When the LOEWE research cluster Insect Biotechnology was launched in Giessen in 2011, it opened up new ground: the researchers use insect biodiversity at molecular level to develop new active agents for applications in medicine, sustainable plant protection or industrial biotechnology. The research cluster ist now being expanded into the LOEWE centre for Insect Biotechnology and Bioresources (ZIB), which was opened in January 2014 and is being lead-managed by Justus Liebig University Giessen. The former LOEWE research cluster BioIM at the Technische Hochschule Mittelhessen (University of Applied Sciences) will continue to conduct research into the development of biotechnological production procedures (compliant with PAT and GMP) at the ZIB. The Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) in Aachen, which has been a partner in the research network from the beginning, will be expanding its commitment. Its Giessen-based “Bioresources” project group will, for example, be establishing a centre for natural product research at ZIB in conjunction with Sanofi Aventis Deutschland GmbH and other business enterprises.

»Through its LOEWE funding, the federal state of Hessen is creating first-class conditions for insect biotechnology as a promising new field of research. The LOEWE cooperation and its innovation potential as well as its team in Giessen were the crucial factors in our decision to choose central Hessen as a Fraunhofer location.«

Prof. Dr. Rainer Fischer
Senior Executive Director, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Aachen