beLAB 2122: A new bridge connects research and industry
Drug discovery alliance and development partnership company Evotec launches „beLAB2122", translating academic innovation from leading German Life Science Region in collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb. The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) is one of the academic partners of the cooperation project.
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Mediated and supported by BioRN, the Life Science Cluster Rhein Neckar, beLAB2122 for the first time brings together the European Molecular Biology Laboratory ("EMBL"), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the Goethe University Frankfurt, Heidelberg University and the University of Tübingen in one collaboration with industry partners. Evotec's BRIDGE (Biomedical Research, Innovation & Development Generation Efficiency) collaborations provide an integrated fund and award framework to validate exciting academic projects in collaborations with pharma and funders which may lead to the formation of jointly owned new companies. Since 2016, Evotec has established several BRIDGE collaborations with a variety of academic, pharma, and venture capital partners across Europe and North America.
Evotec launches beLAB2122 in cooperation with Bristol Myers Squibb, Evotec's long-standing collaborator in drug discovery across several therapeutic areas. Together the sponsors intend to tap into Europe's foremost academic clusters of excellence in the life sciences, both validating and advancing innovative research in therapeutics and related technologies from academia to enable the formation of new, collectively owned spin-out companies.
"For DKFZ, a major goal is to foster transfer of our excellent research into highly innovative applications that benefit cancer patients worldwide. The beLAB2122 collaboration is a major step in gaining critical mass and speed together with other scientific and commercial leaders to achieve that goal," says Rainer Wessel, Chief Innovation Officer of the DKFZ.
With more than 3,000 employees, the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) is Germany’s largest biomedical research institute. DKFZ scientists identify cancer risk factors, investigate how cancer progresses and develop new cancer prevention strategies. They are also developing new methods to diagnose tumors more precisely and treat cancer patients more successfully. The DKFZ's Cancer Information Service (KID) provides patients, interested citizens and experts with individual answers to questions relating to cancer.
To transfer promising approaches from cancer research to the clinic and thus improve the prognosis of cancer patients, the DKFZ cooperates with excellent research institutions and university hospitals throughout Germany:
The DKFZ is 90 percent financed by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and 10 percent by the state of Baden-Württemberg. The DKFZ is a member of the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centers.
