Consortium

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin

Charité is one of the largest university hospitals in Europe. All of our clinical care, research and teaching is delivered by physicians and researchers of the highest international standard. The Institute of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Chemistry, and Pathobiochemistry is focused on the investigation and exploitation of pathobiochemical mechanisms for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic purposes.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: : Charité is coordinating the entire project and is in particular involved in the development of a dendrimeric scaffold, the production of target-specific ligands and the testing of the technology in animal experiments.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Hendrik Fuchs

 

Sapreme Technologies B.V.              

Sapreme Technologies B.V. (Sapreme) is a privately-held biotech company that develops  disruptive platform technology (ENDOSCAPE ®) to boost cytosolic delivery of macromolecule therapeutics using its proprietary endosomal escape enhancers. The company develops novel treatments with the potential to transform the field of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and oligonucleotide-based therapeutics. The company's mission is to develop novel new medicines for treatment of cancer and other diseases internally and through collaboration with industry.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Sapreme is the main party responsible for commercialization of ENDOSCAPE technology.

Contact: Dr. Ruben Postel

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Wissenschaften

The Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics (MPI-CBG) focuses on the molecular principles underlying morphogenesis, and how the morphology of cells and tissues emerges from the interactions between individual molecules and cells. The research focus of Marino Zerial’s group is to unravel basic cellular processes at the molecular level and understand how they are applied in a tissue, with a particular interest in endocytosis. The group also works on how endocytosis can be exploited for the delivery of therapeutics, establishing methods to visualize and quantify the uptake and endosomal escape of siRNAs either conjugated or incorporated in lipid nanoparticles, as well as identify small molecules that act as delivery enhancers.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: MPI-CBG is investigating the mechanisms of uptake, trafficking and endosomal escape of the ENDOSCAPE technology in cell culture and animal models.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Marino Zerial

VIB - Vlaams Instituut Biotechnologie

VIB is an excellence-based entrepreneurial research institute in Flanders, Belgium. VIB focuses on translating basic scientific results into pharmaceutical, agricultural, and industrial applications. The VIB-UGent Center of Plant Systems Biology specializes in the analysis of the molecular processes that regulate plant growth, metabolism and defence, and has established ‘state of the art’ techniques for molecular biology, synthetic biology, plant transformation, profiling, bio- imaging and metabolomics.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Leader of WP5 that aims to develop a stable, larger-scale plant-based production system of EEE molecules through metabolic engineering.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Alain Goossens

Freie Universität Berlin

Freie Universität Berlin, founded in 1948, is one of the eleven universities to have been successful in all three lines of funding in the German government's Excellence Initiative in 2012. The institute of Biology, Chemistry and Pharmacy focuses on drug development and testing, the analysis of natural substances, alternative testing methods, and innovative drug delivery systems.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: FUB is working on the development of peptide-based scaffolds for the delivery of plasmid and minicircle DNA. FUB is also involved in the cloning and design of suicide gene and factor IX constructs.

Contact: Dr. Alexander Weng

 

Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

With more than five centuries of tradition, the University of Santiago de Compostela is a historic institution highly recognized worldwide in Natural Science. CIQUS (Center for Research in Biological Chemistry and Molecular Materials) develops transdisciplinary strategies to undertake major challenges in the fields of biological chemistry and molecular materials.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: USC is responsible for coordinating the bioconjugation strategy as well as the analysis and optimization of materials with the final aim of improving a standardized production of ENDOSCAPE modules.

Contact: Prof. Eduardo Fernandez-Megia

 

The University of Rome Tor Vergata

The University of Rome Tor Vergata is a relatively young University established in 1982. It has already reached high quality standards in Italy and Europe. The University is located in a very large campus and consists of 6 different Faculties. Endoscape project will be carried out at the Laboratory of Biosensors and Nanomachines lead by Prof. Francesco Ricci hosted at the Department of Chemistry.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: The role of UNITOV is to design, characterize and optimize synthetic DNA-scaffolds.

Contact: Prof. Francesco Ricci

EXTRASYNTHESE SAS

EXTRASYNTHESE, established since 30 years near Lyon, France, is a leading manufacturer and distributor of phytochemical reference material worldwide. It has developed a great expertise in extraction, purification, synthesis, and analysis of natural substances. By internal research and through collaborations with academic partners, EXSY continuously expands its know-how and catalogue of products.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Our main mission is to design and develop a scalable and cost effective process of extraction and purification of endosomal escape enhancers required for the ENDOSCAPE drug delivery system.

Contact: Dr. René de Vaumas

Fraunhofer - Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Angewandten Forschung e.V.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME is one of the 72 institutes of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft which is the leading organization for applied research in Europe. The Fraunhofer IME has pioneered the production of biopharmaceuticals in plants and was the first institution in Europe which received the approval to produce recombinant proteins for clinical trials.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: IME will optimize EEE accumulation in plants and test various cultivation systems to find the best set-up for large scale EEE production.

Contact: Prof Dr Stefan Schillberg

The Universita degli Studi di Ferrara

University of Ferrara founded in 1391 has an excellent position on international rankings.  The researches performed at the department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology concern the study of living organisms, including their structure, function, pathology, origin, evolution, distribution, taxonomy and environment interaction. The Department’s research focuses on multiple aspects of biochemistry, molecular biology, pharmacology and molecular interactions between natural or synthetic compounds and biological systems for the development of clinical applications in the field of human disorders.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Coordinator of studies on Hemophilia and WP4 leader.

Contact: Dr. Mirko Pinotti

 

Universität Basel

The University of Basel is one of Switzerland's leading universities and it is also the oldest Swiss university, founded in 1460. The Institute of Pharmaceutical Medicine (ECPM) is a highly recognised training institution in the field of science-based drug development. The institute is active in healthcare-related research, with a main focus on quantitative methodology and health economic evaluation.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Universität Basel is assessing expected/required health economic performance characteristics of the ENDOSCAPE technology in medical applications.

Contact: Prof. Dr. Matthias Schwenkglenks

tp21 GmbH

tp21, established in 1999, is specialized in planning and management of European interdisciplinary RTD projects, mainly in the fields of medicine and medical technology. tp21's management methodology considers all aspects of the scientific-technological value creation chain necessary to integrate research, exploitation, dissemination/marketing and training activities.

Role in ENDOSCAPE: Project Management

Contact: Dr. Petra Zalud