Three doctoral students from Munich received this year’s Nano Innovation Award from the Center for NanoScience in August 2021. The award for innovative research in application-oriented nanoscience, co-sponsored by ibidi GmbH, is endowed with 9,000 Euro. An expert jury from industry and science, which included Dr. Roman Zantl, CEO and co-founder of ibidi, selected the winners from applicants from all over Bavaria.

The Center for NanoScience (CeNS) is a scientific institution at LMU Munich that promotes and coordinates interdisciplinary research in the field of nanoscience. CeNS spans various disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacy. In addition to LMU research groups, CeNS also brings together groups from TU Munich, the Max Planck Institute for Biochemistry, and other institutions in the Munich area.

While most science awards honor excellent results in basic research, the Nano Innovation Award focuses on high innovation and application potential. The companies attocube systems, ibidi, Nanion Technologies, and NanoTemper Technologies, together with CeNS, award the prize to talented and creative young scientists whose results are not only interesting for basic research but also promise future technological applications.

Four former CeNS spin-offs have been supporting the award since 2015: the companies attocube systems, ibidi, Nanion Technologies, and NanoTemper Technologies. “For ibidi, CeNS is a constant source of inspiration through technological and personal exchange and an important link to the scientific community. Once again, this year, the work submitted for the Nano Innovation Award stood out for its exceptionally high creativity and quality. Congratulations to the winners and all participants!” says Roman Zantl, co-founder and managing director of ibidi and this year’s jury member.

The first prize went to Christian Sigl from the Technical University of Munich, who developed the molecular basis for an unconventional antiviral concept. His work is based on the idea of enclosing whole viruses in macromolecular shells that block the molecular interactions between virus and host cell. The DNA origami platform he developed for this purpose offers a promising approach for combating different viruses using the same concept. The shells developed by Christian provide the technical basis for the interdisciplinary EU consortium VIROFIGHT, which will further test and develop the new therapeutic concept.

The jury awarded the second place to Jan Felber from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich. In his work, he succeeded for the first time in creating cell-selective redox sensors for disease-relevant reductases (a specific group of enzymes). His work opens up a broad spectrum of potential applications in biomedicine, ranging from basic research and applications in drug development to clinical diagnostics and therapeutics. Jan Felber has already started several transfer projects (e.g., a start-up for the development of therapeutics and a collaboration with Tubulis GmbH for a novel and powerful linker for antibody-drug conjugates).

Jun Zhang from Munich University of Applied Sciences secured the third place with a novel bioprinting technology that can transfer cells from a reservoir to a target substrate with very high precision using ultra-short laser pulses. By integrating the setup into an inverted optical microscope, it becomes possible to preselect individual cells from complex cell mixtures. The potential applications are manifold – from fundamental questions in cell biology, to single-cell analysis methods, to the production of organs-on-a-chip and tissue engineering. A BMBF-funded project is now developing a user-friendly, fully automated system based on Jun Zhang’s findings.

About ibidi
ibidi GmbH, located in Gräfelfing near Munich, Germany, is a leading supplier of functional cell-based assays and products for cell microscopy. The ibidi range of products offers solutions for classic cell culturing, and also complex assays (e.g., angiogenesis, chemotaxis, and wound healing). Their products help facilitate an understanding of the development of various diseases and related therapies. ibidi’s customers are working in scientific institutions, industrial pharmacology, and biotechnology. Technology development at ibidi is supported by the BMBF (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung). The products are sold to customers worldwide.