Bayer and RWTH Aachen University Establish Computational Biomedicine Center
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The Joint Research Center on Computational Biomedicine will be headed by Prof. Andreas Schuppert, key expert for industrial mathematics at Bayer Technology Services and university professor at the Aachen Institute for Advanced Study in Computational Engineering Science, RWTH Aachen University, in collaboration with another professor still to be appointed.
The new research center initially will have a staff of around 10, and is expected to develop into one of the leading institutions in Europe by 2018. The research center is a component of both the Research Cluster for Modeling and Simulation and the Faculty of Medicine at RWTH Aachen University.
“The mathematical modeling and simulation of complex biological processes is the key to developing completely novel medicines and therapies. Many companies and research facilities are already working in this relatively young scientific discipline, but there isn't a comparable collaboration anywhere such a broad base of expertise and experience with taking basic research into practice,” said Prof. Schmachtenberg at the document signing before some 100 invited guests.
“Bayer is the only company of its size to combine research and development in the fields of human, animal, and crop health. Knowledge of the molecular mechanisms in biology is therefore of high strategic relevance for our life science units. We want to extend our competencies in this field together with RWTH Aachen,” said Prof. Plischke with reference to the significance of the strategic partnership during his opening remarks.
“Without computers we shall never fully understand diseases or climate changes. The complexity is simply too high. This research will not only help to shed light on fundamental physiological processes, it will also help us to better understand a multitude of diseases. This, in turn, enables new active ingredients to be developed more quickly and to be used more precisely during a course of treatment,” said Prof. Uhlig, describing the advantages for patients.
Prof. Ernst Schmachtenberg, Rector of RWTH Aachen University, Prof. Stefan Uhlig, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at RWTH Aachen University and Member of the Board of the RWTH Aachen University Hospital, Prof. Wolfgang Plischke, the member of the Bayer AG Board of Management responsible for Technology, Innovation and Sustainability, and BTS Managing Director Dr. Dirk Van Meirvenne signed the Sponsoring Agreement for the center on October 9, 2013.
