Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology IME

Welcome to the Fraunhofer IME. We conduct research in the field of applied life sciences from a molecular level to entire ecosystems and are your partner for contract research in the areas of pharmacy, medicine, chemistry, agriculture, as well as environmental and consumer protection. Our research and development portfolio is focused on industry, small and medium enterprises and on the public sector.

The overarching goal of our research activities at Fraunhofer IME is the development and use of novel technologies for diagnosis and therapy of human and animal diseases as well as the protection of crop plants and food sources.

Fraunhofer IME participates in the EU-IMI project imSAVAR as part of the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence for Immune-Mediated Diseases CIMD to develop innovative model systems for the evaluation of immunomodulatory therapeutics.                     

11 European partners, among them the Fraunhofer IME, today announced that they are launching the new IMI project COMBINE (The Collaboration for Prevention and Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Bacterial Infections), under the IMI AMR Accelerator Programme. COMBINE will support projects in the AMR Accelerator with effective management, communication, and data capture capabilities, and carry out research to strengthen the scientific basis in the AMR field. COMBINE is funded by IMI, a joint initiative between the European Commission (EC) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA).

Fraunhofer IME ScreeningPort, the University of Hamburg and PerkinElmer, Inc. announce the start of the trilateral collaboration project, inCELLphosTAG, which is funded by a newly established Fraunhofer-DFG collaboration program and aims to develop an assay technology that enables the investigation of important cellular processes and drug targets in relevant cell systems.

Worldwide active and regionally enrooted - a story of success was celebrated.
Shortly before completion of the new center of the instute, Fraunhofer IME celebrated the 60-year anniversary of the Fraunhofer location Schmallenberg-Grafschaft with 160 invited guests from science, industry and politics on October 29, 2019.

For his presentation „Screening insecticides for molecular fingerprints in zebrafish embryos as an aquatic non-target model - a kick off study“ Hannes Reinwald was awarded the young academics award 2019 at this year’s SETAC GLB conference in Landau. His contribution received the first place for the best presentation. Hannes Reinwald performs his PhD studies on the identification of molecular signatures of pesticides in aquatic non-target organisms in the Attract group Eco’n’OMICs at Fraunhofer IME in Schmallenberg.

New Partnership will advance three antibacterial programmes as part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), a public-private European R&D consortium. The new GNA NOW project, led by Evotec SE and managed by Lygature, will work on the development of novel antibacterial agents to battle antimicrobial resistance in gram-negative bacteria. Fraunhofer IME is one of the 11 beneficiaries.

One year after the controversial decision of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on the regulation of crop plants developed by new molecular breeding techniques, scientists are once again taking the floor. Undersigners from more than 120 European plant and life science research centres, including Fraunhofer IME, address the open statement to the newly elected European Parliament and the European Commission. The aim is to secure the potential of new molecular breeding techniques for sustainable agriculture and food production.