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Hamburg Makes Translation Work
‘Translational research’ – almost like an incantation, this phrase pops up whenever the discussion comes to research, innovation and the future of our society. But what exactly does it mean?
In a truly collaborative approach, the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNI), a member of the Leibniz Association, the European ScreeningPort, the City of Hamburg, Norgenta and Norgenta have supplied a prime example.
Step 1: New insights and strong motivation
The starting point was the well-known malaria pathogen Plasmodium falciparum, and in particular one of its enzymes that Carsten Wrenger and his team at the BNI identified as a promising therapeutic target: it is essential for Plasmodium, but has no equivalent in humans. ‘Given the strong medical need in the field, we were fascinated by these findings’, Wrenger says. ‘They could provide an entirely novel approach to combating the disease.’ Every 30 seconds a child dies of the infection, and resistance against available therapies is on the rise.
Step 2: Translational partners
About two years later, Ascenion initiated ‘translational workshops’ at the BNI, putting scientists in direct contact with representatives of the European ScreeningPort, a public–private partnership offering screening services to academic institutions. In this context, Wrenger presented his malaria project. ‘The approach really appealed to us: highly innovative and scientifically sound’, Carsten Claussen, CEO of the European ScreeningPort comments. With Ascenion’s support, a pilot collaboration contract was swiftly agreed.
Step 3: Initial proof-of-concept
In the following months, Wrenger spent about two days a week at the ScreeningPort. ‘Sure, it was challenging, but extremely productive and a great working spirit’, he says. And with a smile he tells how one day he found a ScreeningPort lab coat with his name on it on the coat rack. It was just a detail, but still a meaningful gesture to him. ‘We open our doors to scientists,’ Claussen confirms, ‘because it takes both the specific scientific expertise and industrial screening know-how to get an academic project off the ground.’ Together, the partners rapidly managed to adapt the malaria assay to high throughput screening (HTS) compatible formats. A pilot screen of an initial 2,500 compounds has already delivered first hits, and most of these showed strong efficacy when tested against malaria pathogens at the BNI.
Step 4: Seed funding
‘With these results on hand, we were able to attract EUR 400,000 of funding from the City of Hamburg,’ Katrin Adlkofer, Managing Director of the Hamburg-based life-science agency Norgenta explains. The proceeds enable the partners to advance their project up to a stage where big foundations or philanthropic funding programs typically get involved. ‘The big challenge in translational research is managing the very early steps – the more advanced a project is, the better its prospects of gaining support for further development’, Hinrich Habeck, technology manager with Ascenion explains. ‘The grant from the City of Hamburg can thus be seen as a kind of seed crystal for the malaria drug.’
Step 5: Follow-on financing
While the project partners use the proceeds to screen some further two to three hundred thousand compounds, Ascenion is already in contact with potential follow-on sponsors. The objective is to secure at least funding up to the next milestone – preclinical development. From then on, it should be easier to attract high-profile partners with deep pockets – assuming that the data confirm the project’s potential.
Learning from Hamburg
‘Although there remains a long way to go, the achievements so far are very impressive’, Peter Ruile, COO of Ascenion emphasizes. Hamburg demonstrates that translational development is possible with the players, expertise and tools already in place. ‘This should also work in other regions across Germany’, Ruile continues. ‘For some projects, it may be a challenge to find and coordinate appropriate partners and sponsors. But this is exactly the contribution that we as technology transfer professionals can make.’ A further lesson from the Hamburg example is that translational research requires extraordinary commitment from the scientists themselves and their project partners. ‘Without the passionate support from the ScreeningPort, the BNI and particularly Carsten Wrenger, who invested countless weekends, the project would never have taken off’, Ruile concludes.
