Dresden Excellence Award for Dr. Felix Lansing
Dr Felix Lansing has won the Science Award of the City of Dresden in the doctoral category and was honoured for his dissertation work “Wie neuartige Gen-Skalpelle die Gen-Therapie revolutionieren – Directed evolution of site-specific recombinases for precise genome editing and rearrangement”.
In his thesis work, Felix Lansing developed a new type of highly precise gene scalpels. These recombinase-based gene scalpels work very precisely and efficiently and can thus edit the genome much more accurately than CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
Within his dissertation, Dr. Lansing tested a first possible application in combating a severe form of haemophilia (haemophilia A). He proved that there is a chance of curing the world’s most common blood clotting disorder. Furthermore, Dr Lansing’s work has explored applications for curing other genetic diseases.
Press release of idw
Press release of the City of Dresden
Shady Sayed wins Young Investigator Award
Our postdoc Shady Sayed is one of the winners of the Young Investigator Award of the 21st International AEK Cancer Congress.
The Young Investigator Award in the amount of 500 EUR was awarded by the congress president Professor Martin Eilers at the Welcome Reception in Kassel on February 15.
Congratulations Shady!
Shady Sayed representing the Buchholz Lab at the 21st International AEK Cancer Congress in Kassel
Shady Sayed’s abstract has been selected as an abstract short talk at the 21st International AEK Cancer Congress in Kassel from February 15 to 17, 2023.
The abstract titled “Efficient Correction of Oncogenic KRAS and TP53 Mutations through CRISPR Base Editing” will be presented during Symposium 6: Small molecules II on February 16 at 3:15 pm.
Deutscher Studienpreis award ceremony for Felix Lansing in Berlin
For this groundbreaking contribution to finding treatment for more then 8,000 diseases that can be traced back to gene defect, Felix Lansing was awarded second place in the Deutscher Studienpreis of the Körber Foundation. The award ceremony took place in Berlin and the award was presented by the President of the German Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, on December 12, 2022.
Read the complete TUD news item here
Felix Lansing awarded Deutscher Studienpreis in Natural and Technical Sciences
Dr Felix Lansing has made a groundbreaking contribution to cell and gene therapy, for which he was awarded 2nd place in the Deutscher Studienpreis by the Körber Foundation. “In my dissertation,” outlines Dr Lansing, “I developed a new molecular scalpel for the treatment of haemophilia, which cuts precisely and at the same time repairs without errors.”
Dr Lansing’s work paves the way to be able to apply this technology broadly and enter a new era of genome surgery. In this context, the molecular biologist has co-founded the start-up RecTech GmbH, with which he “plans to advance the technology to treat genetic diseases and thus establish new, innovative therapeutic options for previously incurable diseases.”
The Deutscher Studienpreis jury was impressed by the planned application and emphasised the comprehensible presentation of this socially relevant topic. Dr. Lansing thus prevailed against 609 competitors. The award will be presented on 12 December 2022 by the President of the Bundestag and patron Bärbel Bas at the German Parliamentary Society in Berlin.
Congratulations Felix!
New start-up company RecTech GmbH founded
RecTech GmbH is a brand new start-up focused on developing designer recombinases for precision genome editing.
Supported by the BMBF GO-Bio programme, the lab of Frank Buchholz founded the
company to translate its scientific findings into a translational pipeline.
@RecTech_Dresden
@BuchholzLab_TUD
Designer recombinase can precisely correct disease-relevant gene defect in severe form of hemophilia A
The research team led by Prof. Frank Buchholz at the Carl Gustav Carus Medical Faculty of the Technical University of Dresden has succeeded in developing an enzyme that can efficiently and specifically correct a gene mutation in the Factor VIII gene, which is responsible for a severe form of hemophilia A.
People suffering from the severe form of hemophilia A are unable to produce a certain protein necessary for blood clotting. As a consequence, Hemophilia A patients often suffer from spontaneous bleeding, which can lead to chronic painful and degenerative joint disease, hematomas and also potentially life-threatening internal bleeding. Currently, patients are treated with a protein replacement therapy using recombinant factor VIII, which typically must be administered intravenously several times a week. Patients benefit from this treatment. However, so far this therapy can only alleviate the symptoms of the disease, but not cure the patients.
This fact might change in the future due to the designer-recombinase RecF8 generated by the RecTech team around Prof. Frank Buchholz. RecF8 is the newest innovation based on the designer-recombinase platform technology developed by the research group. Designer-recombinases represent a versatile and flexible genome editing tool that allows for precise and efficient genome modifications. The now presented RecF8 designer-recombinase can for the first time correct the defective factor VIII gene with high precision. About 50% of severe hemophilia A cases are caused by a so-called gene inversion – a gene segment that is practically turned the wrong way around. RecF8 is able to detect specific sequences in this inversion and rotate correctly the inverted DNA section back into the right direction. The team was able to show that the gene inversion causing hemophilia A could be reversed after treatment with RecF8 in patient cells, thus curing the cells. These results again demonstrate the high therapeutic potential of designer recombinases, as they could now also be used to correct disease-causing gene inversions.
“The next step is of course to prove the safety of RecF8 in animal models. Should the efficiency as well as specificity also be demonstrated in the animal model, a clinical trial with patients could follow. The results so far are promising and show the high potential of the technology for future clinical application,” explains Prof. Buchholz.
References:
Correction of a Factor VIII genomic inversion with designer-recombinases.
Lansing F, Mukhametzyanova L, Rojo-Romanos T, Iwasawa K, Kimura M, Paszkowski-Rogacz M, Karpinski J, Grass T, Sonntag J, Schneider PM, Günes C, Hoersten J, Schmitt LT, Rodriguez-Muela N, Knöfler R, Takebe T & Buchholz F. Nature Communications volume 13, Article number: 422 (2022)
Pairing of single mutations yields obligate Cre-type site-specific recombinases.
Hoersten J, Ruiz-Gómez G, Lansing F, Rojo-Romanos T, Schmitt LT, Sonntag J, Pisabarro MT, Buchholz F. Nucleic Acids Res. 2021 Dec 24:gkab1240. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkab1240. Online ahead of print. PMID: 34951450
RecTech: RecTech is a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the GO-Bio Innitiative. Within the planned spin-off RecTech, the research results mentioned here are to be further developed and commercialized.
Contacts:
Dr. Felix Lansing
Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus der Technischen Universität Dresden
Fetscherstr. 74
01307 Dresden
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 463-40091
Fax: +49 (0) 351 463-40289
E-Mail: felix.lansing@tu-dresden.de
Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz
Medizinische Fakultät Carl Gustav Carus der Technischen Universität Dresden
Fetscherstr. 74
01307 Dresden
Tel.: +49 (0) 351 463-40288
Fax: +49 (0) 351 463-40289
E-Mail: frank.buchholz@tu-dresden.de
Interview on communication in science with Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz
On 18 January 2022, mdr Sachsen published a podcast on the topic “Is there a therapy for Long Covid?” in which Prof. Dr. Frank Buchholz comments on communication in science within and with the outside world.
(Podcast – Prof. Dr. Buchholz starting at 1:39:30)
Prof. Frank Buchholz new Dean of Research at the Medical Faculty
As Dean of Research, Prof. Frank Buchholz will continue the previous work and set new priorities.
The objective of the Office of the Dean of Research at the Medical Faculty of the TU Dresden is:
- to ensure the continuation of existing research priorities and to expand them accordingly
- to define and establish innovative research priorities – with a special focus on translational research
- to acquire national and international funding and to participate intensively in future activities of the University Medicine Network and future state programmes.
In addition, interdisciplinary cross-sectional profiles are to be deepened and the integration of the Medical Faculty into international networks is to be further developed.
German Alliance of Scientific Organisations: Call for more objectivity in crisis situations
The German Alliance of Scientific Organisations has taken a stand on the current reporting by the BILD newspaper in connection with the coronavirus pandemic by calling for more objectivity in crisis situations. The full version of the letter can be found here (German version).