Research and medicine in Saxony join forces in the fight against Covid-1

Institutes of the large research communities, companies and university medicine set up new networks within a very short time - the Ministry of Science signals support

Saxony's research and science landscape is currently setting up a large network of helpers in cooperation with the university hospitals and other medical institutions. Institutes exchange ideas and support each other. This includes, among other things, the provision of protective clothing and respiratory and face protection masks. These are urgently needed in the hospitals, especially if the number of corona patients who have to be treated in the clinic continues to rise.

Within a very short time, research institutions and companies have networked or use existing networks to develop concrete offers of help.
Among other things, the research alliance DRESDEN-concept, in cooperation with the industry association for biotechnology and medical technology biosaxony eV, relies on 3D printing to produce protective face masks for medical staff, for example. Almost 50 3D printers are currently in use here. The industry is also intensively involved in this project: Sander-Kunststofftechnik from Dresden, which also produces the mask holders in 3D printing free of charge, and Spezi-Pack Karl Spethmann GmbH from Klingenberg, which provides the visors free of charge, should be mentioned as examples.

There is also close cooperation between the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics and the University Hospital Dresden. Institute employees sew respiratory masks, others provide support with laboratory diagnostics directly in the university hospital or have already registered as emergency staff at the university hospital in Dresden.

The support and treatment of cancer patients who are particularly at risk from Covid-19 is also in full swing. The National Center for Tumor Diseases Dresden (OncoRay) and the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research at the Dresden location work very closely with the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and the Cancer Information Service.

The Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden Rossendorf (HZDR) supports the clinics with, among other things, hygiene articles, protective masks and equipment.

In Leipzig, the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy and the Helmholtz Center for Environmental Research are in close contact with the university hospital.

And the support is enormous outside of the large metropolitan areas as well. For example in Görlitz: Here the molecular biologists from the Senckenberg Natural History Museum help the local health department to implement corona tests.

»I am very grateful for the support and the excellent and pragmatic cooperation between all institutions involved and I promise them my full support. It is impressive to see how much is possible in the short term and what power the joint commitment develops," said Saxony's Science Minister Sebastian Gemkow.

Source: SMWK press release from April 27.03.2020th, XNUMX