Chair for Applied Microbiology (Bochum)

Reseach at the Chair for Applied Microbiology is dedicated to antibacterial strategies. Besides the characterization of the antibacterial potential of technical plasmas, proteom-based mode of action studies for antibiotics are a major reasearch topic.  The expertise in unravelling the mode of action of novel compounds has been used for many years in fruitful national and international co-operations with academic and industrial partners. The investigated compounds are of both, synthetic and natural origin. The antimicrobial potential of Streptomycets as producers of natural compounds has been sucessfully used to treat bacterial infections since the very beginning of antibiotic therapy. But also to this day, natural products are the source for important novel structures for drug development. To analyze the chemical repertoire of nature, global top-of-the-art methods are available. Using masspectrometry-based metabolomics, novel and innovative structural classes of antibiotics are identified and characterized to make them available for resarch and development.

Lead Discovery Center GmbH (LDC, Dortmund)

Lead Discovery Center GmbH was established in 2008 by the technology transfer organization Max Planck Innovation of the German Max Planck Gesellschaft e.V., as a novel approach to capitalize on the potential of excellent basic research for the discovery of new therapies for diseases with high medical need. The Lead Discovery Center takes on promising early-stage projects from academia and transforms them into innovative pharmaceutical leads and antibodies that reach initial proof-of-concept in animals as well as candidate nomination. In close collaboration with high-profile partners from research and industry, the Lead Discovery Center is building a strong and growing portfolio of lead and candidate compounds with exceptional medical and commercial potential. The Lead Discovery Center sustains a long-term partnership with the Max Planck Society, KHAN-I GmbH & Co.KG and has formed alliances with Apeiron, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA, Daiichi Sankyo and Qurient, e.g.In addition, LDC also works with leading translational drug discovery centers and with various investors to provide its assets for company creation financed by venture capital firms, like Arix Bioscience and Medicxi, e.g.