Winners 2015
Contact persons
Dr. Petra Burgstaller
Co-Lead Venture Creation & MAxL
Christina Enke-Stolle
Co-Lead Venture Creation & MAxL
Those were the 2015 m4 Award winners!
Prof. Dr. Dr. Andreas Beilhack
Prof. Dr. Harald Wajant
University Hospital Würzburg
TR-X – A Molecular Switch for Regulating the Immune Response
Tumor-associated regulatory T cells (Tregs) suppress the function of the immune system. As a result, many cancer cells evade the body’s own defenses. Prof. Andresas Beilhack and Prof. Harald Wajant are working on the development of drugs that block these Tregs. The goal is to reactivate the patient’s immune system so it can fight the tumor. The blocking or destruction of the Tregs is to be achieved using monoclonal antibodies that target a receptor critical to Treg function.
Dr. Nadja Fenn
Prof. Karl-Peter Hopfner
Gene Center of LMU Munich
Prof. Marion Subklewe
University of Munich Medical Center
A new antibody derivative that simultaneously targets tumor cells and locally inhibits immune checkpoints
The immune system recognizes the body’s own cells—which must not be attacked—by molecules generally referred to as “markers of self.” Many cancer cells hide from the immune system by expressing large numbers of these “markers of self” on their surface. The approach taken by Dr. Fenn, Prof. Hopfner, and Prof. Subklewe is to neutralize this camouflage and activate the patient’s immune system. To this end, they are developing an artificial antibody that specifically recognizes cancer cells, mobilizes immune cells, and simultaneously lifts the suppression of the immune system.
PD Dr. Felix Hausch
Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry, Munich
Procera Pharmaceuticals - first-in-class therapies for endocrine disorders
Obesity is a serious disease with numerous associated complications, currently affecting 175 million people. Current drug treatment options result in only minimal weight loss and often have severe side effects. Dr. Felix Hausch and his colleagues are researching a new class of drugs known as selective FKBP51 inhibitors. These compounds can be taken orally and act locally in muscle and adipose tissue. Since they do not cross the blood-brain barrier, no serious side effects are expected. The grant will be used to optimize the compound and collect extensive preclinical data.
Michael Hudecek, M.D.
University Hospital Würzburg
Personalized Cancer Immunotherapy with Next-Generation UltraModularCARTM T Cells
One challenge in cancer therapy is that cancer cells are (virtually) “invisible” to the patient’s immune system and are not attacked. CAR stands for chimeric antigen receptor, a molecule composed of various building blocks that can bind to cancer cells like a sensor. A new approach to cancer therapy involves “equipping” the patient’s immune cells—known as T cells—with CARs so that they can recognize and destroy cancer cells. Dr. Michael Hudecek is working on a new generation of CAR T cells that have a stronger antitumor effect while also preventing an excessive immune response.
Dr. Nikola Müller
Martin Preusse
Prof. Dr. Dr. Fabian Theis
Helmholtz Munich, German Research Center for Health and the Environment
KNOWING - Turning Big Data into Personalized Therapies
The life sciences are confronted with a massive volume of data that is also characterized by great diversity. To develop targeted drugs, very diverse types of data must be linked—for example, data on genes, metabolism, and tissue analyses. Dr. Nikola Müller’s team is working on software that stores this flood of data, automatically links it, and discovers new biomarkers and active compounds. The goal is to harness this rapidly growing body of knowledge and accelerate drug development.