Organisational matters

The Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) is growing: In the past three years, the institute – a site of the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in collaboration with Saarland University (UdS) – has appointed five professors together with the UdS. To further strengthen the focus on active ingredients at the Saarbrücken campus, the university has filled two additional professorships in this field. To ensure that the researchers have adequate laboratory and office space, several construction projects are planned that will provide space for 330 researchers by 2029. The structural expansion is financed by federal and state development funds totaling 55.7 million euros. Federal Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger praised the expansion of the HIPS as an example of the successful fulfillment of the mission of a Helmholtz Institute: “The BMBF supports the growth of the institute in terms of personnel and buildings, and in doing so promotes the excellent scientific development of the entire HZI. The collaboration with the UdS is strengthened because the HIPS on the Saarbrücken campus is advancing the development of new anti-infectives with a high international profile and is thus significantly developing infection research in the Helmholtz Association. This is how we strengthen Germany as an innovative site for medical research in Europe.”

“With the HIPS, Saarland has a beacon in German and international drug research. The HIPS makes an outstanding contribution to health research by searching for new active ingredients and developing them for use in humans. The Saarland is known worldwide as an attractive location for biomedical and pharmaceutical research. Together with the federal government, we are ready to make a substantial contribution to expanding these capacities in the Saarland,” says Jürgen Barke, Minister for Economy, Innovation, Digitalization and Energy.

The designs and partners for the major part of the construction work were determined by the end of August 2024 in an international architecture competition. Prof. Rolf Müller, Scientific Director of the HIPS, says: “Thanks to the additional funding from the state and federal government, the HIPS is undergoing an expansion process, which is unique among Helmholtz Institutes. Now that we have successfully attracted top scientists to the site, our task is to provide them with an attractive structural environment. We look forward to realizing the design by the two offices Christensen & Co. Architects from Copenhagen and Code of Practice Architects from Berlin, because it will enable our international team to conduct pharmaceutical research at the highest level.”

Prof. Ludger Santen, President of Saarland University, says: ”The expansion of the HIPS is a stroke of luck for the university and is emblematic of the rapid development of the institute. The HIPS is a strong partner of the university and we are proud that we can further expand our close collaboration with the PharmaScienceHub, exemplified in the nextAID³ excellence cluster application. In addition, the HIPS expansion is an important milestone for campus development, seamlessly integrating into the ensemble of representative research buildings in the eastern entrance area of the Saarbrücken campus.”

The winning design by the Danish-German consortium of architects prioritizes sustainability and functionality, with a particular focus on modern communication areas where researchers can jointly develop and implement ideas. In addition, a Citizen Lab will for the first time allow interested citizens insights into drug research. A first research building in modular design will be constructed in the short term to provide space for the new groups of the HIPS and will be completed by the end of 2025.

The winning design was presented to the public at the HIPS on October 29, 2024. All the designs submitted in the competition can also be viewed at a public exhibition from October 30 to December 12, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays.

Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland:
The Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) in Saarbrücken was founded jointly by the HZI and Saarland University in 2009. Scientists at HIPS develop and employ experimental and computational approaches to provide new active substances against infectious diseases, optimise them for use in humans and investigate how they can best be transported to their site of action in the human body. A special focus of the institute is on microbial natural products from soil bacteria and the human microbiota as well as innovative medicinal chemistry-driven approaches. www.helmholtz-hips.de

Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research:
Scientists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig and other locations in Germany study bacterial and viral infections and the body's defense mechanisms. They have in-depth expertise in natural product research and its use as a valuable source for novel anti-infectives. As a member of the Helmholtz Association and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), the HZI conducts translational research to lay the foundations for the development of novel therapies and vaccines against infectious diseases. www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en

Media contact:
Dr. Yannic Nonnenmacher
Scientific Strategy Officer
Tel. 0681 98806-4500
hips.media@helmholtz-hips.de

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Weitere Informationen:
https://www.helmholtz-hzi.de/en/media-center/newsroom/news-detail/what-the-future-of-drug-research-in-saarland-looks-like/