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Mission
The work of the PharmaScienceHub takes place in four focus areas: Translational drug discovery, translation and cooperation with industry and university hospitals, infrastructure, and graduate schools and joint appointments.
One focus of the PSH's tasks is to decisively strengthen the research focus NanoBioMed in the thematic area of pharmaceutical research at the UdS and to act as a platform for the implementation of the NextAID³ research program. The goal is the discovery and development of innovative active ingredients as well as their transfer (translation) into clinical application. For this purpose, the faculties NT, Medicine and Computer Science as well as the Saarland University Hospital work closely together with HIPS/HZI.
Within the framework of interdisciplinary TANDEM projects, the interaction between the above-mentioned faculties of the UdS and the HIPS has been specifically promoted since 2020. In terms of content, the individual projects are at the interface between medicine and pharmaceutical research, which are linked by modern bioinformatics. In the two TANDEM projects IMAGINE and NextAID, for example, researchers are working on the development of bioinformatics methods that will allow clinical samples and data to be used as a basis for pharmaceutical drug development. Furthermore, members of the PSH are working on biotechnological and medicinal chemistry approaches for the production and optimization of new active ingredients. These activities are flanked by the scientific work program of HIPS in the Research Program Health of the Helmholtz Association.
The PSH coordinates and supports cooperation projects with industry and Saarland University Hospital and will further expand its network to consolidate partnerships for this purpose. The focus is on the transfer of knowledge from research to practice.
The PSH continues to promote the spin-off and start-up of start-ups by interdisciplinary teams of experts from the natural sciences, medicine and computer science. In this regard, those involved at HIPS and UdS can draw on experience from a large number of spin-offs in the pharmaceutical field, which have been successfully established and further developed over the past 20 years. Furthermore, through long-standing interactions and joint projects with local and international partners, the PSH team has access to an extensive network of experts from industry, clinical practice, academia and NGOs in various indication areas as well as pharmaceutical regulatory affairs. The connection to clinical medicine as well as the Homburg study center also provides access to on-site clinical studies at the Saarland location.
The virtual pharmaceutical campus, i.e. the infrastructure and research equipment of UdS and HIPS, is available jointly to researchers at the site. At HIPS and UdS, more than 2,900 m² of laboratory space of safety levels S1 and S2 are available, which can be used for chemical and pharmaceutical work in the context of drug discovery. Through the structural expansion of the HIPS, the available laboratory space is to be expanded by an additional 2,500 m² in the coming years.
In addition to modern laboratory equipment, the PSH has, among other things, a state-of-the-art analytical platform (incl. chromatorgraphy, mass spectrometry and NMR), a sequencing unit, a unique collection of microbial natural product producers, an extensive library of synthetic and natural product-based compounds, and a zebrafish unit for testing and characterizing drug candidates. The available resources are complemented by extensive computational capabilities for bioinformatics analysis and modeling.
The aim is to improve the spatial and technical infrastructure for pharmaceutical development in the Saarland in the long term, to remedy a lack of space and thus to promote necessary innovations.
In order to promote the interdisciplinary education of young scientists in the field of pharmaceutical research, several graduate schools have been established at the UdS campus, the contents of which are accessible to all PhD students. In addition to the graduate schools for natural products research and bioinformatics, these include the Leibniz Science Campus program, the TANDEM program, and the EU-funded graduate school TALENTS, which focuses on new microbiota-based therapies. Additionally, to the promotion of young scientists, the training of technical personnel is also supported to counteract a shortage of specialists in the field of BTA/CTA/PTA.
Furthermore, the partnership between UdS and HIPS is further expanded through the targeted establishment and filling of new professorships at UdS, as well as joint appointments with HIPS/HZI. For example, Prof. Alexander Titz and Prof. Christine Beemelmanns were recruited for the Saarbrücken location through joint offers from UdS and HIPS. Further appointment procedures are currently being implemented.