MPG spin-off GlycoUniverse wins the Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024
The Glyconeer® V3.1 enables the production of complex sugars for drug development
In the biotech industry, complex sugars (carbohydrate chains) are crucial for the work of vaccine diagnostics and active ingredient companies, but their synthesis is lengthy and expensive. With the Glyconeer®, GlycoUniverse manages to improve the production of sugars on several levels: through automated synthesis, complex sugars can be produced in less than a day. The hurdle to wider use of the automatic sugar synthesizer has so far been the high price. The revised new Glyconeer® V3.1 is not only much faster, smaller and much easier to use, but also significantly cheaper than the previous model. The greatly increased production pace leads to a reduction in material consumption and a smaller CO₂ footprint. This is also because the device can recover excess material. The software also allows the process to be recorded and then made reproducible with fewer errors.
Dr. Kim Le Mai Hoang, Managing Director of GlycoUniverse, is pleased about the award after years of development: “With the development of the Glyconeer® 3.1, we have managed to provide the biotech industry with a device that produces complex carbohydrate chains at a significantly lower price this was previously possible. The innovation award underlines the role our technology can play in the future.”
The automatic sugar synthesizer is essential for the field of glycobiotechnology
The new Glyconeer® 3.1 is the product of a multi-year collaboration between GlycoUniverse and the MPIKG in Potsdam, the company holds an exclusive license for several patent families that result from it. The underlying technology is based on many years of research by the scientific team led by Prof. Peter H. Seeberger, director at the MPIKG since 2008, and co-founder of GlycoUniverse.
The Glyconeer® 3.1 has been produced in collaboration with a manufacturer in Potsdam since 2022 and is essential for an entire division of glycobiotechnology, which is also important for Berlin and Brandenburg in the Chemistry Cluster and the Health Cluster. Based on the new generation of devices, GlycoUniverse can now offer services and products for pharmaceutical companies. Sales are currently developing very dynamically.
The Brandenburg Innovation Award was presented to the winners by the Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Energy Prof. Dr.-Ing Jörg Steinbach at the Leibniz Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Bioeconomy e.V. (Potsdam) as part of the Cross Cluster Conference - Sustainable Production 2024.
Dr. Mareike Göritz, Senior Patent and License Manager at Max Planck Innovation on the award ceremony: “Congratulations to GlycoUniverse on winning the Brandenburg Innovation Award 2024, the commitment and expertise of the team around Dr. Kim Le Mai Hoang are exemplary! This award is impressive evidence of the outstanding research and innovative strength that has its origins in the Institutes of the Max Planck Society. The Glyconeer® 3.1 sugar synthesizer has the potential to make a groundbreaking contribution to further developments in the field of glycobiotechnology.
About the Brandenburg Innovation Award
The Brandenburg Innovation Prize is awarded by the Minister for Economic Affairs, Labor and Energy of the State of Brandenburg for outstanding, future-oriented and sustainable innovations, especially to small and medium-sized companies. The prize is endowed with a total of 30,000 euros. Up to three prizes can be awarded, as well as a special prize for micro-enterprises. The innovation is evaluated according to the level of innovation, market readiness, value creation in Brandenburg
and their sustainability.
www.brandenburger-innovationspreis.de
About Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces
Tiny apatite crystals in bones, vesicles formed out of membranes, pores in membranes for fuel cells and microcapsules as vehicles for medical drugs – all these are structures that are larger than an atom, yet too small to be seen with the naked eye. These are the kinds of nanostructures and microstructures that scientists at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces examine and create. The structures are often colloids – tiny particles in a different medium – or interfaces between two materials. Many of the structures can be found in nature. The scientists at the Potsdam-based Institute endeavour to understand how they are composed and how they work in order to imitate their behaviour in new materials or in vaccines, for example. Understanding the function of these structures can also help to identify the causes of certain diseases that occur when the folding of membranes or the transport of materials in cells fails to work properly.
www.mpikg.mpg.de
About Max Planck Innovation
Max Planck Innovation is responsible for the technology transfer of the Max Planck Society and, as such, the link between industry and basic research. With our interdisciplinary team we advise and support scientists of the Max Planck Institutes in evaluating their inventions, filing patents and founding companies. We offer industry a unique access to the innovations of the Max Planck Institutes. Thus, we perform an important task: the transfer of basic research results into products, which contribute to the economic and social progress.
More information under: www.max-planck-innovation.com.
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