Biotechnology "Made in Regensburg"
(No. 265) BioPark Regensburg GmbH, a company of the city of Regensburg, and the patent law firm Dehmel & Bettenhausen based there have also in 2022 awarded two innovation prizes of €1,500 to outstanding research work as part of this year’s Dies academicus at the University of Regensburg.
For the jury led by BioPark Managing Director Dr. Thomas Diefenthal, patent attorney Dr. Berthold Bettenhausen, Prof. Dr. Bernhard Weber from the University of Regensburg and the Vice President of the OTH Regensburg Prof. Dr. Klaudia Winkler it was not easy to choose this year's two prizewinners from the high-quality applications. The decisive criteria were innovative strength, application and start-up potential of the work.
A prize was awarded to Dr. Marilena Bohley for her research work on the use of lipid-based nanocapsules for the targeted delivery of active substances to the retina under the Professorial Chair of Pharmaceutical Technology at the University of Regensburg. Many eye diseases are characterized by uncontrolled, degenerative vascular growth accompanied by inflammation in the retina. The consequence is the progressive destruction of the retina and thus visual impairment to complete blindness. The destructive processes are mainly driven by retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE cells) - an inconspicuous cell layer in the back of the eye. There is currently no way to specifically target these cells with medicines. Dr. Bohley developed a novel drug transporter for this purpose. The so-called lipid nanocapsules (LNC) are lipid-based nanocapsules, which can be highly efficiently and specifically enriched in RPE cells following intravenous injection. Loaded with the anti-inflammatory and vascular growth-inhibiting active ingredient cyclosporin A (CsA), Dr. Bohley could demonstrate tissue-specific efficacy. The process has been patented and published. (Contact: marilena.bohley@pharma.ethz.ch).
Another award was given to Dr. Sebastian Bittner, postdoc at the Leibniz Institute for Immunotherapy, for his research in the field of cell therapy for the treatment of autoimmune diseases. The term autoimmunity describes a misguided immune reaction against one's own organism. This erroneous reaction is the consequence of a lack of tolerance of the immune system towards endogenous structures. One of the most important control entities are so-called regulatory T cells (Tregs). Dr. Bittner developed a new type of synthetic biosensor, so-called artificial immune receptors (AIRs), with the help of which Treg cells can be reprogrammed into intelligent “smart” Tregs. The new sensors allow the Treg cells to detect inflamed tissue in their environment and to unfold their regenerative and protective effect there. In a preclinical model, he was able to show the protective effect of these modified Treg cells in preventing a systemic and potentially fatal inflammatory reaction following allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Theprocess has been patented and published. (Contact: Sebastian.Bittner@klinik.uni-regensburg.de).
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