Second and third place in the BioRiver Boost! 2025 start-up competition went to the two start-up teams OncoDegrade and ColdEx from the University of Bonn and the University Hospital Bonn (UKB). First place went to the company JWP GmbH from Jülich. A total of eight finalists pitched their projects to a jury of experts at the award ceremony in Cologne in December. The competition is organized by BioRiver e.V. and annually honors innovative start-up projects in the biotechnology and life sciences industry.

The Medical Faculty looks back on a successful and eventful 2025!

The human brain must be able to link memory content to the circumstances in which it occurs. Researchers in Bonn have now discovered how the human brain uses two different groups of neurons to store content and context separately. These nerve cell groups work together in a coordinated manner to form memories, rather than mixing signals in the activity of individual cells. The study results have now been published in the renowned journal Nature.

Two projects by researchers from the University of Bonn and University Hospital Bonn (UKB) have each been awarded up to €1 million in funding from the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space’s “GO-Bio initial” program. The funds will be used to translate research findings from the life sciences into marketable products and services, e.g. through securing patent protection and spinning off start-ups.

MOG Antibody-associated Disease (MOGAD) is a rare autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. The blood of patients contains antibodies against myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), a protein in the myelin layer that surrounds the neurons in the brain. It is believed that these antibodies contribute to the destruction of this protective layer in the brain. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the Universities of Basel and Bonn, in collaboration with Yale School of Medicine and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), have now deciphered the construction plan of the anti-MOG antibodies. The researchers see their findings on the misdirected immune response, which have now been published in the journal Neurology® Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation, as the basis for developing specific MOGAD therapies.

If gut bacteria are too similar to the protective layer of nerves, they can misdirect the immune system and cause it to attack its own nervous system. This mechanism can accelerate the progression of multiple sclerosis, as researchers at the University of Basel, together with colleagues in Bonn, have shown in trials with mice. However, their results also open up opportunities for treatments that make use of the microbiome. The results have now been published in the journal Gut Microbes.

The finalists presented innovative solutions for a better future at the University of Bonn's 5th ideas competition. A total of seven teams of students and researchers from the university made it through the preliminary selection and pitched their ideas to a packed hall and an expert jury at DIGITALHUB. Four of them ultimately received prizes from the jury and—for the first time—from the audience, which were donated by the University Foundation Bonn, Comma Soft AG, DIGITALHUB.DE, and Sparkasse KölnBonn.

Why do certain immune cells remain permanently active in allergic asthma – even in an environment that should actually damage them? A team from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn has discovered that these cells only survive because they activate a special antioxidant protection mechanism. When this mechanism is blocked, allergic inflammation in mouse models decreases significantly. The results have now been published in the scientific journal Immunity.