The solid partnership of Malmö University and Medeon Science Park is well-established and has already generated several positive outcomes in both innovations and new companies operating within Life Science. The latest news, however, are most exciting as the parties are working closely together in order to establish a new house of innovation, complete with laboratories and creative development environments for both researchers and companies.
The new house of innovation in Malmö can be compared to the environment now under construction in Lund, Medicon Village. The idea is to develop academic research into innovations that may eventually be the basis for new companies or patents.
Malmö provides the perfect location for this thanks in part to a strong consortium of stakeholders with the City of Malmö, Region Skåne, Malmö University and Medeon Science Park as initiators of the new innovative environment (tentatively called the Malmö Biointerface). Börje Sellergren, a newly recruited Professor at the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Malmö University and colleagues at the university and at Medeon are jointly working to raise funds for the establishment of the “Malmö Biointerface”.
“Life Science research at Malmö University has experienced considerable and positive development during its short history and the future looks very promising not least since the University is situated in the Öresund region – one of the most dynamic Life Science regions in Northern Europe. We believe the establishment of an innovation environment will further cement Malmö’s leading role in the field of biological interfaces encompassing both fundamental and applied research”.
Biofilms –Research Center for Biointerfaces
Research on biological interfaces constitutes one of the distinguished strengths of Malmö University and is carried out within Biofilms- Research Center for Biointerfaces (one out of seven centers receiving direct funding from the Vice Chancellor of Malmö University) . The center activities focus on studies on the molecular interplay between interfaces and biological material and the research hence includes molecular and cellular interactions at interfaces. Research is directed to biomedical and biotechnical applications in turn connected to industrial and clinical use.
The overall strategy of the center is to produce high quality front line research within the biomedical field, to offer relevant and attractive degree programs, and to maintain good reciprocal relations with partner industries and the public sector. The center today comprises four research groups (60 researchers) and offers a truly translational network for applied research collaboration with regional industry. The expertise spans the whole range from mathematical modelling to clinical sciences and includes research on Eucaryotic cell-surface interactions, Molecular transport phenomena, Molecular interactions at biointerfaces, and Microbial biofilms.
Molecular Imprinting Technology
The center also has the ambition to expand into areas requiring synthetic chemistry (e.g. drug delivery, chemical sensors, interfacial design, molecular recognition). One example of these efforts is the recruitment of Sellergren’s research group from Dortmund in Germany. The research of this group is focused on molecular imprinting; a technique used to prepare polymer based receptors or so called “plastic antibodies”.
It is envisaged that the high stability of such plastic antibodies, their reproducibility and their low production costs will pave the way for innovative, sensitive, reliable and economic methods in bioanalysis and medical diagnostics. Moreover it is foreseen that the research will lead to new nanotechnological tools for pharmaceutical and medical research.