoV-2 and its variants. © MPI f. Biophysical Chemistry/ Thomas Güttler

Göttingen researchers have developed mini-antibodies that efficiently block the coronavirus Sars-CoV-2 and its dangerous new variants. These so-called nanobodies bind and neutralize the virus up to 1000 times better than previously developed mini-antibodies. In addition, the scientists optimized their mini-antibodies for stability and resistance to extreme heat. This unique combination makes them promising agents to treat Covid-19. Since nanobodies can be produced at low costs in large quantities, they could meet the global demand for Covid-19 therapeutics. The new nanobodies are currently in preparation for clinical trials. In this matter the team is also supported by Max Planck Innovation.

Cold plasma against chronic wounds

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plasma care® device for the treatment of chronic and acute wounds. © terraplasma medical

New hope is here for patients with open wounds: plasma care® products from the medical technology company terraplasma medical GmbH kill fungi and bacteria - including those that are largely resistant to antibiotics - in chronic but also acute wounds without damaging skin tissue. Following market approval, the mobile, battery-powered devices in "apron pocket format" which are suitable for inpatient and outpatient treatment are now being marketed by Viromed, and are therefore accessible for millions of patients. The devices' technology is based on the results of research by the Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics.

Targeted immune stimulation for more effective vaccines

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Langerhans cell which has taken up the Langerhans Cell Targeted Delivery System (marked in red). © Cutanos GmbH

In the future, it could be possible to stimulate the immune system with extremely high efficacy via the skin. Cutanos GmbH, a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) of Colloids and Interfaces, has developed a corresponding method for modulating immune cells in the skin. The LC-TDS technology makes it possible to specifically influence certain cells of the immune system and thus fight various infections and diseases. Founded in Vienna in January, the start-up has concluded an exclusive licence with the Max Planck Society (MPG) for this novel procedure and is now developing innovative immunotherapies based upon it.

EcoBus is picking up speed

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Shuttle bus from the newly founded EcoBus GmbH. © Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization

Transporting people more efficiently and in a more environmentally friendly way – this is the goal of EcoBus GmbH. The newly founded company wants to achieve this goal by cleverly bundling journey requests from individual passengers. The basis for this is provided by software that combines small shuttle buses with existing regular bus services to form an overall system – and offers passengers a door-to-door service for the cost of a local public transport ticket. Ecobus offers its services to all mobility providers and, in addition to allowing users to book trips throughout the local region, also intends to enable longer journeys in the future. The software, which was developed at the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization in Göttingen, Germany, in collaboration with local public transport stakeholders, is now being brought to market maturity and marketed by the spin-off company.

Realistic 3D models for fashion, film and healthcare

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© Meshcapade

The start-up company Meshcapade, a spin-off from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Intelligent Systems, automates creating realistic digital 3D bodies of people, also known as 3D avatars. Parametric 3D models like SMPL (Skinned Multi-Person Linear Model) are used to create 3D avatars of humans with accurate body shape and motion, using statistics and machine learning. Newer versions of the SMPL Model include SMPL-X (SMPL-eXpressive), which extends SMPL to provide hand motion and facial expressions, and SMIL (Skinned Multi-Infant Linear Model), which enables creation of realistic 3D avatars for infants. Another technology called SMPLify-X even allows generating avatars of people from a single image and produces detailed facial expressions, subtle hand gestures and realistic body movement and has great application potential in the fashion, gaming and film industry. This method can also be used together with SMIL Model to enable 3D movement detection of babies, and thus help with the early detection of developmental disorders. These and other innovations are based on proprietary research work of the MPI that has now been licensed by Meshcapade from Max Planck Innovation.

DARI Motion buys Max Planck spin-off The Captury

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The Captury GmbH has developed a new motion capture technology, which is used by numerous companies in the entertainment sector as well as in the sports and medical sector. The process of the spin-off company from the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Informatics can detect movements of people very quickly and realistically and can do without markers that are usually used. With the purchase of The Captury, DARI Motion Inc. secures the innovative technology basis on which their products for motion analysis in the sports and health sector are based. The Captury will continue to operate as an independent company, maintain and possibly expand its location in Saarbrücken, as well as market its products.

Delmic licenses Cryo Workflow Tools developed together with Max Planck Scientists

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Dr. Sebastian Tacke working at the modified Cryo-FIB Aquilos (ThermoFisher Scientific). A newly developed cryo Anti-contaminator (CERES Ice Shield) consists of a cryo shutter which protects the sample from ice contamination and thereby improves preparation of the sample by the ion-beam. Samples are transferred to cryo SEM by high vacuum cryo transfer (CERES Vitri-lock). © MPI for Molecular Physiology

Delmic Cryo B.V. and Max Planck Innovation GmbH have signed a licensing agreement for production and distribution of Cryo Workflow Tools invented and developed by the group of Prof. Dr. Stefan Raunser, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology in Dortmund (MPI). The Cryo Workflow Tools are aimed at reducing ice contamination, a major obstacle in the cryo electron tomography (cryo-ET) workflow. The new product with the name “Delmic CERES Ice Defence System” will be launched in March 2021. It will help increase accessibility of cryo electron tomography and simplify the acquisition of new knowledge in life sciences.

Yearbook 2020: Max Planck Innovation - the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society

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The very rare genetic disease “primary hyperoxaluria type 1” can be treated with Oxlumo®. © Alnylam

Max Planck Innovation evaluates an average of 125 inventions each year, around half of which lead to a patent application. Since 1979 around 4,580 inventions have been accompanied and around 2,770 exploitation agreements have been concluded. Since the beginning of the 1990s, 159 spin-offs have emerged from the Max Planck Society (MPG), the vast majority of which have been actively supported by Max Planck Innovation. Since then, around 6,500 jobs have been created in these spin-offs. Since 1979 a total turnover including the sale of company shares of around 509 million euros has been achieved.

STREM licenses new class of catalysts

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The use of nickel as a catalyst for the formation of chemical bonds is of great importance to the chemical industry - applications range from the production of fine chemicals to the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, insecticides and pesticides. For the production of nickel complexes, industry has relied for many decades on nickel cyclooctadiene Ni(COD)2, a component discovered some 60 years ago at the MPI für Kohlenforschung. Ni(COD)2 has since then proven to be a useful source, but requires extremely complex handling. The now licensed nickel complexes are more air and temperature stable than Ni(COD)2 and thus facilitate use in the laboratory.

50 years of technology transfer for the Max Planck Society

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A pioneer of technology transfer in Germany becomes 50 years old: Since Max Planck Innovation (MI) was founded in 1970 as a subsidiary of the Max Planck Society (MPG), it has been supporting Max Planck researchers to market their inventions. With the help of MI industrial partners and newly founded companies have transformed thousands of ideas and findings into products for technology, medicine and research.

Midbrain organoids for automated chemical screening and disease research

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Sometimes hundreds of thousands of potential therapeutics need to be tested in large-scale, fully automated experiments to identify a single effective drug. Most compounds do not work as desired, and some are even toxic. Since the development of the induced Pluripotent Stem (iPS) Cell technology in 2006, researchers have been able to produce stem cells from skin biopsies and blood samples. To approach physiological conditions in the laboratory, many researchers use iPS cell technology to produce three-dimensional, organ-like tissue aggregates (organoids). A team of scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster has now succeeded in using human cells to produce midbrain organoids in a fully automated process. Such organoids can be produced, grown, and analyzed in detail within a high-throughput workflow. The technology transfer company Max Planck Innovation has now licensed this process to the American biotech company StemoniX, Inc.

Cellink acquires MPG spin-off Scienion AG

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Scienion´s sciDROP PICO technology is a proprietary dispensing technology for microarray spotting which enables dispensing a liquid sample from 10 pL to 800 pL per drop. © Scienion

Cellink, the Swedish bioprinting company, has purchased Scienion AG, a spin-off of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Molecular Genetics based in Berlin. The purchase price was 80 million euros. The Max Planck Society (MPG) will now receive significant proceeds from the sale of its shares. Cellink intends to use the acquisition to drive future growth in industrial and clinical applications.

Launch of Start-up QLi5 Therapeutics

| Press release

The proteasome is a hollow cylinder consisting of 28 subunits, which are shown in color here in the ligament model. Inside the molecule are the active centers as binding sites for various inhibitors (white). The proteasome is degrading proteins that are no longer required and therefore plays an important role in cell regulation. Novel proteasome inhibitors with unique binding characteristics should create the basis for new therapies for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Illustration: Robert Huber © MPI of Biochemistry

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and the South Korean drug development specialist Qurient have founded QLi5 Therapeutics GmbH, together with the LDC’s partners, the Max Planck Society (MPG) and Nobel laureate Prof. Huber, emeritus director of the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. Dortmund based QLi5 Therapeutics licensed novel proteasome inhibitors from LDC and its partners. QLi5 Therapeutics will advance these towards preclinical and clinical development for the treatment of cancers and inflammatory and autoimmune disorders.

Drug candidate for cancer immunotherapy enters Phase I study

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® RFBSIP/Adobe Stock

The biotech company Qurient Co. Ltd. received a clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for its investigational new drug application (IND) for Q702. The technology for the orally available immuno-oncology therapeutic small molecule, targeting different tyrosine kinases, originated from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. Qurient plans to initiate a Phase 1 clinical study in patients with advanced solid tumors for whom standard of care therapies are currently ineffective.

Corona: vaccination without a needle?

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Christoph Rademacher’s (right) research group at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces. © MPI of Colloids and Interfaces

The Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam and the Technology Transfer Fund KHAN-I are developing a vaccine procedure for SARS-CoV2 together with the Lead Discovery Center in Dortmund. The researchers hope that within the next few years, they will be able to establish immunity to and protection from the virus using targeted vaccine transport via the skin.

New approach to curing HIV

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AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is a combination of symptoms that occur as a result of infection with HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and the associated destruction of the immune system. Patients suffer from life-threatening infections and tumors. ® nobeastsofierce/Adobe Stock

Hamburg-based researchers are seeking to improve future treatment of HIV patients using a new gene and cell method. Under the umbrella of Hamburg biotech startup Provirex, they are developing a new therapeutic approach that uses ‘gene scissors’ to cut out the blueprint of the AIDS pathogen HIV from the genome of the infected cell and eliminate the virus. For the first time, this could make it possible to remove the virus instead of keeping it at bay, as is common with previous forms of treatment. The startup will drive further development of Brec1 technology, particularly with regard to simplified and direct routes of administration. A Max Planck technology contributes to innovative basis for the HIV gene scissors.

Yearbook 2019: Max Planck Innovation – The technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society

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GIVLAARI™ (givosiran) product and packaging (picture: Business Wire)

Every year, Max Planck Innovation evaluates an average of 120 inventions, with roughly half of these leading to a patent application. Since 1979, approximately 4,450 inventions have been accompanied and around 2,680 exploitation contracts have been concluded. Since the early 90s, 156 newly founded companies (spin-offs) have emerged from the Max Planck Society. Max Planck Innovation advised the vast majority of them. Over 6,000 jobs have been created in these spin-offs since then. Since 1979, MI has achieved a total turnover from license revenues and divestments of around 490 million euros.

LDC-associated company Quench Bio Closes USD 50M Series A Financing to Advance First-in-Class Medicines against Severe Inflammatory Diseases

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Neutrophil granulocytes
Scientists at the MPI for Infection Biology have discovered a previously unknown mechanism: neutrophil granulocytes, cells that form part of the human immune system, can cast a sort of net to capture bacteria and kill them outside the cell. The red invaders – in this case Shigella bacteria – become entangled in the yellow nets. © Volker Brinkmann/MPI for Infection Biology

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), the Max Planck Society (MPG) and Max Planck Innovation (MI) announce that their associated company Quench Bio Inc., Cambridge, USA has raised USD 50 million in a Series A financing round. The financing was led by RA Capital Management (RA Capital) and included Abbvie Ventures as well as co-founders and seed investors Atlas Venture (Atlas) and Arix Bioscience plc (Arix).

Modified tuberculosis vaccine as a therapy for cancer of the bladder

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Bacteria of the attenuated tuberculosis vaccine strain (BCG) inside a macrophage, a scavenger of the immune system. Source: MPI for Infection Biology - CF Microscopy / Volker Brinkmann

The human immune system can recognize and eliminate not only germs but also cancer cells. This is why treatments with weakened germs can help the immune system in its fight against cancer. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Berlin have genetically modified the tuberculosis vaccine BCG in a way that it stimulates the immune system more specifically. Consequently, the new vaccine offers much greater protection against tuberculosis. A clinical study with patients suffering from cancer of the bladder has now shown that a therapy with VPM1002 could successfully prevent the recurrence of tumours in almost half of the patients who had not responded previously to the BCG therapy. The results could lead to the early approval of the drug for the treatment of cancer of the bladder so that as many patients as possible can profit from this quickly.

Tacalyx Raises €7 Million in Seed Funding to Generate First in Class Anti-TACA Antibodies for Cancer Treatment

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® fotoliaxrender / Adobe Stock

Tacalyx, a biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel anti-TACA (Tumor Associated Carbohydrate Antigens) cancer therapies, today announced that it has successfully secured €7 million in seed funding. The funding round involves a syndicate of leading European life science and technology investors co-led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund and Kurma Partners and joined by Idinvest Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), coparion, and Creathor Ventures.

Investment Plan for Europe – Successful launch of Tech Transfer Fund “KHAN-I”

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© Gorodenkoff / Adobe Stock

Khanu Management GmbH (Khanu), a drug discovery focused fund management team, announces the successful launch of KHAN Technology Transfer Fund I GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-I), based in Dortmund, Germany.

Max Planck Society grants license for new drug candidates

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® Simone van der Koelen

Modag further develops drugs for multi-system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease. The protein alpha-synuclein is deposited in the brain of patients with Parkinson’s disease or multi-system atrophy at the onset of the disease. Oligomeric deposits have a particularly toxic effect on nerve cells. With a new patent for chemically modified drug candidates, Modag has now agreed upon another exclusive license with Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society. The company is now testing the active ingredient anle138b for the treatment of multi-system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease. On the basis of the licensed technology, Modag is able to develop next-generation-molecules with pharmacological characteristics, which allow for alternative dose regimens and forms of application. The substances were developed by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen together with the University in Munich.

Ten years of substance research

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Analytical diligence: Filled in sample vials, potential drug candidates undergo extensive tests (© LDC)

In 2008, the Max Planck Society launched the Lead Discovery Center (LDC) in Dortmund. The organization, which is now independent, picks up on the results of basic research and uses them to develop substances that can then be tested by license or cooperative partners in clinical studies with the aim of establishing whether they are suitable for use in drugs. Ten years after its establishment, the LDC can look back on some impressive results: one of its research projects has managed to make the leap to the clinical stage and is currently being tested in a phase 1b study; two others will be following soon. In all, the LDC has filed 23 patent applications and granted licenses to cooperative partners for research into 15 more substances.

Themis Bioscience Announces Exclusive Licensing Agreement with Max Planck Innovation to Develop and Commercialize Oncolytic Virotherapies

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Viruses can be useful aides in cancer therapy since they are able to infect and kill tumor cells. Themis Bioscience will now develop, manufacture and commercialize therapies based on an oncolytic measles virus platform. (© guerrieroale – Fotolia)

Themis announced today that it has entered into a license agreement with Max Planck Innovation GmbH, the technology transfer agency of the Max Planck Society in Germany, granting it exclusive worldwide license to develop, manufacture and commercialize therapies based on an oncolytic measles virus platform that was jointly developed by the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Alnylam´s Worldwide First RNAi Medication is based on Max Planck Technology

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RNAi Therapeutic for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis in adults (© Alnylam)

Alnylam Announces First-Ever FDA Approval of an RNAi Therapeutic, ONPATTRO™ (patisiran) for the Treatment of the Polyneuropathy of Hereditary Transthyretin-Mediated Amyloidosis in Adults Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced that the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved ONPATTRO™ (patisiran) lipid complex injection, a first-of-its-kind RNA interference (RNAi) therapeutic, for the treatment of the polyneuropathy of hereditary transthyretin-mediated (hATTR) amyloidosis in adults. ONPATTRO is the first and only FDA-approved treatment for this indication. The therapy is, among others, based on patented research findings from the Max Planck Society, which have exclusively been licensed to Alnylam by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation. In addition to polyneuropathy, hATTR amyloidosis can lead to other significant disabilities including decreased ambulation with the loss of the ability to walk unaided, a reduced quality of life, and a decline in cardiac functioning. In the largest controlled study of hATTR amyloidosis, ONPATTRO was shown to improve polyneuropathy –with significant benefit on the neurological components of the disease in a majority of patients – and to improve a composite quality of life measure, reduce autonomic symptoms, and improve activities of daily living.

BinNova licenses technology to produce ultra-thin metal fibers with unique material properties

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Ultra-thin gold fibers with a thickness of less than 10 microns manufactured with the innovative Micro Metal Fiber Technology (© BinNova Metal Fiber Technology GmbH)

The BinNova Metal Fiber Technology GmbH company has licensed a technology from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, which makes it possible to produce micro-metal fibers that are extremely fine and, at the same time, extremely robust. Following the successful development of the research concept and a research facility by the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, the company will now begin developing a production facility and will very soon commence distribution of the innovative metal fibers and non-wovens.

IBI licenses Silibinin for the use in Cushing´s Disease

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The seeds of the milk thistle (Silybum marianum) contain Silibinin, a compound, which could be used against Morbus Cushing. The annual or biennial weed grows along waysides, dumps and pastures around the Mediterranean (© Curtis Clark – Wikipedia)

The pharmaceutical company IBI (Istituto Biochimico Italiano Giovanni Lorenzini SpA) obtained a license from Max Planck Innovation for the use of Silibinin in the treatment of Cushing´s disease. Based on research findings from the Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry IBI aims to develop a non-invasive treatment option replacing conventional methods like pituitary surgery. IBI is now planning GLP preclinical trials and initiates orphan drug application.

Max Planck Society, Lead Discovery Center and Grünenthal enter into a research collaboration on Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A (CMT1A)

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© science photo - Fotolia

Grünenthal, Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max-Planck Innovation and the Max Planck Institute of Experimental Medicine (MPI-EM) have entered into a research collaboration to develop novel therapies for patients suffering from Charcot-Marie-Tooth 1A (CMT1A), an inherited neurological disorder. The collaboration combines the disease proficiency of MPI-EM, the drug discovery expertise of LDC and Grünenthal’s competency in drug discovery and development as well as pain management. The project’s scientific foundation was laid at MPI-EM by Michael Sereda, Klaus-Armin Nave and Moritz Rossner.

European Inventor Award for fast MRI in medical diagnostics: Jens Frahm wins in the category Research

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Thanks to Jens Frahm and his team, MRI scans can today be performed relatively quickly (© Frank Vinken)

With the European Inventor Award 2018, the European Patent Office (EPO) honored Jens Frahm of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen for his ground-breaking advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In two steps, the physicist and his team succeeded in speeding up MRI by a factor of up to 10,000 and established it in clinical practice.

ENVIRAL® acquires licence for smart pigments for environmentally friendly, sustainable anticorrosion coatings

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Rost verursacht jedes Jahr weltweit Kosten in Milliardenhöhe © Kevin Clark

The company ENVIRAL® Oberflächenveredelung GmbH has licensed a corrosion protection technology from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces based on recent developments in the field of nanotechnology. The new smart pigments for use in anticorrosion coatings have “self-healing” properties and increase the protective effect of coatings while improving their environmental compatibility. They are based on micro- and nanovessels that are filled with organic corrosion inhibitors and encapsulated in a polyelectrolyte shell. The tiny vessels can be added to paints without weakening the physical properties of the anticorrosion coating. Local pH changes due to the onset of corrosion causes the polyelectrolyte shell to swell and release the corrosion-inhibiting agents from the tiny vessels, thus nipping the corrosion reaction in the bud.

Max Planck Society grants license for protein analysis technique

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The ProteoPlex MacroDSF analyzer for structural analysis of macromolecular complexes. © ProteoPlex

ProteoPlex has exclusively licensed a technology from the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen and has launched the MacroDSF, an instrument aimed at helping research institutions, pharmaceutical companies and contract research organisations solve problems in structural biology. In addition, ProteoPlex has also gained access to additional technologies, including a novel protein purification process and an algorithm for determining the optimum stability parameters for macromolecular proteins.

Licence for better text comprehension

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Ambiverse has developed an intelligent software solution for the automatic and accurate detection and resolution of ambiguous words and phrases in texts. © Headwayio

Based on research by the Max Planck Institute for Informatics, Ambiverse has developed a software application that can understand and analyze large volumes of text. The technology means that homonyms can be correctly interpreted, opening up corporate access to more relevant information on the Internet and improving access to information in their own data inventories.

Aircloak closes seed investment

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The technology of Aircloak makes it possible to evaluate data from users and customers in accordance with data protection, since no conclusions can be drawn on individuals. © Charles Deluvio

Aircloak, a leader in the field of privacy enhancing technology received a $1.3M equity investment from Speedinvest and Constantia New Business with existing shareholders Max Planck Innovation and Elephant & Castle Capital joining the round. The “Aircloak Insights” solution, which allows companies worldwide to have GDPR compliance at a click, has been approved by the independent French data protection authority, CNIL, for all data types and use cases. Aircloak was founded in 2014 to commercialize and build on privacy protection research done at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems.

BORN2GROW supports biotech start-up Venneos with its further growth

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The CAN-Q is a versatile analysis platform with a new readout based on electrical cell properties (CAN-Spectroscopy). © Venneos

Venture capital fund BORN2GROW has invested in Stuttgart-based Venneos GmbH, a spin-off from Max Planck Society, in the current round of series A financing. The start-up is successfully developing and marketing the CAN-Q – a silicon chip-based imaging system for analysing biological cells.

Daiichi Sankyo, Max Planck Innovation and Lead Discovery Center Announce Cancer Research Collaboration

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Daiichi Sankyo, Max Planck Innovation GmbH and the Lead Discovery Center GmbH have signed an agreement providing Daiichi Sankyo with the option to receive the exclusive rights to a new lead compound for the treatment of cancer to be discovered and developed at the Lead Discovery Center.

FluxPharm licenses process for the cost-effective production of active pharmaceutical ingredients

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The new process licensed by us to Fluxpharm can cut drug production costs by 25 percent or more. © Freestocks

The company FluxPharm has acquired a licence for a chemical process developed at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam. Using flow chemistry technology, the researchers at the Institute can now produce a variety of standard ingredients with much greater efficiency and more cost-effectively than with conventional methods. FluxPharm now intends to develop the technology and make it commercially available. The development of this process will boost the future production of Efavirenz, an active pharmaceutical ingredient used in the treatment of HIV. This in turn will mean that greater numbers of people in poor countries will have access to medications. The relevant negotiations with drug-producing companies are already at an advanced stage.

terraplasma medical successfully completes financing

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Multi-resistant germs pose major challenges for medicine. terraplasma medical develops a product for the treatment of chronic and acute wounds with cold plasma (© Wikimedia: Eric Erbe, Christopher Pooley)

The Munich-based medical technology company terraplasma medical GmbH successfully completed the first round of major financing (seed). The raised money, a seven-figure Euro amount, will be used to develop plasma care and establish the market approval. This mobile, battery-powered medical device for in- and outpatient treatment of chronic and acute wounds using cold plasma, which destroys fungi and even multi-resistant bacteria, is based on research of the Max Planck Institute for extraterrestrial Physics.

Cardior Pharmaceuticals raises €15 million

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In heart failure, the heart is unable to deliver the amount of blood needed by the body without increasing pressure in the atria. © Rawpixwl

Cardior Pharmaceuticals today announced the completion of a €15 million series A financing round. Cardior is pioneering its proprietary RNA technology to revolutionize predicting and treating heart failure. The main technology is based on research from the Medical School Hannover (MHH) in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for biophysical chemistry in Göttingen, amongst others.

Teaching Robots to see what they do

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Thanks to a new algorithm, Apollo constantly adjusts its movements to current requirements. © Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems / N. Ratliff

The technology transfer organisation of the Max Planck Society has come to an agreement with the US start-up company Lula Robotics to use a technology for “continuous motion optimization and control”. Based on the technique from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen Lula Robotics is developing robots, which can act independently in complex environments. The goal is to create the bedrock for artificial aides supporting people in everyday life in the future.

Life science technologies from the Max Planck Society at BioVaria

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© Ascenion

On 22 and 23 May, Max Planck Innovation will present two promising inventions at the BioVaria technology fair in Munich, one of which is a new therapy based on adult stem cells that makes continuous skin regeneration and the sustainable growth of new hair possible. An innovative diagnostic approach allows early non-invasive detection of lung cancer by means of a simple breath test. The technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society is looking for industrial partners at the fair to develop its patented technologies to market maturity.

PreOmics granted licence for proteomics technique

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The iST kit from PreOmics accelerates the preparation of samples for mass spectrometry. © PreOmics

The start-up company PreOmics licenses several technologies of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried for the preparation of samples for proteomic research through Max Planck Innovation. In particular, an innovative sample preparation kit facilitates the use of mass spectrometry for research into proteins. In the future this could open up new opportunities in pharmaceutical development and diagnostics.

FLASH technology - Jens Frahm inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Research

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Thanks to the FLASH technology invented by Prof. Jens Frahm, MRI is today the most important imaging procedure in clinical diagnostics and is used worldwide. With FLASH 2 even real-time MRI movies are the beating (© MPI for biophysical chemistry)

The physicist Jens Frahm, head of Biomedizinische NMR Forschungs GmbH at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen, has been inducted into the Hall of Fame of German Research. With this induction, ‘manager magazin’ is honouring the researcher for his pioneering further developments of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The FLASH technology he invented has made MRI today’s most important imaging method in clinical diagnostics and one which is used around the globe. An extension, which Frahm developed only recently, is now even enabling real-time recordings from the inside of the body, and is currently being tested for clinical use.

Vaxxilon named "Science Start-Up of the Year 2016"

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Tom Monroe (right), Managing Director of Vaxxilon, with Stefan von Holtzbrink, Chairman of the Jury, at the Science Start-up of the Year 2016 © Falling Walls Venture

Under the motto "Building bridges, transcending borders", 23 start-up companies presented their research projects at the Falling Walls Venture science competition on 8 November in Berlin. The company nominated by Max Planck Innovation, Vaxxilon, emerged as the winner and was proclaimed the "Science Start-Up of the Year 2016" for its development of a carbohydrate-based agent. The new agent should make vaccinations against bacterial infections cheaper in the future and thereby also improve access to vaccines in poorer countries.

License agreement: Photoswitch Biosciences develops drug discovery technology using optogenetics

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© whitehoune - Fotolia.com

Light-sensitive proteins discovered by Max Planck scientists are changing the way scientists study how new drug candidates affect critical properties of heart and nerve cells. Researchers can incorporate light-sensitive channelrhodopsin proteins into model cells grown in miniature test tube arrays. Using an instrument developed by Photoswitch Biosciences Incorporated, these light-sensitive ion channels can then be used to control the function of other ion channels of interest. Monitoring tiny electrical changes in the cells allows researchers to screen chemical libraries for new drug candidates or to evaluate the safety of new drugs for use in humans.

Abberior Instruments Licenses Next Generation STED Technology

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Figure 1: Protected STED microscopy provides images with unprecedented contrast and dynamic range. (Courtesy of MPI for Biophysical Chemistry.)

STED microscopy is a Nobel Prize awarded technology that allows to create highly resolved fluorescence images far below the diffraction limit. Earlier this year, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have proposed and demonstrated their new Protected STED concept which enhances the image contrast and reduces photobleaching in STED microscopy by up to an order of magnitude. It is expected that their invention will particularly boost life-cell and medical applications of STED microscopy.

Novel approach for the treatment of schizophrenia

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Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that greatly affects the personality of the sufferer, their behavior, thinking and perception of the world. ©TeamDaf / Adobe stock

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), Max Planck Innovation GmbH and Boehringer Ingelheim International GmbH have signed an agreement providing Boehringer Ingelheim with the option to receive the exclusive rights to a new lead compound for the treatment of schizophrenia to be discovered and developed at the LDC.

Max Planck Innovation joins TechnologieAllianz

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© TechnologieAllianz

Max Planck Innovation together with six other new members reinforces the nationwide Verband für Wissens- und Technologietransfer (Federation for the Transfer of Knowledge and Technology) from German universities and research facilities. The country's largest network for the exploitation of research results from the German scientific community offers industry access to Germany´s largest pool of patented high technology.

Venneos raises seed round of 1 million euros

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© Venneos

Venneos GmbH is based in Stuttgart and develops a novel imaging system for the analysis of biological cells. A consortium of business angels and family offices, along with the High-Tech Gründerfonds and Max Planck Society invest in the company to develop a market-ready product and prepare the market entry of the first product generation.

The vaccines company

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© Peter Seeberger (David Ausserhofer/MPIKG)

Sugar does not just make vaccines sweet. Some vaccines owe their effect to carbohydrates, to which sugar belongs. Vaxxilon, a company jointly founded by the Max Planck Society and the Swiss firm Actelion Ltd, will carry out research and development of these carbohydrate-based vaccines and bring them to market. The synthetic vaccines will primarily provide protection against bacterial infections. With a view to launching them on the market, Vaxxilon has acquired the exclusive rights to various preclinical vaccine candidates and methods from Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, the Max Planck Society’s technology transfer company. The scientific basis for Vaxxilon’s business model was established by a team of scientists headed by Peter Seeberger, Director at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam/Golm.

Licence Agreement on Novel Anti-cancer Compound

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Laboratoy at Lead Discovery Center (© LDC)

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a renowned translational drug discovery organization established by Max Planck Innovation, and Qurient Co., Ltd have signed a licence deal providing Qurient with exclusive worldwide rights to a series of highly-selective CDK7 inhibitors discovered at the LDC for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and viral infections. The partners will closely collaborate to advance the approach from the validated lead stage into clinical development. Upon successful proof-of-concept in humans they will jointly identify a suitable partner for follow-on licensing.

IT incubator to commercialize research results of computer science in Saarbrücken

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© IT Inkubator

The ideas and inventions arising from research projects of the joint venture between Max Planck Society and Saarland University’s computer science department will in future to be further developed on campus and then marketed for application. Scientists can either set up their own companies or develop the technology to the stage where established businesses can purchase these licenses. In support of these scientists, Max Planck Society and Saarland University co-founded the IT Inkubator GmbH to create structures, which inventors and young entrepreneurs need in order to bring new technologies to market.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014 for Max Planck researcher Stefan Hell

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Prof. Dr. Stefan W. Hell (© MPI for biophysical chemistry)

Stefan W. Hell, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He shares the prize with Eric Betzig and William E. Moerner.

Profitable exit: KonTEM trade sale to FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC)

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The electron microscopic image of a mouse retina demonstrates that using the KonTEM phase contrast system (right) makes previously invisible structures visible.

KonTEM GmbH, an HTGF-financed spin-off of the Max Planck Society and the research centre caesar, was taken over by FEI Company on a share deal basis. Thus the phase contrast technology developed by KonTEM is absorbed in the portfolio of a globally operating market leader in the field of high-performance microscopy workflow solutions.

LDC Forms Early Drug Discovery Alliance with Daiichi Sankyo

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Researcher at the LDC (© LDC)

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC), a renowned translational research organization, and Daiichi Sankyo Co., Ltd. (hereafter, Daiichi Sankyo), Japan, have teamed up to discover new medicines for the treatment of disease with high unmet medical needs. The partners will focus on targeted disease areas and novel mechanisms of strategic interest to Daiichi Sankyo, including oncology, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.

New 3D-image modelling technology enables anyone to have a 3D digital doppelgänger

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© Bodylabs

Body Labs, Inc., a company based in New York City, has developed the world's most advanced technology for creating 3D digital avatars in a fully automated way. The technology, based on nearly a decade of research from Brown University and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, makes it possible to easily create highly accurate and realistic avatars that can mimic the entire range of human motion. This capability opens up new possibilities for clothing and product design, 3D printing for specialty equipment and apparel, gaming, animation and online apparel sales.

LMU / MPG spin-off fights neurodegenerative diseases

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Image: If Parkinson's mice received the active ingredient anle138b, significantly fewer synuclein deposits (colored brown) formed than in placebo-treated control animals. (Photo: Giese, LMU Munich)

Neurodegenerative diseases are diseases of the nervous system that often progress slowly and are characterized by a loss of mental and physical abilities. The deposition of disease-relevant accumulations of protein in the brain plays an important role in the pathogenesis of many neurodegenerative diseases. Scientists at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU) and the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen have successfully developed a drug candidate that can significantly reduce the formation of these deposits. In the joint spin-off company MODAG GmbH the active substance anle138b is now to be developed up to market maturity to stop diseases such Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Creutzfeld-Jakob in the future. To this effect, MODAG successfully concluded its first round of financing with up to EUR 8 million in participation with the Bayerische Patentallianz GmbH representing the two research institutions LMU and Max Planck Society (MPG).

 

Anti-Cancer Program Originating from LDC Reaches Clinical Trials

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© Gorodenkoff - Fotolia

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) announces today that an innovative kinase inhibitor program licensed to Bayer Pharma AG, Germany (Bayer) in 2011, has been progressed to clinical trials. By 2012, Bayer had successfully advanced a lead compound from the program to the preclinical development stage. This fall, Bayer enrolled the first participant into a Phase I study to determine the safety, tolerability and pharmacokinetic profile in patients with advanced cancer.

 

Lead Discovery Center GmbH Announces Five-year Strategic Partnership with Merck Serono

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© Gorodenkoff - Fotolia

Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) a renowned translational research organization, today announced a five-year strategic partnership with Merck Serono, Darmstadt, Germany, the biopharmaceutical division of Merck. This collaboration integrates the expertise and resources of both organizations to expedite the discovery of promising lead structures and to optimize the development of therapeutic candidates in areas of high unmet medical need.

Dolby Licenses Max Planck Imaging Technology

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© Patrick Daxenbichler - Fotolia

Dolby Laboratories, a world leader in audio and imaging technologies, has licensed an innovative imaging patent portfolio from the Max Planck Institute for Informatics – The technology relates to High Dynamic Range (HDR) imaging and increases the ability of images to show real world light intensities and color levels, while also reducing storage requirements. The technology provides an innovative design which makes it possible to achieve high picture quality from HDR-capable displays, while also providing backward compatibility with existing low-dynamic range (LDR) displays. Dolby is now aiming to develop the technology for use with next generation displays.

 

Serum Institute of India acquires rights to German TB vaccine – Researchers continue to refine classic TB vaccine

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The picture shows bacteria of the attenuated tuberculosis vaccine strain (BCG) inside a macrophage, a scavenger cell of the immune system. Courtesy: MPI for Infection Biology - CF Microscopy / Volker Brinkmann

Hopes are high for a new and improved tuberculosis vaccine: Serum Institute of India is planning on taking a promising vaccine - originally developed in Germany - and introducing it into the clinical setting. Studies have shown that the new vaccine is more effective and better tolerated than currently available options. By signing a contract with the Hannover-based Vakzine Projekt Management GmbH (VPM), Serum, one of the World’s leading vaccine manufacturers, has effectively secured the license to the various patents and technologies related to the new vaccine.

Licencing agreement for high-resolution images in medical research

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© Max-Planck-Gesellschaft

STED microscopy creates high-resolution images far below the diffraction limit of visible light. However, the technique’s engineering aspects remain comparatively complex, which impedes its dissemination and use. A technology called EASYDOnut, developed by the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry and the German Cancer Research Center, simplifies the optical system considerably and has now been licenced by spin-off Abberior GmbH. EASYDOnut precisely guides the laser beams of the STED microscope onto the sample being investigated by means of a single optical element. This innovation can encourage the spread of STED microscopy and benefit medical research. STED microscopy permits significant information to be obtained, even from living human cells.

 

MPI of Biochemistry, LDC and Qurient Close License Deal on a New Compound against Metastatic and Drug-resistant Cancers

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© kaninstudio - Fotolia

The Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB), the Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and Qurient Co., Ltd have entered into a license agreement providing Qurient with world-wide, exclusive rights to a new kinase inhibitor for the treatment of metastatic cancer.

LDC forms Drug Discovery alliance with AstraZeneca

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© totojang1977 - Fotolia

The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) and AstraZeneca have joined forces to discover new medicines for the treatment of human diseases with high unmet medical need. Through a two-year collaboration, AstraZeneca will add 250,000 high-quality compounds to LDC’s internal screening collection to pursue projects in the areas of oncology, neuroscience, respiratory and inflammation, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal and infection research.

 

MPG Spin-off DRDx Concludes First Round of Financing with Support from QIAGEN and High-Tech Gründerfonds

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© Carmen Steiner - Fotolia

The Hennigsdorf firm Drug Response Dx GmbH (DRDx GmbH) successfully concluded its first round of financing with High-Tech Gründerfonds and QIAGEN. The investment will serve to develop a biomarker test kit for rheumatoid arthritis treatment guidance with so-called TNF-alpha inhibitors. The test is secured by a unique patent platform exclusively in-licensed by the Max Planck Society (MPG).

 

Combination of two pharmaceuticals proves effective in the treatment of multiple sclerosis

| Press release

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Joint Press Release of the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Max Planck Research Unit for Enzymology of Protein Folding

Anti-Cancer Project Originating from LDC Reaches Next Milestone

| Press release

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The Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC) announces today that an innovative kinase inhibitor program licensed to Bayer Pharma AG, Germany (Bayer) last year, has reached an important transition milestone. Bayer has successfully advanced this kinase inhibitor program into pre-clinical development with the goal of eventually advancing this candidate into oncology clinical development. Protein kinases are key components of cellular signaling pathways that control tumor cell growth, metabolism and metastasis. They have therefore become prime targets for oncology drug discovery and clinical development.

TandemLaunch licenses new 3D technology

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Max Planck Innovation, the technology transfer organization of the Max Planck Society together with the Patent Marketing Agency of Saarland Universities have licensed a new method for processing digital stereo image content to TandemLaunch Technologies, a Canada based company, which develops multimedia inventions into consumer technologies. The new “Backward-compatible Stereo 3D” technology makes it possible to watch movies in 3D, when wearing glasses, and 2D without glasses at the same time.

CARE will come

| Press release

Prof. Dr. Hans Schöler (© MPI Münster / J. Müller-Keuker)

Professor Hans Schöler, Director of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Molecular Biomedicine in Münster, welcomes the clear commitment to CARE made by the state government of North-Rhine Westphalia: “We are delighted to report that a firm agreement has been reached on the development of this important institute.” The proposed translational research centre will jointly further develop insights from basic research together with the business community so that they can provide a real benefit for patients in the form of new treatment and diagnostic processes. CARE was initiated by the MPI in Münster and Max Planck Innovation, the Max Planck Society’s technology transfer organisation.

 

Incubation: Gentle stimuli for pain relief

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Life Science Inkubator promotes new research team --- Scientists from the Life Science Inkubator (LSI) in Bonn, which was established by the technology transfer organisation Max Planck Innovation with the aim of facilitating spin-offs in the field of the life sciences, want to explore new directions in the area of pain therapy. The aim is to suppress pain using weak electric and mechanical stimuli. The stimulation will be generated using special bandages with integrated high-tech chips. Preliminary studies indicate that this process is particularly suited to the alleviation of chronic pain.

High-Tech Gründerfonds invests in KonTEM GmbH

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Joint press release of High-Tech Gründerfonds, Max-Planck-Innovation GmbH, Center of advanced european studies and research (caesar) and KonTEM GmbH --- KonTEM GmbH, a spin-off company of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG) and the Center of advanced european studies and research (caesar), has developed an innovative phase contrast system for transmission electron microscopes (TEM). The system combines enhanced image contrast with high object resolution and thus opens up new possibilities for the analysis of biological specimen. With its investment, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) supports the operational ramp-up and growth of the young company and emphasizes the high potential of this innovative technology.