PI Innovation Award 2024: Nanobodies for Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

The PI Innovation Award was created by Physik Instrumente (PI), a high-tech company based in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. “For more than fifty years, PI stands for innovations that make the seemingly impossible possible. This was our motivation and inspiration to create such an award,” explains Markus Spanner, CEO of the PI Group. The award recognizes outstanding doctoral theses with exceptional innovation potential, placing a special emphasis on the best possible knowledge transfer—from research to successful application in practice. “The practical application goes hand in hand with the high medical relevance of the work.  This is exactly what convinced us,” says the jury, consisting of a panel of professors from the faculty and Dr. Steffen Schreiber, Director Global Innovation & Scouting at PI, in its statement.

“We see the PI Innovation Award as additional motivation for our students, for which we are very grateful. This year, the award recognizes a thesis whose practical relevance has already led to the founding of a publicly funded start-up company. We warmly congratulate the winner, Dr. Teresa Wagner,” said a delighted Prof. Dr. Thilo Stehle, Dean of the Faculty of Science.

In the thesis entitled “Two Birds with One Stone: Theranostic Applications of Nanobodies”, Dr. Wagner describes the manufacturing, characterization, and application of nanobodies as theranostic tools that can be used for both diagnostic and therapeutic applications in the context of precision medicine. A total of fourteen doctoral theses were submitted for the award.