Press releases

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.