First analytical instruments in operation

The premises of the high-security laboratory (S3) on the Helmholtz Munich site could already be inspected in spring 2022 prior to commissioning. The BSL3 laboratory will house part of the laboratory equipment from the PerForM-REACT project. At the Augsburg site, some of the new analytical equipment in the S1/S2 laboratory has also been put into operation in the meantime and planning for the expansion of the premises is in full swing. Professor Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann, Professor of Environmental Medicine at the Medical Faculty of the University of Augsburg and Director of the Institute of Environmental Medicine at Helmholtz Munich, and her team are bringing research and preparedness capabilities to Augsburg to combat and prevent future pandemics as part of the project. "The pandemic brought a lot of suffering, but also showed how the cooperation of scientists made the detection and control of the virus possible in a very short time. I am proud that Environmental Medicine at Augsburg is part of these research networks and can contribute to pandemic preparedness through research in the area of environment-human interactions that will begin immediately."

The expansion of the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL3) laboratory at the Helmholtz site in Munich-Neuherberg makes experiments and analyses with active airborne pathogens possible. Transmission pathways and virus concentrations in the air can be studied, as can the effect of substances that could be considered as medication. For this purpose, the latest imaging techniques will be used, some of which will allow automated high-resolution imaging of living cells. An aerosol unit will investigate infectious aerosols and help to find out how they can be rendered harmless.

At Augsburg, the expansion of the laboratory is focused on capacities for analyzing environmental and patient samples and for experiments that do not work directly with the living pathogen. For example, blood samples from patients can be analyzed to identify biomarkers that could be useful for both early warning systems and predicting disease progression. Some of the new devices rely on AI in this regard, which makes analysis procedures and also research processes faster and - for employees in an emergency - also much safer.  In addition, long-term plans call for an exposure chamber that will enable targeted investigation of external factors, such as environmental factors, on infection events. Equipment for high-throughput sample processing is coming to Augsburg, as is associated capacity to store samples and to process and analyze very large amounts of data.

PerForM-REACT, however, wants much more. The planned units in Munich and Augsburg interlock to provide the most comprehensive view possible of an infection event. The project spans the spectrum from basic research, which generally helps to better understand the molecular processes in infections with the help of the latest technologies, to the development of concrete strategies that can be quickly applied to research and pandemic control in the event of an emergency.

On December 12, 2022, Matthias Tschöp, CEO of Helmholtz Munich, visited the laboratory facilities in Augsburg and those devices that have already gone into operation. They are already available for research and analysis work, because: after the pandemic is before the pandemic – according to the forecasts of scientists. The research capacities being created in Augsburg and Munich ensure that the best possible pandemic prevention starts now.