Partners


The association Bioanalytik Münster e.V. (bioanalytik-muenster) has been founded by local companies, the city of Muenster, local banks, the two Muenster universities, and other local development organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce in November 2000. It serves as a central communication and information agency for companies, investors, researcher institutions and public authorities to develop and implement the regional development strategy in RTD and economic exploitation of nanobioanalytics. Bioanalytik-muenster involves especially the local SMEs in interdisciplinary projects at the national and EU-level.

Contact

Klaus Weltring
Sabine Tenbohlen

Mendelstraße 17
D-48149 Münster
Germany


CEA is the French Alternative Energies and Atomic energy Commission. It is a public research-and-technology oragnisation founded in 1945 and active in four main areas: low-carbon energies, defense and security, information technologies and health technologies. The total CEA workforce represent 15 838 employees including 1556 PhD students and 293 post-docs.

The CEA Technological Research Division draws together applied research activities in key fields for industrial innovation such as nanomaterials. Several platforms and laboratories are dedicated to nanotechnologies and their expertise will be leveraged in the EU-NCL project.

Contact

Patrick Boisseau
Simon Baconnier

17, rue des Martyrs
38054 Grenoble Cedex 9
France


EMPA is a materials science and technology research institution. It specializes in applications, focused research and development, and provides high-level services in the field of sustainable materials science and technology. The laboratory for Materials-Biology Interactions is a basic and applied research unit of Empa that studies the potential use and risks of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) for human health. One main focus is the development of standardized in vitro assays that are robust by design and hence show reliable results.

Contact

Matthias Rösslein
Peter Wick

Lerchenfeldstraße 5
CH-9014 St. Gallen
Switzerland


The European Research Services GmbH is a public-private-partnership that supports researchers in planning and managing EU-projects.

ERS provides technical and administrative support, adapting project-management to the size and complexity of each specific project. ERS helps to implement risk assessment, internal monitoring and common standard procedures, safeguarding outcomes within time, budget, and EU guidelines.

Contact

Oliver Panzer
Hildegard Luhmann

Mendelstr. 17
48147 Münster
Germany


The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is a department (Directorate-General, DG) of the European Commission providing independent scientific and technological support for EU policy-making.

The JRC is composed of seven scientific institutes amongst which the Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (IHCP), located in Ispra, in the North of Italy, is actively involved in research into nanomaterials safety, identification and detection.

Contact

Luigi Calzolai
Susanne Bremer-Hoffmann

Via Enrico Fermi 2749
21027 Ispra (VA)
Italy


Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc. is a private, for-profit company, and the operator of the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research (FNLCR), a Federally Funded Research and Development Center, operated for the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH). FNLCR is a government-owned, contractor-operated facility, one of the nation's 39 FFRDC's and the only one devoted exclusively to biomedical research and development.

The Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory (NCL) is one laboratory in the larger FNLCR.

Contact

Scott McNeil

Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research
United States


SINTEF AS is a non-profit independent research organization, and with more than 2100 employees the largest in Scandinavia and the 4th largest in Europe. SINTEF AS performs contract research and development for a wide range of both Norwegian and international industry customers, and participates as a research partner in publicly funded research projects, both at the national and to a large degree at the EU level.

The Sector Biotechnology and Nanomedicine of the SINTEF AS Institute Materials and Chemistry has numerous researchers and engineers with extensive Med-NP experience and has highly sophisticated and specialized infrastructure for Med-NP characterization in three departments (Bioprocess technology, Mass Spectrometry and Polymer Particles and Surface Chemistry). All three departments will be involved in the EU-NCL project.

Contact

Ruth B. Schmid
Geir Klinkenberg
Sven Even Borgos

Sem Sælands v. 2A
7465 Trondheim
Norway


Trinity College Dublin (established in 1592, common name for “The Provost, Fellows, Foundation Scholars, and the other Member of Board of the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth Near Dublin”) and its affiliated hospital St. James’s Hospital, is one of Europe’s leading universities, ranked 129th in the World according to the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) University league tables in 2014 and 30th in the World in the Times Higher Education Top 100 Most International Universities 2014.

The TCD-IMM infrastructure involved in the EU-NCL project is located at the Institute of Molecular Medicine (IMM) on the grounds of St. James's Hospital.

Contact

Adriele Prina-Mello

Institute of Molecular Medicine
Trinity Centre for Health Sciences
St. James's street
8 Dublin
Ireland


Founded in 1881, the University of Liverpool (ULP) is a principal centre of excellence in many disciplines, including medicine. As one of the UK’s top 20 research-led universities, we are furthering knowledge with strategic partners worldwide.

The Department of Molecular and Clinical Pharmacology sits within the Institute of Translational Medicine. The Department is strategically placed to co-ordinate and conduct the Liverpool component of the EU-NCL, with significant established research programs in nanomedicine, strong local links to the Departments of Biochemistry and Chemistry, and extremely strong European and international collaborations.

 

Contact

Andrew Owen
Neill Liptrott

University of Liverpool
Liverpool L69 3BX
United Kingdom

Third Parties


The Biomedical Technology Centre (BMTZ) is a new unit of the Medical Faculty Muenster for the development and evaluation of novel technologies in biomedical applications. The work is supported by the membership as a core group in the new Nanobioanalytics Centre Muenster (NBZ) a joint initiative of Wirtschaftsförderung Münster, analytical SME and the Medical faculty. The research interests focus on the application of nanotechnologies and the development of biophotonic technologies as Digital Holography, midIR spectroscopy, flow cytometry and OCT. The second research interest is the development of methods and technologies for nanomaterials toxicology assessment and the characterisation of nanomaterials biological effects.

Contact

Jürgen Schnekenburger
Mendelstraße 17
D–48149 Münster


The research focus of the OxProtect GmbH is to examine the influence of materials/nanomaterials, different reagents or drugs, and agonists and antagonists on the activation status or the functional capacity of blood cells (platelets, monocytes, granulocytes, t-cells), but also endothelial cells and joint cells. The function of the cells as well as the changes or activity can be analysed by flow cytometry, aggregation assays, adhesion assays or ELISA assays.

Not only human cell function testing but also animal cell function testing is established in the OxProtect GmbH, for example for mouse, rat, rabbit, sheep, or many other animal species cells. On these cells we can examine for example antibody binding, antigen binding, morphology, cell associate formation and cell fragmentation.

OxProtect moreover offers new developed analytical methods in the area of misfolded proteins, which among other things are built after contact with materials/nanomaterials. These misfolded proteins play a pivotal role in blood coagulation and inflammation. For protein qualification and quantification with special tools we use techniques like SDS-PAGE, 2D electrophoresis, and Western Blot analysis, for cell analysis approved and new developed immunocytochemic assays.

Contact

Martin Brodde
Mendelstraße 11
D-48149 Münster


Tascon GmbH offers analytical services and consulting in the area of surface analysis. In addition to the three focus techniques ToF-SIMS (Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry), XPS (X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy) and LEIS (Low Energy Ion Scattering), the complete spectrum of surface analytical methods is covered.

Founded in 1997 Tascon GmbH addresses industries in the fields of pharmacy, health care, semiconductors, automotive, coatings, glass, and chemistry. Tascon is accredited as a ToF-SIMS and XPS test laboratory according to DIN EN ISO/IEC 17025. Tascon's success builds both on state-of-the-art instrumentation as well as highly qualified staff from the fields of physics, chemistry, biology, biochemistry and geology.

Tascon GmbH has been engaged in the ToF-SIMS analysis of organic and biological materials for several years now.

Contact

Birgit Hagenhoff
Mendelstr. 17
48149 Münster


vivo Science is a Contract Research Organization located in Germany performing standard rodent toxicology and is specialized in immunogenetic and immunotoxicology studies.  All studies are either Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) or Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) compliant depending upon the specific requirement.

Our experience is with the biopharmaceutical industry and large molecules as well as with small molecules.  The study and report design are appropriate for submission to the pharmaceutical regulatory agencies.  We also have experience in studies as described in the new European REACH guidelines for submission to the appropriate authorities.

Contact

Gerhard Lewandovski
Biologist
Fabrikstraße 3
48599 Gronau (Westfalen)


The Analytical Chemistry group at the University of Münster develops and applies hyphenated analytical methods for the determination of organic substances as well as metals and their species in complex matrices including body fluids and tissues of human, animal and plant origin. The group uses mass spectrometers with various ionization techniques including electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI), which provide molecular information and inductively coupled plasma (ICP), which provides atomization and elemental information. The group has long-term scientific experience, demonstrated by far over 100 publications, in various separation techniques including liquid chromatography (HPLC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), ion chromatography (IC) and gas chromatography (GC) coupled with selective detectors including UV/vis absorbance, fluorescence, electrochemical and mass spectrometric detectors. A particular area of specialization is metal speciation analysis, and covers the combination of a separation technique with combined ESI-MS and ICP-MS for complementary analytical identification and quantification, respectively. Recent developments include the spatially resolved analysis of metals and their species in tissues by laser abblation(LA)-ICP-MS and micro-X-Ray Fluorescence analysis (µXRF).

Contact

Uwe Karst
Correnstraße 30
D-48149 Münster

External Advisory Board


Gerrit Borchard is a licensed pharmacist and obtained his Ph.D. in pharmaceutical technology from the University of Frankfurt (Germany) for his thesis on the interaction of colloidal drug carrier systems with the immune system. After holding several academic posts, including a lecturer position at Saarland University (Germany) and Assistant and Associate Professorships at Leiden University (The Netherlands), he joined Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (USA) as Vice President Research. In 2005, he was appointed Full Professor of Biopharmaceutics at the University of Geneva (Switzerland), and Scientific Director of the Centre Pharmapeptides in Archamps (France), an international center for biopharmaceutical research and training. Prof. Borchard is (co-)author of over 130 scientific publications and book chapters, co-editor of one book and named as inventor on 7 patents.

From 2008 to 2013, he served as Vice President of the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Geneva-Lausanne (EPGL) and from 2013 to 2014 as acting president. In 2012 Prof. Borchard joined the Non Biological Complex Drugs (NBCD) working group hosted at Lygature (former Top Institute Pharma (TIP, Leiden, The Netherlands), and became member of the steering committee in 2015. He was nominated Chair of the NBC working party at the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines & Health Care (EDQM) by Swissmedic in 2013.

Prof. Borchard was nominated Fellow of the Swiss Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (SSPhS) in 2010, and has been President of the Swiss Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences since 2014. He also served as Vice President of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Sciences (EUFEPS) from 2013 to 2015.

Due to his working in both academia and industry, and living in four countries, Prof. Borchard has acquired extensive experience in diverse working and cultural environments, and speaks Dutch, English, French and German fluently. Time allowing, he roams the trails and by-roads of the Jura mountains on foot and bike.

Gerrit Borchard
1205 Geneva
Switzerland


Dr Simó Schwartz Jr (1967th, Barcelona) is the Director and Board member of the CIBBIM-Nanomedicine, which is focused on the research of new biomedical nanotechnology-based applications. In particular, new drug delivery systems, image based diagnostic systems and preclinical validation of therapeutic conjugates and bio-nanosensors, mainly in the areas of oncology and rare diseases. He is also member of the Science Advisory Board of the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) and member of the Science Advisory Board of Oryzon Genomics, a Spanish leading biotech company. He also leads the “drug delivery and targeting group” at the CIBBIM-Nanomedicine. He helds 13 patents, most transfered to leading companies of the biotech and pharma sectors and coauthors more than 60 papers in high impact factor journals. Dr Schwartz Jr is coordinator and collaborator of several research projects directly related with the obtention and validation of therapeutic drug delivery systems. Among them are international and EU projects involving SME’s in which animal models are being used for preclinical validation of new therapies directed against tumor cells. Dr Schwartz Jr is also member of the Nanomedicine Spanish Platform (NanomedSpain) and of the “European Platform for Nanomedicine” where he co-authored the 2006 Research Strategic Agenda intended to the European Commission. His research group is also a group member of the “CIBER de Bioingeniería, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina” (CIBER-BBN) of the Spanish Health Institute CarlosIII (ISCIII) which gathers a total of 45 research groups of national excellence in the field of nanotechnology and nanomedicine. Dr Schwartz Jr was the Nanomedicine Coordinador of CIBER-BBN at the national level and has been recently appointed as Deputy Director and technology transfer coordinator. Dr Schwartz was also a Co-founder and Science Advisor of ARGON Pharma SL (2008), a Spin-Off company established at the Barcelona Science Park with the mission to develop new innovative therapies to provide solutions to unmet medical needs in the oncology field, and also to develop new technologies for drug delivery and diagnosis to improve current therapies. Dr Schwartz Jr is also acting as Science Advisor of SOM BIOTECH and CELGENE and member of the Advisory Board of NANOCAN, Southern Denmark University.

Simó Schwartz
Edificio Mediterránea
Hospital Vall d'Hebron
Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 119-129
08035 Barcelona
Spain


Wim H. De Jong, DVM, PhD has graduated as veterinarian at Utrecht University, the Netherlands in 1978 and is registered as specialist in Experimental Pathobiology, and Toxicological Pathology. He started his career as scientist in experimental oncology studying immunotherapy and drug targeting in animal tumor models, changed to vaccine control and next to safety evaluation of xenobiotics, medical devices and more recently nanomaterials. He has currently a position as senior researcher at the Centre for Health Protection at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), Bilthoven, the Netherlands. Dr De Jong is involved in the safety evaluation and risk assessment of xenobiotics, biomaterials/medical devices and nanomaterials, both by in vivo and in vitro research, and research in development of alternative methods for safety evaluation. The research conducted resulted in more than 140 publications in peer reviewed international journals and several book chapters. Dr De Jong has been a member of various national and international advisory committees. He is active as member and working group chair within ISO and CEN Technical Committees dealing with safety evaluation of medical devices (ISO/TC 194, CEN/TC 206) and nanomaterials (ISO/TC 229). He has been vice-chair of the EU Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR) being a member and chair of various SCENIHR working groups dealing with the safety evaluation of medical devices and/or nanotechnologies. He particpated as chair and member in the writing of the guidance on the determination of health effects of the use of nanomaterials in medical devices (SCENIHR). He was also member of working groups of the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS), writing guidances for the safety evaluation on the use of nanomaterials in food and cosmetics, respectively. He is member of the editorial board and reviewer for several scientific journals.

Wim de Jong
Keizersgracht 5
5611 GB Eindhoven
Netherlands

European Nanomedicine Characterisation Laboratory (EUNCL)

Call for Proposals!

News

  • Final Executive Board and CET Meeting
    The EUNCL Executive Board and CET met at MedTech Europe in Brussels to arrange the last steps before closure of the project. An important and well-prepared discussion point was the way forward to ensure that the strong collaboration of partners will lead to a successful continuation of the service offered to start-ups and companies.
  • EUNCL at CRS Annual Meeting in Valencia
    EUNCL was invited to present in Valencia, Spain at the 46th Controlled Release Society Annual Meeting & Exposition! Held in the Palacio de Congresos de València from July 21st-24th, this premier event spoted a powerful lineup of presenters including Nobel Laureates, Academic powerhouses and Industry game changers celebrating the progress in the areas of bioengineering, drug delivery, material science, pharmaceutics, consumer and diversified products, and veterinary science.
  • Last General Assembly met in Stoos, Switzerland 23. - 24. May 2019
    The project’s last General Assembly took place under the motto ‘overview, impact and forecast’. The Work Package leader presented a pre-final report on their respective WPs, recapitulating the tasks accomplished during the last 3,5 years of the project’s runtime.

More News ...