The “Cluster for Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Munich” (C-NATM), an innovation network of science and business, is funded with five million euros annually by the federal government, partly also by the Free State and participating companies. With successful interim evaluation, the funding period is nine years. In addition to different disciplines from LMU and TUM, researchers from other research institutions as well as experts from pharmaceutical companies and startups from the region are involved.
“Nucleic acid-based medicines offer enormous potential for medicine”
C-NATM aims to create a network from which novel nucleic acid-based active ingredients and next-generation vaccines can be developed. The future cluster wants to help nucleic acid therapies achieve a breakthrough on a broad front. Stefan Engelhardt, one of the two speakers of C-NATM, is confident:
“Nucleic acid-based medicines offer enormous potential for medicine. We are very confident that this will make it possible to treat many diseases that have previously been difficult or impossible to treat in the near future.”
Maintaining or expanding the lead
LMU researcher and C-NATM speaker Thomas Carell adds:
“Currently, Germany has a small lead in mRNA vaccine development with the development of the first mRNA vaccines. With this new cluster, we can help maintain or even expand this lead. In conjunction with industry partners, C-NATM will establish a highly innovative and globally leading industrial focus in the field of nucleic acid therapeutics.”
The new cluster C-NATM is one of seven future clusters that have just prevailed in the second round of the two-stage BMBF competition “Clusters4Future”. Originally, 117 applications were received. The future clusters are intended to link Germany’s leading research early on with questions of applicability and to set innovation processes in motion. Partnership structures in a narrow geographic area contribute significantly to this.
