Biotest donates Rudolf Pichlmayr Prize 2022

The 31st Annual Meeting of the German Transplantation Society (DTG) took place this year from 29.09.2022 to 01.10.2022 in Erlangen, Germany.
After a two-year break, the scientific prizes of the DTG were finally awarded again during the evening event – including the Rudolf Pichlmayr Prize as the most prestigious prize of the DTG for outstanding achievements in the field of transplantation medicine.

The prize money is 10,000 EUR and is donated by Biotest AG. This year's prize winner was Dr Raphaël Carapito (Strasbourg) for his scientific work on „Identification and validation of new histo-compatibility antigens in transplantation“.

This year, Biotest was again represented with an exhibition booth and also organised a lunch symposium on the topic of CMV immunoglobulins after transplantation and the role of IgGAM after heart transplantation.
Parallel to the DTG annual conference, Biotest was also involved as a poster award sponsor at the symposium of AKTX Care, a non-profit association of committed nurses from transplant care with the aim of promoting qualified personnel and the exchange of knowledge and experience in transplant medicine.

 

The German Society for Immunology (DGfI) awards prizes once a year for research work in the field of immunology, including the Georges Köhler Prize and the Otto Westphal Doctoral Prize to outstanding young scientists. Both prizes were supported by Biotest.

The award ceremony took place during the Joint Meeting of the DGfI & ÖGAI on 07 September 2022 at the Hannover Medical School.

We congratulate the two award winners Dr. Sebastian Baasch and Dr. Maike Hofmann for their outstanding work.

Dr. Philipp Kolb from the Institute of Virology at the University of Freiburg is the first winner of the Renate & Hans Schleussner Research Award. The award supports a research project of the excellent winner in the field of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection.

CMV belongs to the herpes viruses and transmission during pregnancy to the unborn child can lead to severe developmental disorders in the child. Although CMV infections are common, awareness of the problem is low among pregnant women and in obstetrics.

Dr. Kolb's work thus contributes to mak this important topic more visible and to improve the understanding of the mode of action of CMV hyperimmunoglobulins in CMV infection during pregnancy.

The parkour park was officially opened on May 7. Biotest sponsored the implementation of the outdoor obstacle landscape in the new Bürgerpark Dreieich with 15,000 euros. Parkour stands for overcoming walls, ditches and railings to get from one point to another and has become a trend sport in recent years. In the process, obstacles are seen as an opportunity to break new ground. The idea for the outdoor obstacle course in Dreieich goes back to László Boroffka, Julian Schäfer and Maxim Kuznetsov - three committed young people who have set themselves the goal of realizing such a project in their home town. A positive side effect: Whether old or young, woman or man, economically disadvantaged, immigrant or refugee: In parkour, no one is excluded.
 
The parkour park includes a warm-up zone, a zone made of natural materials such as natural stone and wood that is also suitable for the untrained, and a central active zone. Core elements are a starting wall, cylinders, a gymnastics unit as the centerpiece of the facility, horizontal bars, landings, trestles, as well as rails and lifts.
 
The total cost of the project is 105,000 euros. The outdoor obstacle course is being financed by the city of Dreieich, the airport foundation, crowdfunding, donations and sponsorship from companies.

 

The nationwide Boys' and Girls' Day took place on 28 April 2022. After a two-year "Corona break", it was important to us to once again offer a Boys' and Girls' Day for the children of our employees. And so this year 11 boys and 11 girls experienced an exciting day in the company.

After first information about Biotest, our trainees presented their job descriptions and their tasks. What training is required to work in the laboratory? Who monitors the refrigeration systems at Biotest? Which trainees have a forklift driving licence?

So that the participants could also gain an insight into laboratory activities, the blood group and the rhesus factor of artificial blood samples were determined. The next task was to set up a "hot wire". This was a game of skill in which the group had to demonstrate their manual dexterity.

All in all, it was a successful Boys' and Girls' Day.

Every year, students at Germany's universities who in addition to above-average performance have a particular social or community commitment are supported with a monthly grant of € 300 for one year. This support is provided in equal parts by the government and by private sponsors (such as companies, but also private individuals).

It is an honour for Biotest to support promising young talents. In this way, we are giving young people the opportunity to develop on the one hand, and giving the Rhine-Main area perspective on the other hand.

For the 2021/2022 funding year, Biotest has again participated in the German scholarship and is supporting 5 students from the Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main and 5 students from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, each from the fields of pharmacy and medicine. Biotest is particularly pleased to be in exchange with the students and supports scholarship holders who come from medical/pharmaceutical/scientific fields of study in order to be able to provide an insight into a pharmaceutical company in addition to the monetary support.

500 "Rose Bianche" by the artist Ottmar Hörl and a German-Italian photo project on the Covid crisis will commemorate the victims and helpers in the pandemic on the Westend Campus. At the same time it provides impulses for confidence: The proceeds from the sale of the 1.8-kilogram hand-signed original exhibits will go towards German scholarships for students at Goethe University. Biotest not only sponsors the installation, but has also been awarding Germany scholarships for many years to students at various universities who, in addition to above-average performance, have a special social commitment.
 
The installation is accompanied by the exhibition of the German-Italian photo project on the Covid crisis by photographers Stefano Dili and Ingmar Björn Nolting in the foyer of the PEG building.

Since 1995, the "Kinderzukunft" foundation in Gründau has been calling for people to pack Christmas parcels every year, which are then distributed in Bosnia, Romania and Ukraine to girls and boys in orphanages, clinics, schools and kindergartens, but also in slums.

The patron of the campaign is the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth, Christine Lambrecht.

This year, Biotest AG is supporting the campaign by paying the shipping costs. Every single employee can contribute to bringing joy to children in need at Christmas time by giving small gifts.

This year we won the city cycling competition again with around 80 participants!
The "Biotest" team covered the most total kilometres and received the "Gold" award as the "most cycling-active company" from the Climate Alliance and the City of Dreieich.

One of our teammates even won the individual ranking with over 2,000 km in 3 weeks!

With a total team result of 22,443 km, 3,299 kg of CO2 were saved.

The official award ceremony of the city of Dreieich took place on 14 October in the Dreieich town hall.

Companies help rejected applicants find a job

Together with a start-up company from Fulda, the employers' association HessenChemie has developed the new platform "Ausbildungsradar" (training radar), which is intended to bring potential trainees and companies together. 25 of the 80 training companies in Hesse are registered on this platform, including Biotest AG.

 Minister for Digital Strategy and Development honours Biotest trainees

In a virtual award ceremony, Prof. Dr. Kristina Sinemus, Hessian Minister for Digital Strategy and Development honoured the winners in this year's apprentice competition of the Employers' Association Hessen Chemie. 146 trainees from a total of 35 teams entered the competition despite the Corona pandemic. Two trainee teams from Biotest took part, and one team took first place with their project "BioFly".

What is behind the project "BioFly"? To this the group says:

"Our project team tackled the innovative topic of "medication shipping using light cargo delivery drones". In times of Covid-19, contactless shipping of medicines is a safe alternative to conventional shipping methods, especially for risk groups. The goal behind our idea is fast and location-accurate shipping of medicines, suitable for regular deliveries and especially for time-critical emergencies."

To this end, the group has developed an app through which our life-saving medicines can be ordered. These can be delivered promptly by contactless drone to the appropriate locations. A great idea, especially in these times of contact bans!

The winning team:

from left to right: Dieter Rohrer (Ausbilder), Lara Glasner, Christoph Stroh, Christian Lehrbacher, Niclas Stein

 

The aim of the project is to generate a "best practice" exchange of experience for climate protection via the network of companies, cities and municipalities. The project round offers the opportunity to have the company certified according to the internationally recognised ISO 14001 or EMAS standard at comparatively low personnel and financial cost.

The following topics are developed:

Improving transparency for resource use, emissions and climate protection

• Increasing the legal certainty of the organisation and the entrepreneur by fulfilling legal requirements and conditions
• Improving employee motivation through stronger identification with a sustainably operating company
• Sensitising employees to environmental protection issues
• Cost savings in waste, material, water, energy and material flows
• Confidence among customers and the public through marketing support

Since 2016, the Ecoprofit Club Frankfurt am Main has also been recognised by the Federal Initiative Energy Efficiency Networks as an energy and resource efficiency network.

Since the initiative was launched as part of the National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (NAPE) in December 2014, more than 100 energy efficiency networks have already been established nationwide.

In December 2019, the Georg Kreymann Award for Intensive Care Medicine, which was donated by Biotest AG, was presented for the first time
to Dr Christian Wachs.

The doctorate award sponsored by Biotest AG can now also be used to award young researchers in the field of intensive care at the UKE. The award for intensive care medicine is named after the former intensive care doctor Prof Kreymann, who among other things first showed in a meta-analysis the therapeutic benefit of immunoglobulin M-enriched immunoglobulins versus standard immunoglobulin preparations.

Foto: Prof Kreymann, Dr Christian Wachs, Prof Kluge, Dr Gockel (Biotest AG)

Biotest is committed to the global hemophilia community and improving patients’ lives. Therefore, Biotest keeps supporting the Global Alliance for Progress (GAP) program initiated by the World Federation of Hemophilia (WFH) as a collaborating partner.

The GAP program was launched in 2003 by the WFH to increase the diagnosis and treatment of people with hemophilia and other bleeding disorders in targeted developing countries. Up to now, 33 countries have enrolled in the GAP Program and 40 programs have been implemented. 31,373 patients with hemophilia, 5,360 with von Willebrand disease (VWD) and 3.819 with rare clotting factor deficiencies have been diagnosed or registered.

Link to video as provided by WFH:

https://news.wfh.org/gap-supports-outreach-and-identification-in-jordan-and-egypt/

Fynn Bröking finishes his studies top of the class

The dual study course for the Bachelor of Arts in International Business with a focus on general management is completed over six semesters. The study course is offered by Biotest in partnership with the accadis University of Applied Sciences Bad Homburg. An integrated semester abroad guarantees international experience during this business degree program.

For Mr Bröking, these were three very successful years, which are not only reflected in his excellent grades: even during his studies, he had already advanced many internal projects at Biotest. For instance, after completing his semester abroad at Northumbria University in Newcastle, he developed and established a modern reporting concept for our British subsidiary
Biotest UK Ltd.

As part of his bachelor thesis, Mr Bröking developed and implemented a new dynamic and interactive reporting system for research and development controlling. His thesis was graded 1.0 (100 out of 100 possible points!).

We congratulate Mr Bröking on his outstanding degree and wish him many successful years at Biotest AG.

This year we won the city cycling competition again with around 80 participants!
The "Biotest" team covered the most total kilometres and received the "Gold" award as the "most cycling-active company" from the Climate Alliance and the City of Dreieich.

One of our teammates even won the individual ranking with over 2,000 km in 3 weeks!

With a total team result of 22,443 km, 3,299 kg of CO2 were saved.

The official award ceremony of the city of Dreieich took place on 14 October in the Dreieich town hall.

With our donation for the Dreieich fire department, it became possible to buy three trolleys, which are important for operational hygiene. This is part of the health protection for the fireguards. The firefighters should not be exposed to pollutants or only for as short a time as possible. The basis is that the soiled uniforms and respiratory protective equipment are already exchanged at the place of use. This way, the carryover of toxic substances is as far as possible excluded. The trolleys are needed to carry spare clothing and respirators. The donation allows the concept to be implemented at short notice for the benefit of the fire fighters.

Picture f. l. Karin Eisenhauer (Head of Citizens and Order Dreieich), Markus Tillmann (City Fire Inspector), Dr Georg Floss (Members of the Biotest Board of Management), Martin Burlon (Mayor Dreieich) and the fire brigade team

Children with rare diseases are the "orphans of medicine". Too often they do not receive help because their diseases have not been researched and therapies are not available. The Foundation "Care for Rare" demands more attention for the orphans of medicine. With the campaign "Yes, we care!" the foundation intends to create a wave of solidarity that raises public awareness to children with rare diseases. The foundation founded in 2009 out of science and medicine, follows the vision: No child should have to die just because it suffers from an illness which is so rare that nobody is interested in it!

The first measure of the campaign is a large online photo gallery of supporters. The aim of the campaign is to show affected children and their families that they are not alone. At the same time this is a signal to the public that children with rare diseases have a lobby.

Biotest supported this campaign as part of its "After Work Christmas Market" on December 11th, 2018. Around 60 Biotest employees were photographed with the "Yes, we care!" logo and their pictures were uploaded to www.yes-we-care.online.

Please find more information about the campaign

 „Yes, we care!“ on the website:
https://www.yes-we-care.online/de/kampagne