STW grant for innovative biopharmaceuticals

The Technology Foundation STW has awarded a grant of EUR 1.5 million to a research consortium involved in the development of new biopharmaceuticals. Participants from the University of Groningen are the groups of Prof. R. Bischoff (Analytical Biochemistry) and Prof. W.J. Quax (Pharmaceutical Biology). In addition to STW, several companies are also supporting the research to the tune of about EUR 0.8 million.

The development of biopharmaceuticals (pharmaceutical proteins) is very important to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries because breakthroughs in the pharmaceutical field are expected to occur in just this type of product.

One well-known pharmaceutical protein that has been successfully used for years is insulin. Modern biopharmaceuticals are monoclonal antibodies (very promising in the treatment of certain types of cancer), the human growth hormone and cytokines like interferons.

The proteins have a very complex chemical structure. This means that new technologies have to be developed to analyse them. This is essential not only for screening new proteins, but also for analysing the behaviour of these substances in the body.

The consortium, which comprises research groups from Utrecht University, VU University Amsterdam and the University of Groningen, has extensive expertise in this field and also has very advanced equipment. The grant was awarded because both the level of scientific innovation and the applicability were assessed as excellent.

More information: Prof. R.P.H. Bischoff, Groningen Research Institute of Pharmacy, Analytical Biochemistry