Co-Creation Projects

Research by Prof. Neher's laboratory at DZNE has shown that reducing aggregated medin, abnormal protein deposits (amyloid) in the arteries of older people, could be a promising treatment for Alzheimer's disease. Loss-of-function mutations in the MFGE8 gene, which produces medin, also appear to protect against cardiovascular diseases. A collaboration with the leading biotech company Neurimmune has led to the development of promising antibodies that can block the aggregation of medin. The aim of the project is to validate these antibodies and demonstrate their efficacy in reducing medin deposits in the body.

Helmholtz Munich and the pharmaceutical company Allergopharma are working together to take the first mRNA-based tolerogenic vaccine (a vaccine designed to make the immune system stop responding so strongly to allergic stimuli) into a clinical trial. The partnership aims to validate the efficacy of this novel therapy - initially focusing on dust mite allergy - optimize the composition of the compound and compare it with conventional therapies. The aim of the partnership is to drive the technology transfer through to pharmaceutical production.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) threatens global health and could cause up to 10 million deaths a year by 2050. A shortage of new antibiotics, especially against Gram-negative pathogens classified as critical by the WHO, exacerbates this threat. Natural products derived from bacteria have historically enabled significant advances in the treatment of infectious diseases and cancer. As over 99% of microorganisms cannot be cultured in the laboratory, the discovery of new anti-infectives is hampered. The project aims to identify new natural products with anti-gram-negative activities in collaboration with Evotec, a company active in the field of pharmaceutical materials research. Soil and microbiome samples from patients as well as modern sequencing and machine learning will be used. The proof-of-concept experiment will enable the screening of our sample collection for priority pathogens such as Escherichia coli (primary screening), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Acinetobacter baumannii (follow-up screening). This approach is promising to close the critical gap between effective antibiotics and clinical need and thus strengthen the drug arsenal against the looming AMR crisis.

Power electronics control many aspects of modern life: they regulate the power from batteries to motors in electric cars, switch power on and off in mobile phones, and convert electricity from renewable sources into the synchronized grid. The global microchip shortage has led to political and economic efforts to strengthen chip production within the EU. Current devices are based on silicon, whose material properties limit performance. For higher performance and lower power consumption, as demanded by the European Green Deal, silicon carbide (SiC) is indispensable. DESY and semiconductor manufacturer Nexperia have teamed up in the project to kick-start the production of SiC trench MOSFETs (Silicon Carbide Trench Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors) in Germany on a 200 mm pilot line. Support comes from companies along the entire production chain and academic institutions. However, one core expertise is missing: metrology is a bottleneck in the development of SiC trench MOSFETs - nanoscale 3D architectures and a defect-prone wide-bandgap semiconductor make them a particular challenge requiring large-scale research infrastructures. The characterization of such materials and structures is a focal point of DESY’s activities in general and the project leader's group in particular: their expertise in mapping electronic defects and measuring nanoscale performance ideally complements the requirements for efficient research and development of high-performance SiC trench MOSFETs. A key focus of the project is on advancing X-ray microscopy for the 3D characterization of material defects and in-situ tests to increase the devices' lifespan and safety. The project will establish a competence center to sustainably utilize the results and make them accessible to the entire semiconductor community.

The assessment of chemical hazards is essential for the safe management of chemicals, as outlined in the "European Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability". Helmholtz researchers have proposed two new hazard indicators that go beyond the traditional assessment of persistence, bioaccumulation and toxicity (PBT). These two new indicators, called Cumulative Toxicity Equivalents (CTE) and Persistent Toxicity Equivalents (PTE), will be tested as part of the CoModHaz project. The project comprises case studies developed in cooperation with authorities, NGOs and industry and focuses on chemicals that are difficult to assess. The UFZ research platform CITEPro will be used for high-throughput bioassays. The project aims to validate the new indicators in practice and remove barriers to their implementation. This should ultimately contribute to safer and more sustainable chemical assessments.

Disordered semiconductors can be processed from a solution at low temperatures, which strongly influences their microstructure and thus their macroscopic electronic properties. This poses a major scientific challenge, as conventional techniques require millions of experiments for optimization. An intelligent, adaptive and autonomous platform could find an optimum with only a few hundred to thousand experiments and revolutionize the development of this field. The company SCIPRIOS develops material acceleration platforms (MAPs) that automate laboratory processes and couple them with AI algorithms. Their SpinBot platform enables the precise deposition and characterization of thin functional layers. HI ERN/FZJ use these MAPs to develop new photovoltaic technologies (ePV) based on perovskites and organic semiconductors. The aim of the SolMAP project is to develop suitable processes to create an integrated platform with the SpinBot that can automatically perform all essential steps required for inline optimization, from solution formulation to the finished solar cell and its characterization. This includes the development of an automated platform (SCIPRIOS) and the process development for the production of top electrodes of solution-processed solar cells (IEK-11/HI ERN).

The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that our society struggles to handle a pandemic pathogen without appropriate technological measures. Social distancing measures hinder the rapid development of antidotes and vaccines. Our CoViPa project ("Virological and Immunological Determinants of COVID-19 Pathogenesis – Lessons for Future Pandemic Preparedness") has proven that mobile laboratory robots can be a solution to this problem. However, a market-ready product that can quickly and widely be deployed is not yet available. The ALARO project leverages insights from CoViPa to qualify the United Robotics Group (URG) as a technology provider and to evaluate the robotic technology for laboratory tasks in hospitals. The goal is to develop mobile robots capable of manipulating known objects in unknown environments, integrating both hardware and software development.

Within the InnoEUV project, a co-creative partnership between the Helmholtz institute Jean and the Active Fiber Systems GmbH shall be increased to realise innovative Laser-like high-power extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light sources. Potential end users will be involved from the beginning of the project. For the targeted wavelength, the chosen approach promises two orders of magnitude performance improvement compared to the state of the art, thereby opening up entirely new possibilities in science and technology. Applications include, among others, the study of ultra-fast processes, spectroscopy, imaging and metrology, as for example inspection and surveying of EUV lithography photomasks.

Agricultural production must be increased in the coming decades without a substantial increase in available land and despite the adverse effects of climate change. At the same time, a continuous loss of soil health is observed in Europe. Against this background, regenerative agriculture and agroecology are seeking solutions that improve soil health, produce nutrient-rich food, and enhance the economic and social well-being of farmers. The project aims to develop strategies to support the implementation and monitoring of regenerative agricultural practices and improve long-term carbon storage in the soil. It includes the development of a digital twin to simulate agricultural production and carbon sequestration, identification of crop varieties with high carbon content in roots, evaluation of these varieties under different CO2 concentrations, and the development of a standard for soil microbiological diversity.

Spatially resolved and single-cell-based omics approaches (biotechnological methods aimed at analyzing the molecular profiles of individual cells) are revolutionizing biomedical research and clinical applications. Existing methods mostly focus on a single modality – meaning they capture only a specific type of molecular data – even though understanding biomedical systems in both healthy and diseased states requires information at multiple levels. At the MDC, innovative technologies such as single-cell proteomics and Deep Visual Proteomics have been established, which can simultaneously capture multiple types of molecular data from individual cells using the Bruker timsTOF Ultra mass spectrometer. This approach enables a comprehensive understanding of biological systems. As part of the project, MDC and Bruker will further deepen their collaboration to jointly develop a novel and broadly applicable platform for simultaneous multi-omic profiling using mass spectrometry.