• Skip to Management
  • Skip to Main menu
  • Skip to Page content
Adlershof Logo
  • WISTA
  • WISTA.Plan
  • WISTA.Service
WISTA direkt
Search
  • de
  • en
  • Adlershof Logo
  • About / Directory
    • Companies / Institutes
    • Science City in numbers
    • Direction / Maps
      • Bus / Train
      • By Car
      • Bicycle
      • Orientation / Maps
      • Trail of Thoughts
  • Newsroom
    • Overview
    • News
      • Social Media Stream
      • Success Stories
    • Events / Calendar
      • Adlershof Dissertation Award
      • Adlershof Research Forum
      • Long Night of Sciences Berlin
    • Adlershof Journal
    • Hot Topics
      • Adlershof Mission "Grand Challenges"
      • Circular Economy
      • Digital infra­structure / 5G campus network
    • Photos / Flyer / Downloads
      • Magazine archive
    • WISTA-Editorial Staff
  • Science / Technology
    • Overview
    • Technology Centres
      • Photonics / Optics
      • Biotech­nology / Envi­ron­ment
      • Micro­systems / Materi­als
      • IT / Media
      • Renewable Energy / Photovoltaics
    • Non-university Research
    • Universities / Colleges
      • Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
      • Services for Students
    • Young Talents / STEM / School Labs
    • Start-Ups
      • Adlershof Start-Up Centre IGZ
      • Adlershof Founder’s Lab
    • Networks / Management
      • Campus Club Adlershof
  • TV / Media
    • TV and Movie Production
    • Media Services / Companies
    • News and Events
    • Filming Locations
    • Costume Hire
    • GDR Film Archive
    • Tickets / Booking
  • Properties
    • Overview
    • Real Estate Rent
      • Office Space / Workspace / Laboratories
    • Real Estate Offers
      • Commercial Properties
    • ST3AM Working Environments / Coworking
    • Residential
    • Construction
      • Building Projects
      • Architecture
      • Webcam
  • Service
    • Overview
    • Gastronomy / Sport / Culture / Shopping
    • Jobs / Market
    • Social and Healthcare Facilities
    • WISTA-Business Services
    • Event Services / Guided Tours / Hotels
    • Facility Management
    • Downloads / Photos / Videos
    • Jobs for Refugees
  • Hood
    • Overview
    • History
    • Nature Park
    • Culture
    • Technology Park
    • Digital Tours
  • WISTA
  • WISTA.Plan
  • WISTA.Service
WISTA direkt

News

  • Overview
  • News
  • Events / Calendar
  • Adlershof Journal
  • Hot Topics
  • Photos / Flyer / Downloads
  • WISTA-Editorial Staff
  • Adlershof
  • Newsroom
  • News
29. April 2020

Corona research: Consortium of Berlin research and industry seeks active ingredients

The HZB is making all existing infrastructures available to the joint project

Protein crystals analysis in the MX laboratory at BESSY II © C. Feiler/HZB
Protein crystals are analysed in the MX laboratory at BESSY II with hard X-rays. © C. Feiler/HZB

The Berlin biotech company Molox GmbH and a team at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB) have initiated a consortium of regional research groups and BASF. Together, they want to identify a starting point for the development of a potential active substance against the new coronavirus. Targets of potential inhibitors will be SARS-CoV2 proteins that promote the spread or infectivity of the viruses. Scientists from Freie Universität Berlin are also involved in the research work.

"Berlin combines important large-scale infrastructure with an excellent network of academic and industrial structural biologists and biochemists. The distances here are short, but resources and expertise must be strategically coordinated to be successful," says Dr. Holger von Moeller, the owner of the biotech company Molox.

Access to synchrotron radiation is essential for the success of the project. This particularly intense radiation is provided by the Berlin Electron Storage Ring for Synchrotron Radiation (BESSY II), which is operated by the HZB.

Several research groups at Freie Universität Berlin led by Prof. Markus Wahl, Prof. Christian Freund, Dr. Ursula Neu, and Prof. Sutapa Chakrabarti are working with Molox to produce the proteins and then crystallize them.

"The HZB is making all existing infrastructures available to the joint project," explains Dr. Manfred Weiss, head of the Research Group Macromolecular Crystallography (MX) at HZB.

BASF is the first project partner from the chemical industry to provide funds to start the investigations. Protein crystals will be saturated with potential inhibitors and subsequently analysed on the MX beamlines of BESSY II. In this way it can be discovered which compounds are particularly good at inhibiting the function of the protein - these should then be the starting points for the development of active substances.

The consortium is currently negotiating with other partners in order to acquire them and their substance libraries. "We are looking forward to this joint project and hope that we will be able to identify new potential active substances against SARS-CoV-2 very quickly", says Dr. Christian Feiler, project leader at HZB.

Further information:

  • Protein Crystallography at BESSY II: Providing tools for drug development
     

Contact:

Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
Research Group Macromolecular Crystallography

Dr. Christian Feiler
Phone: +49 30 8062-14869
Email: christian.feiler(at)helmholtz-berlin.de

Dr. Manfred Weiss
Phone: +49 30 8062-13149
Email: manfred.weiss(at)helmholtz-berlin.de

Press Officer:
Dr. Antonia Rötger
Phone: +49 30 8062-43733
Email: antonia.roetger(at)helmholtz-berlin.de

Analytics Research Corona Biotechnology / Environment Microsystems / Materials

Related News

  • MX team BESSY II © HZB

    HZB coordinates European collaboration to develop active agents against Corona

    The MX team at BESSY II specialises in analysing protein structures
  • DESY researcher © DESY/Christian Schmid

    Synchrotrons accelerate corona research

    Research funding is key – Information by the German Committee Research with Synchrotron Radiation
  • fragment-screening workflow © HZB

    New substance library to accelerate the search for active compounds

    Substance library of the HZB-MX team is available worldwide for the development of drugs, also in the search for active substances against SARS-CoV-2
  • Schematic representation of the coronavirus protease © Helena Tabermann/HZB

    Corona research at BESSY II

    Two days of measuring operation to find the right key
  • Schematic representation of the coronavirus protease © HZB

    Coronavirus: BESSY II data accelerate drug development

    Scientists have decoded the three-dimensional architecture of the main protease of SARS-CoV-2
  • LinkedInshare0
  • Facebookshare0
  • WhatsAppshare0
  • E-Mail

The development of the Science and Technology Park Berlin Adlershof was and is co-financed by the European Union namely by EFRE. This concerns infrastructure development like construction of technology centres. Furthermore EFRE is used for international projects.

  • © WISTA Management GmbH
  • Legal Notice
  • Privacy Policy
  • Social Media Guide
  • FAQ
  • Contact
  • Press
  • Newsletter
  • RSS
  • International
Member of:
Zukunftsort Adlershof Logo