Winners 2021
Contact persons
Dr. Petra Burgstaller
Co-Lead Venture Creation & MAxL
Christina Enke-Stolle
Co-Lead Venture Creation & MAxL
Those were the 2021 m4 Award winners!
Prof. Dr. Heiko Lickert
Dr. Nikolas Uez
Helmholtz Munich
BetaRegeneration - Targeting ß-cell protection and regeneration for diabetes remission
Diabetes is a widespread disease that continues to be treated symptomatically. A cure has not yet been found. The team led by Prof. Heiko Lickert is developing a monoclonal antibody against an insulin-inhibiting receptor that has a protective effect on the pancreatic β-cells. This novel approach could make a causal treatment for diabetes possible for the first time.
Dr. Patrick Großmann
Dr. Kilian Vogele
Dr. Viktoria Krey
Sophie von Schönberg
Franziska Winzig
Technical University of Munich (TUM)
Invitris - In vitro synthesis of multivalent bacteriophages for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections
Antibiotic-resistant pathogens pose a major problem that is set to worsen dramatically in the coming years. The idea of treating infections caused by resistant pathogens with bacteriophages—viruses that infect bacteria—has been around for nearly 100 years. However, this approach has not yet gained widespread acceptance because phage production has not been scalable and has had to take place within the pathogenic host bacteria. Invitris has now developed a technology that, for the first time, enables the in vitro production of genetically optimized bacteriophages for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections.
Prof. Dr. Alexander Steinkasserer
Prof. Dr. med. Carola Berking
Dr. Dmytro Royzman
University Hospital Erlangen, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
MalliaBioTech - Soluble CD83 as a New Product for the Topical Treatment of Hair Loss
Hormone-related hair loss is a major problem worldwide, as approximately 70% of all men and 40% of all women suffer from it. However, only two active ingredients with scientifically proven efficacy are currently available for treatment. These, however, have significant drawbacks; for example, the effect is lost after even a short interruption in therapy. The team led by Prof. Steinkasserer is developing a new active ingredient, based on a soluble form of the CD83 molecule, for the topical treatment of hormone-related hair loss. In preclinical studies to date, this active ingredient has shown no side effects and, unlike the two approved substances, stimulates the formation of new hair follicles, thereby inducing new hair growth. Due to this unique selling proposition (USP), the new product has the potential to capture the large unmet market for hair loss and possibly even expand it further in the medium term.
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bernhagen
Prof. Dr. Aphrodite Kapurniotu
Christos Kontos
Markus Brandhofer
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) of Munich Medical Center (LMU Medical Center), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) of Munich, and Technical University of Munich (TUM)
SELECKREM - Preclinical development of peptide-based chemokine receptor mimetics as ligand-selective therapeutic agents for atherosclerotic diseases
Despite significant medical advances, atherosclerotic diseases such as heart attack and stroke remain the leading cause of death worldwide. A major problem is the residual risk of inflammation in patients who are otherwise well-controlled with lipid-lowering drugs. With the m4 grant application, the team led by Prof. Bernhagen (LMU Medical Center) and Prof. Kapurniotu (TUM) aims to develop chemokine receptor mimetics as a new class of drugs for the selective inhibition of atherosclerosis-causing chemokines for the vast pharmaceutical market of cardiovascular diseases.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Ladurner
Dr. Maren Heimhalt
Matin Moschref
Christiane Kotthoff
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (LMU)
SugarSwitch- First-in-class agonists / antagonists a novel & essential sugar metabolite receptor
Obesity and insulin resistance have become a pandemic. 20% of Europeans will develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) by 2030. Prof. Ladurner's team is developing agonists or antagonists (small molecule drugs) for a transcription factor that is crucially involved in sugar and lipid homeostasis.