Fraunhofer-GesellschaftPathogen identification – next-generation sequencing optimizes diagnostics
Privacy warning
With the click on the play button an external video from www.youtube.com is loaded and started. Your data is possible transferred and stored to third party. Do not start the video if you disagree. Find more about the youtube privacy statement under the following link: https://policies.google.com/privacyDr. Kai Sohn, head of the in-vitro diagnostics department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial and Biochemical Engineering IGB and Dr. Silke Grumaz from Noscendo GmbH.
Award winning team:
Dr. Kai Sohn, head of the in-vitro diagnostics department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial and Biochemical Engineering IGB, and his network partners Prof. Dr. Thorsten Brenner from the University Hospital Essen, Dr. Silke Grumaz and Dr. Philip Stevens from Noscendo GmbH
Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning, is among the most common causes of death in Germany, claiming over 85,000 lives a year. To fight it effectively, the pathogen involved must be identified as soon as possible. Working together, Dr. Kai Sohn, head of the In-vitro Diagnostics department at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB, and his partners Prof. Thorsten Brenner from University Hospital Essen and Dr. Silke Grumaz and Dr. Philip Stevens from Noscendo GmbH have succeeded in overcoming the limits of clinical and diagnostic standards and establishing a completely new principle for detection of various pathogens.
Unlike in conventional sepsis diagnosis, in which a disease-causing organism can be identified in fewer than 30 percent of cases by way of a blood culture, their method is highly sensitive, detecting the faintest traces of invasive DNA in the patient’s blood. Their approach is a successful one: The pathogen can be identified in the blood of as many as 70 percent of the patients examined. That makes it a highly reliable, highly accurate form of diagnosis that immediately supplies helpful results in clinical settings to save people’s lives.
The jury’s rationale for the award emphasizes the “significance of forming an alliance encompassing Fraunhofer research, the university hospital, and commercial implementation.” The result is fast, dependable pathogen identification with a direct impact on hospital operations. Now approved for use by Germany’s statutory health insurers, it is already making it significantly easier to deliver targeted care to these patients.