As of: January 26, 2024, 12:00 p.m
By: Wolfgang Schörner
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So far still an empty area: The Fraunhofer Society wants to build its own research building on this property in the Nonnenwald industrial park.
They are currently still working in Roche laboratories.
© Wolfgang Schörner
Almost two years ago, scientists from the Fraunhofer Society moved into the Roche factory in Penzberg to conduct pandemic research in rented laboratories.
The Fraunhofer Society, Roche and Ludwig Maximilians University are now starting another project in Penzberg.
This is about tuberculosis.
Penzberg – Penzberg has been a Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft location since spring 2022.
The plan is to have our own research building in the Nonnenwald Industrial Park in the future (see box below).
At the moment, the scientists are still working in the laboratories of the Roche factory in Penzberg.
There you work on immunology, infection and pandemic research.
More specifically: The researchers are investigating the role of the immune system in infectious diseases and trying to identify new pathogens in the animal world so that active ingredients can be developed more quickly in an emergency.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology (ITMP) is cooperating with Roche and the LMU Clinic in Munich.
New project announced - it's about tuberculosis
Now the three are announcing another project for the Fraunhofer Penzberg-Munich location.
This is about tuberculosis, or TB for short. The Fraunhofer Institute announced that around a quarter of the world's population is latently infected with tuberculosis pathogens.
10.6 million people would develop tuberculosis every year and around 1.3 million would die from it.
The institute points to a World Health Organization estimate that 40 percent of tuberculosis cases go undiagnosed or unreported.
For children the rate is even over 70 percent.
Diagnosis of the infectious disease is a challenge
According to the Fraunhofer Institute, the problem is that diagnosing the infectious disease is a challenge, even though the pathogen has been known for over 140 years.
The diagnosis requires a complex infrastructure that does not exist in all countries and is not accessible to many of those affected.
In addition, detection with the common tuberculosis test via secretions from the deep respiratory tract (“sputum”) is not always reliable.
In addition, sputum samples are difficult to obtain from children or immunocompromised people.
Search for biomarkers in blood, urine or saliva samples
A study is now intended to identify “new, highly sensitive and specific biomarkers for the diagnosis of tuberculosis disease” that are not based on sputum, but on blood, urine or saliva samples.
The Fraunhofer Institute explains that although blood-based test procedures already exist, it is not possible to distinguish between active tuberculosis disease and latent infection or previous contact with the bacterium.
According to the institute, a platform will also be created to collect samples for the discovery and verification of further diagnostic markers.
The aim of the joint project is “new solutions for patient-oriented tuberculosis diagnostics”.
Regarding the cooperation itself, the statement states that Roche is a pioneer of personalized medicine and a world-leading manufacturer of diagnostic analysis systems.
The LMU Clinic, in turn, has decades of experience in the field of tuberculosis.
As part of the cooperation, their tropical institute is currently looking for test subjects in the greater Munich area.
The Fraunhofer Institute sees itself as an interface between academic research and industry.
The goal is to “eliminate tuberculosis”
Its site manager for Penzberg-Munich, Prof. Michael Hoelscher, explained about the new cooperation: “A diagnosis of tuberculosis close to the patient and available on the same day is an indispensable prerequisite for achieving the goal of eliminating tuberculosis.” He is happy that says Hoelscher that a large company like Roche is tackling this problem.
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Fraunhofer building in Penzberg: Construction is not scheduled to begin until spring 2025
It will be a little longer before the researchers at the Penzberg Fraunhofer site can move from the Roche factory to their own building in the Nonnenwald industrial park.
It was originally said that construction could possibly begin as early as 2024.
But it doesn't happen that quickly.
As reported, the new building will be built on an urban site west of the Roche factory and south of the printing center on Dr.-Gotthilf-Näher-Straße.
When asked, the Fraunhofer Society confirmed that it was still planning to build a building there “to ensure the permanent accommodation of the new research capacities”.
We are currently “in the planning phase”.
Subject to the building permit, the company expects construction to begin in spring 2025.
The move into the new building would then be planned for autumn 2027.
At the same time, the company confirmed that a building height of 22 meters would be possible according to the change in the development plan.
The property is to be acquired by way of a leasehold.
The negotiations are in an advanced phase.
According to the Fraunhofer Society, twelve employees currently work at the Penzberg location of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology.
They continue to work in Roche Diagnostics' offices.
According to the company, 50 people will be employed full-time in the medium term.