BioRegio STERN Management GmbH presented awards to the three winners of the regional “Science2Start” ideas competition on July 4 evening. The panel of judges, comprising scientists, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs, honoured three scientific ideas with economic potential – an innovative product for effective treatment of viral influenza, a stent with integrated diagnostic system, and a therapeutic vaccine for cancers that can be attributed to infections involving human papillomaviruses. The prizes, worth a total of 4,500 euros, were sponsored by VOELKER & Partner, a firm of lawyers, tax consultants and auditors. The award ceremony was held at the traditional summer party given by BioRegio STERN Management GmbH, which organised this year’s event in collaboration with the Medical Valley Hechingen competence network and the Verein zur Förderung der Biotechnologie und Medizintechnik e.V. (Society for the Promotion of Biotechnology and Medical Technology) at the Villa Eugenia in Hechingen.

Why should company founders learn a lesson from the platypus? Because this unconventional creature possesses characteristics from three animal classes and cannot therefore be assigned to an individual one. It lays eggs like birds, raises its young like mammals and lives in water like a fish. Dr. Michael Brandkamp, management spokesman at High-Tech Gründerfonds, chose this image to mobilise founders of new biotech companies in his speech: “Don't pigeonhole yourselves. Learn from everyone and tread your own path!” Dr. Brandkamp then presented the awards to three groups of researchers who are already pursuing their own course and are not allowing themselves to be pigeonholed in the process.

The main prize in the 2013 Science2Start ideas competition went to Prof. Oliver Planz of the University of Tübingen, Emilie Hofstetter from HealthStrat Consulting Munich, Prof. Stephan Ludwig of the University of Münster, Dr. Henrik Luessen of Tytonis BV Alkmaar, Rolf Naumann from Activaero GmbH Gemünden and Prof. Stephan Pleschka of Giessen University. The project group is developing a preparation for viral influenza. For this innovative product it combines MEK inhibitors, as used to treat cancer, with familiar anti-influenza drugs. The team was able to show, for example, that such a combination in-creases the effectiveness of the flu drug Tamiflu significantly. The active ingredient also successfully combats influenza viruses that are resistant to standard anti-influenza medication.

Second place was awarded to Alexej Domnich and Jonathan Schächtele for their idea of a “wireless restenosis early diagnostic system integrated into a stent”. In the Laboratory Automation and Biomanufacturing Engineering department of the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, IPA, and in the Fraunhofer project group for automation in medicine and biotechnology, they developed an intelligent rapid diagnostic system of stents that can provide information about the current state of a vessel. Reocclusion occurs with up to 30 percent of stents currently used and until now this could only be diagnosed using complex procedures. The new early diagnostic system enables early diagnosis of the state of a vessel and potentially life-threatening restenosis.

In third place were Jörg Rohde and Ralf Amann from the Department of Immunology, laboratory for molecular immunopathogenesis and viral vectors (Rziha working group) at the University of Tübingen for their development of “personalised, therapeutic vaccines for HPV-induced tumours using a viral vector”. Five to seven percent of all cancers can be attributed to infections involving human papillomaviruses (HPV). The new treatment aims to produce customised vaccines composed of defined viral antigens and patient-specific mutations. By using several antigens, tumours can be identified more effectively for the immune system.

Following the opening address by Hechingen’s mayor Dorothea Bachmann and Prof. Claus Claussen, the co-organiser and Director of the Verein zur Förderung der Biotechnologie und Medizintechnik e.V. (Society for the Promotion of Biotechnology and Medical Technology), the numerous entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians, consultants and financiers used the summer evening in the park of the Villa Eugenia for lively discussions. “We’re committed to transcending boundaries and developing links between sectors,” said host and BioRegio STERN Managing Director Dr. Klaus Eichenberg. The summer party, which was sponsored by Sparkasse Zollernalb, Joma-Polytec GmbH and LS medcap GmbH, was this year once again the meeting place for the entire life sciences sector in the region.