Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP

The newly established Early Clinical Trial Unit (ECTU) at the Fraunhofer ITMP site TNM in Göttingen provides the opportunity to conduct early-phase clinical trials in close cooperation with the University Medical Center Göttingen.
As part of the multicenter phase I clinical trial “RED4MS” study, sponsored by Cellerys, the first patient has now been treated with a novel therapeutic approach for multiple sclerosis. Red blood cells isolated from the patients are coupled with disease-specific antigens through a specialized procedure, and then reintroduced to the patient. The aim of this therapy is to induce immune tolerance, thereby avoiding the conventional immunosuppressive treatment approach.

A panel discussion with invited stem cell researchers took place in Jena as part of the 12th annual conference of the German Stem Cell Network (GSCN). The discussion focused on the current status and future of applied stem cell research. The role of stem cells in research into cancer, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract, therapeutic approaches for diabetes and the discovery of new “old” drugs for rare diseases was explained. Short films presented the research of the scientists involved - including Dr. Ole Pless from the Fraunhofer ITMP location Hamburg. 

At the invitation of the French Embassy in Berlin, we presented the results of the AIOLOS (Artificial Intelligence Tools for Outbreak Detection and Response) project to more than 40 public health experts, scientists, policy makers and representatives of the WHO, HERA and French and German authorities. It was discussed how the use and integration of real-time data from different sources in combination with AI-based models can improve the detection and monitoring of respiratory disease outbreaks and thus support prevention.