WORKSHOP
Germany–Mexico Natural Product Alliance
Connor Smieja
Email: connor.b.smieja@uni-giessen.de
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German Team JLU Gießen / Fraunhofer IME)
Nikolas Reyes Castillo
Alexander Kinner
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Mexican Partner Team
National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)
Dr. Riviera-Chavez, Group Leader
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Dr. Rebekka Wamser, Postdoc
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Left to right: Nicolas Castillo, Dr. Connor Smieja, Alexander Kinner.
This workshop aims to bring together the assets of JLU Giessen/Fraunhofer IME with those of Mexican institutions to boost research efforts towards the development of treatments for infectious diseases.
Fraunhofer IME boasts a strain library of over 110000 organisms, the Worlds largest microbial strain collection, acquired from Sanofi, which has already been utilized to discover several hit compounds that are in development. At our workshop in Mexico, we will collect together representatives from across Mexican academia and industry to share the processes that were key in our previous successes. We will network and engage with these colleagues, and seek to establish a sustainable bilateral partnership between Fraunhofer IME and one or more Mexican institution.
Our vision is that the workshop will lead to cooperation in joint grant applications:
i. In research: covering the full natural product development pipeline — from discovery to clinical translation.
ii. In international mobility: to set up an international student exchange program between JLU/Fraunhofer IME and Mexican Universities.
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