The importance of the European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine

The European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine is a non-profit institution aiming at advancing medicine to the benefit of individuals and society through the application of nanoscience. Aiming at prevention, diagnosis, and therapy through nanomedicine as well as at exploration of its implications, the Foundation reaches its goals through support of clinically focussed research and of interaction and information flow between clinicians, researchers, the public, and other stakeholders. The recognition of the large future impact of nanoscience on medicine and the observed rapid advance of medical applications of nanoscience have been the main reasons for the creation of the Foundation.

Nanotechnology for Medicine

Nanotechnology is generally considered as the key technology of the 21st century. It is an interdisciplinary scientific field focusing on methods, materials, and tools on the nanometer scale, i.e. one millionth of a millimetre. The application of this science to medicine seeks to benefit patients by providing prevention, early diagnosis, and effective treatment for prevalent, for disabling, and for currently incurable medical conditions.

Establishing the INTRALAB-N

In its study on Nanomedicine the European Science Foundation shows that Europe currently takes the lead "in ultra-modern technology" in the field of Nanomedicine. In order to maintain this advanced position, in Europe there is high need for labs and research spaces as a fundamental condition to facilitate innovation across Europe, assisting to be a knowledge driven economy in the global market. The European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine plans to realise its project of the International Translational Laboratory for Nanomedicine (INTRALAB-N) in Basel, Switzerland. Basel is the location of many chemical and pharmaceutical companies. The town offers excellent scientific facilities with the Department of Research of the Basel University Hospital, the University Basel with its Biozentrum and private research places such as the Friedrich Miescher Institute. Basel is worldwide renown for its Swiss Nanoscience Institute (SNI) developed from the National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) for Nanoscale Science. The project shall be in joint cooperation with five Universities in Europe

Strong Network with clear tasks and services

An important task is the establishment of the CLINAM-Foundation Network. Its purpose is the proactive support of development of Nanomedicine in Europe for all clinical experts in research and development of Nanomedicine including bridgework between the clinicians, academic research and the industrial and tool developing clusters. - The network interacts with the existing nanomedical structures in Europe, seeking to propagate nanomedical knowledge. The CLINAM-Network is a valuable non competing add-on for the various other initiatives in the field of Nanomedicine.

Fundraising for Research and Development and Interaction of Excellence

Nanomedicine is at the edge of being applied in clinic to the treatment of the human being and therefore the need for investment into research is very high. - The foundation intends to assist to early investments that shall lead to major progress and shorten the developmental lag time in implementing translational nanomedicine and keeping Europe being a front runner in the development of nanomedicine in clinical use. During its first five years, the CLINAM-Foundation targets to raise funds of several millions of Euros in order to realise all envisaged tasks. CLINAM seeks to be an Interaction-Forum of Excellence in the field of Clinical Nanomedicine.

The Structure of the European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine

The European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine is a lean organisation and seeks to keep the administration at an utmost minimum.

The Team

The Foundation is governed by its Board of Trustees. In addition to that an international advisory Board drawing its members from different segments of science, society, and politics advises the officers of the Foundation on important issues.

The Directors

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it MA is the CEO of the foundation and responsible for organisational and administrative matters. Prof. Dr. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it is the CSO of the Foundation and responsible for all scientific matters and contents. He also leads the research programmes.

The members of the board of Trustees

  • Prof. Dr. Patrick Hunziker (cardiovascular medicine)
  • Beat Löffler, MA (management)
  • Prof. Dr. Hans-Joachim Güntherodt (physics)
  • Prof. Dr. Gerrit Storm (pharmacology)
  • Susy Hunziker, lic. phil (banking)
  • Prof. Dr. Matthias Pfisterer (cardiology)
  • Prof. Dr. Stefan Marsch (intensive care medicine)
  • Dr. Alexander Gutmans (law)

 

Members of the Advisory Board of the CLINAM-Foundation

  • Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Zhores Alferov, Physicist, Nobel Prize laureate, Moscow
  • Prof. Dr. Werner Arber, Biologist and Biophysicist, Nobel Prize laureate, Basel
  • Prof. Dr. med. Jacques André Bazex, Member of the French National Academy of Medicine, Toulouse
  • Patrick Boisseau, CEA-Leti-Minatec, Grenoble and Member of the Board of the European Technology Platform for Nanomedicine (ETPN), Brussels
  • Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. Fritz Bühler, Director of the European Center for Pharmaceutical Medicine (ECPM), Basel
  • Dr. Andreas Burckhardt, Director of the Basel Chamber of Commerce, Basel
  • Dr. Peter Burckhardt, CEO, EVA The Basel Life Sciences Start-up Agency, Basel
  • Dr. Beat Butz, Coordinator of the Swiss National Foundation, Bern
  • Prof. Dr. med. Jacques Chambron, French Academy of Sciences, Strasbourg/Paris
  • Prof. Dr. med. Patrick Couvreur, Director of the Centre d'études Pharmaceutiques (CNRS), Paris
  • Dr. Christoph Eymann, Member of the Governing Council of the canton of Basel, Basel
  • Prof. Dr. Theo Güntert, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Basel, Switzerland
  • Prof. Dr. Gerda Huber, Director of School of Life Sciences, Muttenz, Switzerland
  • Prof. Dr. Kazunori Kataoka, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine Graduate School of medicine, University of Tokyo,
  • Prof. Dr. Silke Krol, Director of the NanoBioMed Center for Molecular Biology, Trieste
  • Prof. Dr. Kostas Kostarelos, Chair of Nanomedicine, University of London
  • Prof. Dr. Karl J. Lackner, President, German Association for Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, Mainz
  • Prof. Dr. Jean-Marie Lehn, ISIS, Université Louis Pasteur, Strasbourg and Collège de France, Nobel Prize Laureate, Strasbourg
  • Prof. Dr. med. Peter Meier-Abt, Vice-principal and Head of Research, University of Basel
  • Prof. Dr. Hans Myhre, Surgeon at the University Hospital, Oslo
  • Dr. Romeo Paioni, Head of Scientific and External Affairs, Novartis, Basel
  • Prof. Dr. Heinrich Rohrer, Physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate, Zurich
  • Dr. med. Dieter Scholer, member of the Swiss Academy of Medical Sciences, Basel
  • Prof. Dr. med. Jürg Schifferli, Head of the Department for Internal Medicine, University Hospital Basel and Member of the Board of the Swiss National Foundation, Bern
  • Prof. Dr. Giacinto Scoles, Biochemist and Physicist, University of Princeton (USA) and Trieste
  • Prof. Dr. Joachim Seelig, Biozentrum, Basel
  • Prof. Dr. Paul Siffert, Secretary General, European Research & Materials Society, (E-MRS) Strasbourg
  • Dr. Frank Sinner, Director of the BioNanoNet-Research Society, Graz
  • Prof. Dr. med. Dr. sc. Janos Szebeni, Department of Nanomedicine Bay Zoltán Institute of Nanotechnology, Budapest
  • Prof. Dr. Donald Tomalia, Head of the Dendrimer & Nanotechnology Center, Universiity of Michigan
  • Dr. med. Panagiotis Trohopoulos, Cardiologist and Nano-Physician, Thessaloniki