Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT
Sulzbach, DE
The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, is the world’s leading non-profit organization for applied research. By prioritizing key technologies for the future and commercializing its findings in business and industry, it plays a major role in the innovation process. As one of 76 institutes and research units, the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT is offering solutions for individual tasks in the areas of e.g. biomedical engineering, cellular biotechnology as well as (nano)toxicology. The institute promotes the technology transfer to medicine and various areas of industry.
Role in the project
Fraunhofer, with its Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT, will be responsible for the development of human-relevant in vitro models to assess the impact of EDCs and mixtures on physiological barriers and target organs. As WP4 leader Fraunhofer will mainly be involved in WP4 with the main tasks of performance of in vitro barrier transport studies (lung and BBB models) followed by studies of different toxicological endpoints. Furthermore, complex human in vitro 3D models mimicking e.g. liver, are used to close knowledge gaps in the understanding of EDC effects in target organs. Fraunhofer is also involved in WP6, 7 and 8.
Team
Yvonne Kohl
Yvonne Kohl is a senior researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT and Scientific Specialist for Toxicology. She studied at the Technical University of Kaiserslautern in the Department of Food Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology (Germany). Afterwards Dr. Kohl did her Ph.D. thesis in the field of nanotoxicology and obtained her PhD at the Saarland University (Faculty of Science and Technology Chemistry, Pharmacy, Bio- and Materials Sciences, Germany) in 2011. In 2022 she completed her postgraduate studies “Toxicology and Environmental Protection” (Leipzig University, Faculty of Medicine, Germany). At the Fraunhofer IBMT she is working on the development of novel toxicological screening technologies and in vitro methods according to the 3R principle to study human impacts of nanoscale materials. Dr. Kohl has several years of experience in the management of national and international projects, both as a project manager and as a project coordinator.
Sylvia Wagner
Sylvia Wagner studied chemistry at the University of Karlsruhe and received her PhD in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Biomedical Engineering IBMT in 2010. Currently she is Manager of the Group “Cell Models & Toxicology” and Head of the Department “Bioprocessing & Bioanalytics” at Fraunhofer IBMT. Her research focuses on nanobiotechnology and the development of specific preclinical in vitro/ex vivo models in the field of nanotoxicology and nanomedicine. E.g., her department has established several cell line, primary cell/tissue or stem cell-based barrier models (BBB, GIT, lung) for permeation studies, and a vascularized tumour model. Her department was and is involved in several joint research projects in the field of drug delivery systems based on nanotechnologies, which were and are funded by the EU, national funding agencies and the private sector. Her department has actual the GLP-certified permission for testings in category 9: Other testing: Biological and Microbiological Safety Testing of Medical Devices, Drugs and Cell Therapeutics. In addition, several projects based on nanoparticle risk assessment came more and more into focus. Thematically adjacent to risk assessment, human biomonitoring is also a pillar of her department as well as pseudovirus production in the context of HIV and SARS-CoV-2 research.