Partnership profile

The task of systematically diagnosing, treating and, ideally, healing common illnesses such as diabetes and cancer is extremely complex. Intelligent use of biomolecular information is key. The aim is to collect, process and systematically analyse mass quantities of data, as well as make manufacturing processes for medications more effective and eco-friendly. The M²Aind research partnership tackles these challenges at the interface between biomedicine and information technology and thus strengthens the Rhine-Main-Neckar region as a hub for technology collaborations with the healthcare industry.

The region between the Rhine, Main and Neckar rivers is home to numerous prestigious companies in the healthcare industry. International key players such as Merck, Roche, BASF and Sanofi have branches here, as do highly specialised small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), innovative suppliers in biomedicine, analytics and information technology, and ambitious research clusters. The region thus offers the ideal conditions for a practically oriented research alliance which aims to help the healthcare industry, in particular, exploit the enormous potential of biomolecular information: welcome to M²Aind (pronounced ‘mind’), a research partnership established by Hochschule Mannheim in early 2017. Several dozen small and large enterprises in the healthcare industry, analytics and information technology are working together to exploit the potential of biomolecular data for concrete applications.

The biomolecule as a source of information

Research into biomolecular information and its intelligent use is at the heart of the partnership funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Biomolecules are molecules present in biological materials, meaning plants, animal and human tissue, and foods. One example is fats, of which there are around 50,000 different variations in the human body alone. Proteins are also biomolecules and occur in around 30,000 different forms inside the body.

Wide range of applications

The pharmaceutical industry, for example, benefits from knowledge about the type, number and composition of biomolecules found in tissue. In industrial research, biomolecular data allows you to determine whether development candidates for future cancer medications will be able to reach the tumour and if the tumour will respond to treatment. This accelerates the development of novel drugs. Another promising application is the eco-friendly production of medications, which will require the continuous collection and automated analysis of molecular information during the manufacturing process. Deviations can thus be identified in real time and the corresponding responses promptly introduced. Quality assurance could be structured more efficiently in another application: the food industry. Sugar substitutes for healthier nutrition are also potential products based on digitised biomolecular information.

Ambitious projects

But ensuring that the staggering quantity of biomolecular information can, in fact, be exploited in a sensible way requires one thing above all else: the flood of information must first be structured, channelled and systematically analysed. This is where the term ‘big data analytics’ comes into play: it’s only these complex analysis methods that make it possible to collect, process and combine the wealth of information, so that meaningful conclusions can be drawn. And that’s exactly what M²Aind is working on.

There’s a key focus on three impulse projects which deal with the described research methods on different levels. One of the projects is dedicated to optimising the entire production chain for pharmaceuticals, from development to substance testing, with the aid of digitised molecular data. In another project, participants are developing digitised methods for analysing tissue and producing tissue samples and complex cell cultures for practical research. The third project focuses on the development of equipment, with the aim of developing highly sensible measuring instruments and methods for reliably collecting biomolecular data. These projects are milestones in application-oriented research that benefit patients and consumers – in the region and far beyond.