Our Research Areas
Methodological / Technological
Clinical Trials
The Clinical Trials profile area accelerates drug development by streamlining regulatory and operational aspects to reduce costs and timelines, while attracting investors and facilitating collaboration between research groups and industry partners. Members lead Investigator-initiated and multicenter trials across oncology, metabolic, and infectious diseases, supported by the Clinical Trial Center and an extensive site network in Saarland, Europe, and beyond... Read more
Materials in Health / Delivery Systems
The profile area Materials in Health / Delivery Systems advances drug delivery through innovative materials and pharmaceutical technologies. PSH Members develop smart carriers as well as biohybrid and living therapeutic devices for targeted and sustainable delivery. Expertise spans nanoparticles, thermotropic liquid crystals, smart polymer systems, and drug-coated medical devices... Read more
Discovery, Preclinical Testing and 3R
The Discovery, Preclinical Testing and 3R profile area advances early-stage pharmaceutical research through innovative methodologies spanning drug discovery, preclinical validation, and animal replacement strategies. Expertise encompasses molecular and experimental pharmacology, cytoskeletal biology, cell biology, cell physics, biochemistry, experimental surgery, advanced microscopy... Read more
Systems Bioengineering / Synthetic Biology
The Systems Bioengineering / Synthetic Biology profile area advances biomolecular technologies to discover, produce, characterize, and diversify natural products and drug-like molecules for novel therapeutics. The area comprises three subgroups: Engineering Cells (bottom-up synthetic cell assembly, cell-free systems for drug design and testing), Engineering Processes, and Engineering Molecules... Read more
Data Science & AI
The Data Science & AI profile area unites computational experts pioneering machine learning, bioinformatics, biophysics, and AI-driven drug discovery. Members develop cutting-edge algorithms with clinical applications in mind, from sparse deep learning and causal inference to data-driven compound design and protein interaction analysis... Read more
Natural Products & Microbiota
The Natural Products & Microbiota profile area explores bacterial specialized metabolism and microbiome interactions through integrated omics approaches. Led by Prof. Christine Beemelmanns, members combine natural product chemistry, genomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics to discover novel bioactive compounds from microbial sources... Read more
Clinical
Infection Research
The Infection Research profile area addresses research around antimicrobial resistance and the development of novel anti-infective drugs through three interconnected pillars: comprehensive pathogen research (ESKAPE pathogens, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, fungi, parasites including malaria and neglected tropical diseases, viruses), pathogen-host interaction studies (immunity, immune evasion, biofilm formation, commensal-pathogen dynamics)... Read more
Neurobiology
The Neurobiology profile conducts translational research integrating clinical investigation with experimental neuroscience to elucidate disease mechanisms and advance personalized medicine. Primary disease areas are neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory conditions and specially Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer's disease followed by neuromuscular disorders, epilepsy, and neuropsychiatric conditions... Read more
Cancer
The Cancer profile area advances translational cancer research through proteogenomics, biomarker discovery, and therapeutic development. The team combines cutting-edge molecular profiling with high-throughput drug screening, leveraging expertise in tumor biology, tumor viruses, and viral oncogenesis, tumor stem cells and microenvironment, and inflammatory pathways... Read more