From Discovery to Impact
The ultimate goal of biotechnological science is the transfer of reserach results into applications outside of academia, to make the world a better place. With our broad spectrum of approaches for the discovery and engineering of proteins tailored to particular industrial and clinical applications, we are well-endowed to take up this challenge.
Proven success
Protein Engineering for Life: Antibodies are key reagents of modern diagnostics and therapy, and our department has a long track record of successful collaborations with health institutions, biotech and pharma industry. A variety of technology solutions and antibodies developed in the department have already been transferred to various successful applications - from catalog research antibodies and diagnostic kits to clinical applications against cancer or infectious diseases - via cooperations, outlicensing, technology transfer centres, and through several spin-off companies.
Stefan Dübel is member of the Life Science Startup Board of the State of Lower Saxony.
Feb. 7, 2023 - Message from the Garage
The Braunschweig Startup Garage provides insights into motivation, success stories and challenges of company founders at first hand. This time, Dr. Al Halabi-Frenzel represents the Abcalis startup team of TU Braunschweig.
The Braunschweig Startup Garage is part of the Innovation Gateway of Braunschweig Stadtmarketing GmbH.
Feb. 5, 2023 - Abcalis wins W.IN
EXIST Forschungstransfer funded startup Team Abcalis at TU Braunschweig won additional support in the category "grow.in" of the W.IN academy of Braunschweig Zukunft GmbH. The startup academy W.IN provides mentors from the business community, networking and workshops with experienced entrepreneurs and case-related support on specific issues.
Start of W.IN (Braunschweiger Zeitung)
8 Dec. 2022 - YUMAB celebrates 10th anniversary
With a ceremony attended by Lower Saxony's Minister for Science and Culture, Falko Mohrs, employees and friends of YUMAB celebrated the tenth anniversary of the company that brings recombinant human antibodies to the world. YUMAB was founded in December 2012 as a spin-off from TU Braunschweig by four scientists from the Institute of Biotechnology who had developed key technologies in phage display and antibody engineering.
In a lively podium discussion, the region's key players discussed the future of biotechnology in Lower Saxony and exchanged ideas on how to strengthen efforts to translate the often excellent scientific results of local academic institutes into practical applications and products.
17 Nov. 2022 - Abcalis wins the Braunschweig Start-Up Award
The seventh Braunschweig Start-up Prize was awarded to TUBS-Spin-off company Abcalis by Braunschweig Zukunft GmbH and Braunschweigische Landessparkasse. The prize honors the innovative business ideas and courage of young companies from Braunschweig. The prize is endowed with a total of 10,000 euros. In addition, the Ströer company supports the winners with media services worth 15,000 euros.
15. Nov 2022 - Our former PhD student and now CEO of spin off Abcalis starrs on statewide startup campaign
Dr. Al-Halabi Frenzel, CEO of our spin off company Abcalis, starrs on more than 300 billboards throughout Lower Saxony as part of the campaign of the government to encourage students to think about starting a company.
Oct 27, 2022 - Abcalis provides animal-free antibodies for semiconductor biosensors
The EU funded project “BIOASSEMBLER - Integrating bio-inspired assembly into semiconductor manufacturing technology for biosensors” produces a new generation of biosensors manufactured trough a bio-intelligent processes, marrying silicon with biomolecules. TUBS startup Abcalis provides the reagents for the the core of the detection process: innovatively engineered "vegan" antibody variants.
Aug 31, 2022 - Our Start-Up Abcalis wins High Tech Incubator funding.
Our Spin-off Abcalis is now part of the Göttingen Hightech Incubator Program, an initiative of the State of Lower Saxony to provide financial support for innovative startups. In a festive ceremony in Göttingen, Lower Saxony Minister for Economy, Labor, Transport and Digitalization, Dr. Bernd Althusmann announced the winners. CEO Laila Al-Halabi-Frenzel (left) and Head of Product Development, Dr. Esther Wenzel (right) represented Abcalis at the grant ceremony.
July 12, 2022 - CORAT Therapeutics wins 38.7 million of government funding
Our spin-off company CORAT Therapeutics GmbH has received approval for additional funding of up to € 38.7 Mio. from the "Clinical Development of Care-Related COVID-19 Drugs and Their Manufacturing Capabilities" program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This funding will support the clinical trials in up to 50 sites in six different countries, as well as the scaling and validation of the manufacturing process in preparation for market entry and supply.
press release (english) (german)
March 30, 2022 - ABCALIS wins ECEAE Prize for animal-free antibodies
Our Abcalis Team was awarded the world's first award dedicated specifically to the development and application of animal-free antibodies. Co-Founder Dr. Esther Wenzel represented Abcalis at the award ceremony in Brussels.
More info: ECEAE Award
Dec 17, 2021 - ABCALIS diagnostic/research antibody against anti-SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein S1 (RBD) binds to Omikron
The phage display derived antibody AB68-A09 made by Abcalis shows the same detection sensitivity for Wuhan, Delta and Omikron variants of the spike protein. The antibody was generated with animal free methods (i.e. without an immunisation of an experimental animal, and with production methods that do not use animal materials) by recombinant means and detects the receptor binding domain of the COVID-19 causing virus SARS-CoV-2. The antibody is available here.
4/23/2021 - First COVID-19 patients treated with medication developed in Braunschweig.
CORAT Therapeutics GmbH announced the start of a clinical trial with COR-101 for treatment of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients. The molecule was disvovered at the TU Braunschweig by the Corona Antibody Team (CORAT) in the Lab of Stefan Dübel and Michael Hust. The novel therapeutic antibody is planned to complement currently approved antibody drugs, which are not indicated for moderate to severe COVID-19 cases due to side effects during advanced stages of the disease.
press release of CORAT Therapeutics
Website of CORAT Therapeutics
Original paper on COR-101
UPDATE: Sept 6,2021 CORAT Therapeutics receives substantial funding from federal German ministries
March 29, 2021 - Braunschweig antibody in clinical trials in the USA: New Drug Grips Tumor Cells With Two Arms.
The first patients with advanced tumors have been treated with a novel antibody-based in a clinical trial in the USA. It uses an invention of the Technical University of Braunschweig: The team of Professor Stefan Dübel, head of the Department of Biotechnology, discovered a human antibody that targets tumor cells and developed it over many years. This antibody is now part of a complex novel compound against difficult-to-treat cancers that is undergoing clinical testing by the pharmaceutical company Merck.
March 16, 2021 - CORAT Therapeutics GmbH obtained regulatory authorization for clinical phase I/Ib trial with the SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing human antibody COR-101.
The study (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04674566) is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter, first-in-human, phase I/Ib study to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, immunogenicity, and efficacy of COR-101 in hospitalized patients with moderate to severe COVID-19.
3/2021 - The team of the Department of Biotechnology led by Dr. Maren Schubert won the second prize in the CHALLENE ONE HEALTH HACKATHON for their project "PANDAAlarmRed", an early warning structure against future emerging zoonotic virus diseases than may cause the next pandemics.
12/2020 - In an event with Economics Minister Dr. Althusmann, Dr. Sabine Johannsen, State Secretary for Science and Culture and Stefan Muhle, State Secretary in Lower Saxony’s Ministry of Economics, Labour, Transport and Digitisation, three of our startups won in three of the four categories of the Durchstarterpreis 2020:
9/2020 - Double success! From 120 applicants, our teams were selected to win two of the three Lower Saxony Innovation Awards for 2020:
The corona antibody team (CORAT) is one of the winners at 2020 FallingWalls Science Conference in Berlin
5/2020 A new EU commission white paper on animal use for antibody generation prominently acknowledges the animal-free multiclonal antibodies invented by the TU Braunschweig spinoff/EXIST founder team ABCALIS.
Summary in Nature
Independent comment of the experts in mabs
4/2020: Helping to fight against COVID19:
CORAT member YUMAB, spinoff of the Department of Biotechnology of the TU Braunschweig, generated a neutralising coronavirus antibody protecting against SARS-CoV-2 infection, as confirmed by the Helmholtz Center for Infection Reserach
2020: "Founder of the month" - our Norden Vaccine startup project is featured by the magazine "Wirtschaft"
2019: The Innovation Prize of the German Bioregions was awarded to our Norden Vaccines startup Team at the German Biotechnology Days in Wuerzburg, April 9th
2018: Our Norden Vaccines startup team wins in the GO-Bio competition of the German Ministry for Education and Research
2017: 1st prize of the Innovationsnetzwerk Niedersachsen was awarded to Yumab and the TU Braunschweig at the Hannover Messe by the Minister for Science and Culture, Gabriele Heinen-Kljajić, and the Minister for Economics, Employment and Traffic, Olaf Lies
2016: Technology transfer Award of the Chamber of Commerce Braunschweig for the Founders of Yumab from the Depatzment of Biotechnology (Prof. Stefan Dübel, Prof. Michael Hust, Dr. Thomas Schirrmann and Dr. André Frenzel)
2015: Innovation in Biotechnology Award of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) for Prof. Stefan Dübel
2013: Entrepreneurship-Award of TU Braunschweig and Ostfalia for Prof. Stefan Dübel
