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The Volker Homann Foundation has supported research projects at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg with more than 700,000 euros since 2018 / Currently two new projects at the Eye Center

Over the past three years, the Volker Homann Foundation has donated more than 700,000 euros to research projects in a wide range of departments at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. On Monday, December 13, 2021, Volker Homann, Chairman of the Foundation, presented two symbolic cheques worth a total of 130,000 euros to project managers at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg's Eye Center. The aim of both projects is to improve the treatment of age-related macular degeneration. In addition to its extensive research funding in recent years, the foundation has also provided 150,000 euros to equip anti-waiting rooms for the new Center for Pediatrics.

"On behalf of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg, I would like to thank the Volker Homann Foundation for its generous and uncomplicated support of many research projects. I have particular respect for the great civic commitment of Mr. Homann and other private individuals," says Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. "Research is the basis for quality-centered, cutting-edge university medicine and the prerequisite for the continuous improvement of diagnostics and therapy."

"It is very important to me to support the excellent research being carried out at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. All of the project managers who received funding convinced us to support them with their excellent work and great personal commitment," says Volker Homann, Chairman and founder of the Volker Homann Foundation. "I am particularly impressed by the high degree of interdisciplinarity within and between the funded projects. We want to further strengthen this networking," says Homann.

New projects on age-related macular degeneration

With 4.5 million people affected, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the most common cause of blindness in people over the age of 65 in Germany. A therapy against an important growth factor has been used successfully for years to treat wet macular degeneration. Nevertheless, around a third of patients suffer a continuous deterioration in visual acuity despite therapy, which requires research into further signaling molecules involved and the development of complementary therapeutic approaches. Recently, in a project led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Clemens Lange and Dr. Julian Wolf from the Eye Center (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinhard), signaling molecules were discovered that could play an important role in wet AMD. They are to be investigated in more detail in a project funded with 50,000 euros. Dr. Felicitas Bucher, research group leader at the Eye Center,is investigating the involvement of an enzyme in the development of new blood vessel formation in another project funded with 80,000 euros. A corresponding inhibitor could be used in the treatment of AMD.

Numerous other projects funded

In addition to the projects at the Eye Center, a number of other research projects at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg have been supported by the Volker Homann Foundation in recent years. Several projects are being funded at the Center for Pediatrics:

Prof. Dr. Charlotte Niemeyer, Medical Director of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncologyand member of the Board of Trustees of the Volker Homann Foundation, has received 51,000 euros in funding for the project "I have two physicians, one in Freiburg and one at home".

The establishment of the Hilda Biobank at the Center for Pediatrics was funded with 318,000 euros. Tissue samples from young patients are stored in the biobank so that they can be examined scientifically at a later date.

30,000 euros were donated for the purchase of a special ultrasound device for the children's heart catheterization laboratory at the Department of Congenital Heart Defects and Pediatric Cardiology (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Brigitte Stiller).

At the Institute of Neuropathology (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Marco Prinz), a project led by PD Dr. Klaus-Peter Knobeloch on the therapeutic evaluation of inhibitors for Sars-CoV-2 infection is being funded with 20,000 euros.

A study on the administration of COVID-19 convalescent plasma in patients with an impaired immune response at the Institute of Transfusional Medicine and Genetherapy (Director: Prof. Dr. Toni Cathomen) was supported with 50,000 euros.

Several projects at the Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Andreas Knopf) led by PD Dr. Christoph Becker and Tobias Schulz are being funded with a total of 50,600 euros. The topics of the projects are the use of artificial intelligence in cancer diagnostics, therapeutic results in laryngeal tumors and comparisons of surgical and radiotherapeutic procedures for throat cancer.

A project at the Department of Cardiology and Angiology II (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Franz-Josef Neumann) led by Dr. Thomas Nührenberg to investigate the causes of heart attacks was supported with around 51,000 euros.

The foundation

The Volker Homann Foundation, established in 2015 by its namesake, is the largest private foundation in Freiburg and supports charitable projects and institutions in the areas of child, youth and elderly care, welfare, science and research, art and culture, education and student support in line with the foundation's objectives.

Image 1: Prof. Dr. Charlotte Niemeyer, Medical Director of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology, Dr. Julian Wolf, Research Group Leader at the Eye Center, Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Center of Freiburg, Foundation Board Member Volker Homann, Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinhard, Medical Director of the Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. Dr. Thomas Reinhard, Medical Director of the Eye Center, Dr. Felicitas Bucher, Research Group Leader at the Eye Center, and Jan Neß, funded doctoral student at the Eye Center.

Image 2: Foundation board member Volker Homann with the heads of the two newly funded projects Dr. Julian Wolf and Dr. Felicitas Bucher

Image source: Medical Center - University of Freiburg