Generous donation promotes new immunotherapy project

With a generous donation, the married couple Merete and Alexander Knauf of the international building materials company of the same name are stimulating a promising basic research project in the Beilhack lab. Based on an entirely new approach, the project aims to control potential life-threatening immune reactions between a stem cell transplant and the recipient’s body.
Alexander Knauf, Merete Knauf, Prof. Alfred Forchel, President, Würzburg University, Germany, Cutting-edge research

From left: Prof. Andreas Beilhack and Musga Qureischi from the Experimental Stem Cell Transplantation Research Laboratory, the patrons Merete and Alexander Knauf, and Prof. Alfred Forchel, President of the University of Würzburg. © Arnika Hansen (Uniklinikum Würzburg).

“My wife and I are regularly involved in projects in which we have the impression that we can really help to advance important improvements in our society with financial support,” says Alexander Knauf, managing partner of the globally active building materials company Knauf from Iphofen near the city of Würzburg. Not least because his wife Merete is a medical doctor herself, this subject area is also in their common funding focus. In search of a suitable project, the patrons recently turned to Prof. Alfred Forchel. The President of the University of Würzburg presented them with a range of current local projects. Among them, the married couple Knauf chose a project of Prof. Beilhack with the aim to develop an entirely new immunotherapy concept. “We are talking here of basic research, but extremely goal-oriented and with high translational potential,” emphasizes the scientist Musga Qureischi, who is actively pursuing this project in the Beilhack lab. According to the young scientist, the new strategy specifically targets improvements in stem cell therapy, but if it succeeds, the principle could well be applied to many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

Private donation helps to prove effectiveness
“The generous donation of the couple Knauf helps to skip a typical hurdle in the German research funding landscape,” said University President Forchel, explaining: “For the acquisition of public funds, projects such as this must scientifically prove a high probability of success. But to be able to prove this, considerable resources are required. Private sponsors can help close this gap, as a kind of start-up financing. “
If the project goes well, this proof can be achieved within the next two years, according to Prof. Beilhack.