Two mRNA based Covid-19 vaccines (BioNtech/Pfizer and Moderna) are used at the moment to activate the immune system and prevent people from a severe disease progression. Knowing the 3D structure of the mRNA, frozen and at body temperature, could provide additional information about the differences between the SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and help to identify them.
A donation of 120.000 € by the Helaba group to the Covid-19 research project at the Goethe university in Frankfurt and Schiller university in Jena will further help to study the structure and stability of the Covid-19 mRNA. This includes the groups of Prof. Harald Schwalbe and Prof. Clemens Glaubitz at the center of biomolecular magnetic resonance (BMRZ) in Frankfurt and Prof. Ute Hellmich at the Schiller university in Jena, an expert in lipid-based structure research.
An additional donation of 30.000 € will help to expand pandemic training for medical and nursing professionals. This training was established by Prof. Miriam Rüsseler, a doctor at the university hospital in Frankfurt, at the beginning of the pandemic. Already more than 900 physicians, nurses and emergency medicine specialists completed the training how to deal with infections patients. Thanks to the donation at least another 360 physicians and nurses can be trained.
Supporting these research projects at the university Frankfurt and Jena as well as the pandemic training will help to handle future crises, says Thomas Groß, chairman of Helaba.
More information (in german) can be found here.