The Bonn-Cumming Host-Directed Pandemic Therapeutics Program (BCHT) was announced nine months ago by the Cumming Global Centre for Pandemic Therapeutics (CGCPT) at the University of Melbourne and by the University of Bonn. Since then, the research teams have been working to develop innovative therapeutics that, unlike conventional treatments targeting specific pathogens, aim to strengthen the immune system to combat any viruses with pandemic potential. To achieve this, the two institutions collaborate closely across the roughly 16,400-kilometer distance — making personal meetings, such as the symposium on Bonn’s Venusberg campus, an important part of the partnership.
A space to combine expertise
Researchers and program leaders alike are using the symposium as an opportunity to discuss the strategic development of joint research projects, methodologies, current challenges and potential solutions. New projects from additional research groups for the upcoming funding period are also being considered. At the same time, the meeting provides a space to strengthen personal connections.
Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Cumming Global Centre and the Doherty Institute at the University of Melbourne, who was awarded an honorary doctorate by Bonn’s Faculty of Medicine this February, note: “Through the Bonn-Cumming Centre, we are pursuing ambitious goals to ensure rapid and effective action in future pandemics. This makes direct exchange and reflection on our work all the more important.”
Professor Bernd Weber, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Bonn and acting Chairman of the UKB Board, also emphasizes: “To effectively bring together the diverse expertise from Melbourne and Bonn, in-person meetings are indispensable. The symposium provides us with new impulses and further strengthenes our partnership.”
Multiple research groups, one goal
A key focus of the symposium is the exchange between the three research groups. Each group pursues a different approach to developing the intended novel therapeutics. One team is dedicated to alpaca antibody fragments that specifically activate certain components of the immune system to fight viruses. A second group is targeting the antiviral immune receptor RIG-I, which triggers the body’s natural defense against viruses. The third group focuses on the single cell level to better understand immune responses and identify new targets for antiviral drugs.
The researchers involved in the three approaches on the Bonn side are all members of the University of Bonn’s ImmunoSensation² Cluster of Excellence (spokesperson: Gunther Hartmann, UKB), in cooperation with the University Hospital Bonn and the DZNE (German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases). The cluster, which is also featured in the symposium program, was recently granted a new seven-year funding period.
Bonn-Cumming builds on longstanding collaboration
The members of the Bonn-Cumming partnership will continue their close collaboration even more intensively after the symposium. This partnership is already the result of a long-standing cooperation led by Prof. Sammy Bedoui, Head of laboratory and Research Director at the Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity in Melbourne, and Prof. Christian Kurts, Director of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Experimental Immunology in Bonn — both spokespersons of the Bonn-Cumming Program. As early as 2016, the Universities of Bonn and Melbourne established a joint PhD program within the framework of the International Research Training Group to strengthen global immunological research.
