At the last TRAIN partner meeting of the year, we were able to look forward to both a great host and fantastic guests. The topics we have launched together set the direction for the new year and will certainly resonate for a long time.
We were guests at Serum Life Science Europe GmbH. The landlord and managing director Leander Grode opened the meeting with a brief demolition of the history of Serum Life Science Europe. Founded in 2002 on the initiative of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research – at that time still as Vakzine Projekt Management GmbH (VPM) – to stimulate the development of vaccines in Germany, SLS Europe now advises on almost all levels of the pharmaceutical value chain, from development and introduction to production. SLS Europe has now become a global player and sees itself as a driver of biopharmaceutical innovation.
In the promotion of young talent, SLS Europe is involved, among other things, in the part-time further education of the TRAIN Academy, in which, in addition to Leander Grode, Fabio Pisano and Dr. Gerald P. Parzmair are active as lecturers.
Dr. Bernd Güttler’s presentation of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt, PTB then aroused great interest from the participants. PTB is Germany’s national metrology institute and is dedicated as a research institution to the development and maintenance of physical measurement standards. It was founded in 1887 by Werner von Siemens and Hermann von Helmholtz as a Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt and still has a location today on the site in Berlin-Charlottenburg, which was acquired by Siemens himself at the time. The work of PTB is of central importance in order to ensure the accuracy and comparability of measurements in research and industry. In medical research, PTB supports its expertise in the development of precise measurement methods and instruments and also provides reference parameters for research. This contribution is essential to promote progress in medical science and to improve the quality of diagnoses and therapies.
PTB is now headquartered in Brauschweig. In addition to the Technical University of Braunschweig and PTB, the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research and the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-Deutsche Sammlung von Grünen und Zellkulturen GmbH are working on better understanding infection mechanisms and active substances as well as pharmaceutical processes and products in the Engingeering for Health research.
For the TRAIN Omics division, Sara Haag, representing the TRAIN Omics core team consisting of Thomas Illig as site spokesman for Hanover and head of the Hannover Unified Biobank, Bernd Wollnik, head of the Institute of Human Genetics and Site Spokesperson for Göttingen, as well as Karsten Hiller, Head of the Department of Bioinformatics and Biochemistry at the Technical University of Braunschweig, reported that the new conceptual phase of TRAIN Omics has been completed as far a long possible. This includes the preparation of a third-party funding application in close cooperation with the RESIST Cluster of Excellence as a project partner. In addition, TRAIN Omics wants to further intensify the existing cooperation between Karsten Hiller and the Physikalisch-technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and become instrumental in establishing quality standards in the Omics area. Through these activities, Hanover, Braunschweig and Göttingen are moving even closer together at research level.
#translationaltriangle
The planned events will also contribute to the better networking of the Omics stakeholders from the three locations in Hanover, Braunschweig and Göttingen. In addition, the Omics-Core facilities and Omics-associated data science working groups of the TRAIN network will be listed and located on the TRAIN Omics website in the future. Christian Brandstetter reported on the efforts of the H3 Health Hub to the Community Building, which are already bearing fruit.
In the subsequent discussion of all presents, it was only possible to touch individual topics and possible areas of cooperation. It quickly became clear that PTB was an important partner for all parties involved in the Translation Alliance. This time still as a guest, but that could perhaps change soon. We remain tense and look forward to the projects of the coming year.