With the opening of two new CD labs on 24th of September, TU Graz is once again acting as an interface between science and industry. The pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Sesam-Biotech GmbH and Biogrammatics are company partners of the CD Laboratory for Innovative Pichia Pastoris Host and Vector Systems, which under the leadership of Anton Glieder is investigating basic biological mechanisms of the yeast species Pichia pastoris. The results should lead to higher quality enzymes and biopharmaceutical proteins being produced at a lower price. In the CD Laboratory for Organocatalysis in Polymerisation, laboratory head Christian Slugovc and his team are working together with the companies Allnex and Hilti to produce high-quality plastics using alcohols in a more cost-effective and environmentally friendly way. The participating companies are jointly financing the seven-year research in the Christian Doppler labs along with public funds. The research budgets amount to a total of 1.9 million euros (CD lab for Innovative Pichia Pastoris Host and Vector Systems) and 1.4 million euros (CD lab for Organocatalysis in Polymerisation). The most important public funding source is the Federal Ministry of Digital and Economic Affairs (BMDW).
The Economic Ministry promotes application-oriented basic research
“Whether better and cheaper medicines or more environmentally friendly plastics – these two CD labs make a contribution to the quality of life and competitiveness of the location,” emphasizes Elisabeth Udolf-Strobl, Federal Minister of Digital and Economic Affairs. “The efficient use of resources is becoming an increasingly important cost factor in production, which is why innovative methods are needed to gain a decisive advantage over the competition. Location-relevant research is the key for our companies and here the close networking with excellent institutions such as TU Graz helps us.”
Read more about the new CD labs in the TU Graz News+Stories article.