Over the past decades, biotechnology has developed into a central driver of medical innovation. In northern Germany, a strong innovation network has formed, characterized by intensive collaborations between science and industry as well as growing investments in clinical development, personalized medicine, and biotechnological manufacturing.

The growing importance of biotechnology in medicine

With the establishment of recombinantly produced insulin more than four decades ago, a new era in medicine began, in which biotechnology has increasingly developed into the central driver of medical innovation. Methods such as recombinant protein production, genetic engineering processes, cell and gene therapies, and biotechnological diagnostics have transformed traditional therapies and created entirely new treatment and prevention options. Biotechnology forms the basis for modern vaccines, personalized therapies, and more effective drugs for treating complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune disorders, or rare diseases.

Driver of regional innovation

The biotechnology sector has experienced strong growth in recent years, driven by close integration between research institutions, mid-sized companies, and international biotech firms. Life Science Nord makes a significant contribution to strengthening the sector regionally and increases visibility, know-how transfer, and financing opportunities, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These in particular account for the majority of the innovative power in the biotech sector. Research institutions are crucial for successfully transferring new insights into clinical practice and viable business models, where excellent science is created and promoted. Universities in Hamburg, Kiel, Flensburg, and Lübeck have leading research groups and specialized degree programs, including in pharmaceutical, plant, and marine biotechnology (more about the educational institutions in the LSN cluster region). On this academic foundation, spin-offs, collaborations, and strong synergies emerge through close cooperation with researching industry.

A particularly impressive example of such an innovation ecosystem is the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY). Various research institutions work there – including EMBL Hamburg – on the structural elucidation of biomolecules and thus create the foundations for new biological therapy developments. Around the DESY in Hamburg-Bahrenfeld, Science City Hamburg is growing, where key areas and technologies are increasingly merging and finding their way into industrial applications. With the Fraunhofer Institute for Translational Medicine and Pharmacology ITMP in Hamburg, the region also has outstanding expertise in translating research results into concrete medical treatments.

Such a dense research network also attracts companies to the region – for example, the mid-sized company Nordmark, which has already invested millions in biotechnological production in northern Germany. Other companies have been established here for decades: EUROIMMUN Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, for instance, was founded in Lübeck in 1987 and is today a global manufacturer of medical laboratory diagnostics. AstraZeneca also represents a real heavyweight in the global pharmaceutical industry at the site.

From diagnostics and drug discovery to development and therapies, biotechnology now drives the entire pharmaceutical value chain. We highlight four of these areas here.

Early disease detection through biotech diagnostics

Advances in molecular analytics, automation, and data integration are fundamentally changing how diseases are detected, classified, and therapeutically monitored. The focus is on highly automated diagnostic platforms that combine sensitivity, speed, and workflow efficiency. At the same time, personalized approaches are gaining importance, where biomarker-based tests enable more precise risk stratification, earlier disease detection, and more targeted therapy decisions. Parallel to this, regulatory requirements are increasing, particularly through the European IVD Regulation, making standardized, validated, and scalable systems even more relevant.

A company that strongly represents this important future field in the cluster is Sysmex Europe SE. Sysmex recently moved its EMEA headquarters to the FLOW Campus in Hamburg, together with the Hamburg-based companies Sysmex Deutschland GmbH and Sysmex R&D Center Europe GmbH. The goal of the move to Hamburg was to more closely integrate collaboration between sales, development, and clinical partners. By bundling the organizational units spatially, market requirements from Germany and the entire EMEA region are to be translated more quickly into concrete product developments.

The new Sysmex office on the FLOW Campus is to become a hub where ideas can emerge, be tested, and turned into marketable diagnostic solutions more quickly.

Stefanie Schaal, Member of the Management Board of Sysmex Europe SE

Blood tests of the future: precise, automated, patient-friendly

A focus of current research work is the further development of blood cancer diagnostics. The goal is to detect hematological diseases earlier, more precisely, and more personalized. Parallel to this, new immunoassay formats are emerging that combine high sensitivity with a fast, automated workflow. Alzheimer’s diagnostics are also being expanded: Immunochemical blood tests based on specific amyloid biomarkers are to make pathological changes visible at an early stage. Dr. Johannes Fredebohm, Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Development at Sysmex R&D Center Europe GmbH, emphasizes: “Such approaches show how biotechnological innovations can help replace invasive procedures and make diagnostics broader, more accessible, and gentler for patients.”

One of the latest technological milestones is the PA-100 AST System, developed by Sysmex’s Swedish subsidiary Sysmex Astrego AB. The system combines nanofluidics with automated microscopy: Within 30 to 45 minutes, it provides a diagnosis of bacteriuria and simultaneously creates an antibiogram. The rapid resistance determination supports targeted antibiotic therapy already at the first patient contact and thus contributes to combating antimicrobial resistances.

Dr. Jan Gundlach, Managing Director of Sysmex Deutschland GmbH, expects further impetus in molecular and personalized diagnostics. He is convinced: Methods will become more diverse, faster, and more cost-effective, while regulatory requirements increase at the same time. “The key will be to flexibly adapt technologies and combine standardized workflows with intelligent data analysis,” says Dr. Gundlach. The Hamburg life science location offers ideal conditions for this, he adds.

Accelerated drug discovery with AI

Alongside increasingly early disease detection, intensive work is being done on accelerating the development of suitable active substances. An important reservoir for such new active substances that can be made usable biotechnologically is the sea. Northern Germany is optimally positioned here with its access to the North and Baltic Seas and its established top research in marine sciences to enable synergies with modern biotechnology. In the BlueHealthTech project, LSN members are involved, among other things, in identifying new active substances from marine organisms and bringing them into biotechnological application.

A central trend in drug discovery is the close integration of biotechnology with increasingly powerful digital solutions. A company that significantly shapes this field in the Life Science Nord cluster is Evotec. With integrated research platforms, the company combines omics technologies, automated processes, and AI-supported data analytics to systematically accelerate drug discovery.

At the center are platform approaches that link modern omics methods, automated screening systems, and AI-supported analytics. By integrating multimodal datasets from genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and functional assays, disease mechanisms can be modeled more differentiated and biological targets validated more robustly. Such integrated infrastructures reduce breaks in the development process and increase the reproducibility of research results.

“Our modern omics technologies, scalable data platforms, and AI-supported analysis methods enable us to understand diseases more precisely and align active substances with human relevance from the start – a crucial lever to reduce development risks and accelerate clinical programs,” explains Dr. Sarah Fakih, EVP Head of Global Communications & Investor Relations.

Early identification of promising candidates

A key tool here is AI-supported search for new active substances: Machine learning methods scour large molecular data spaces, specifically refine promising active substance candidates, and enable early predictions of pharmacokinetic or toxicological properties. The goal is to better assess the clinical relevance of active substance candidates already in early development phases and improve the transition rate to later stages.

Our vision is a new era of bioproduction, characterized by agility, scalability, and maximum efficiency.

Dr. Sarah Fakih

In addition to discovering new active substances, platform logic also plays a central role in biologics development. Standardized, modular systems for cell line development, process optimization, and scalable production make the manufacture of complex biological therapeutics more efficient. Continuous manufacturing processes and digitalized process control help ensure quality and efficiency in the long term.

In addition to Evotec, other companies in the cluster use artificial intelligence to research new active substances. CrystalsFirst, for example, aims to accelerate the development of small active substance molecules by combining high-throughput structural biology with AI-supported design. This combination of scalable laboratory infrastructure with AI-based analysis and design tools enables the systematic discovery, validation, and optimization of ligands – faster and more reliably than before.

Digital membrane chromatography for early discovery

The acceleration of early-discovery processes for therapeutic antibodies has become a key success factor in modern biopharma research. Advances in antibody libraries, display technologies, and automated screening platforms now enable the parallel identification of thousands of candidates. The challenge: rapidly characterizing these large numbers of molecules, evaluating their binding properties, and making initial assessments of purity, stability, and manufacturability. Classical chromatographic methods are too slow and material-intensive for this.

Digital Membrane Chromatography (DMC) addresses this bottleneck. By replacing conventional column materials with affinity membranes, chromatographic analyses can be performed far more quickly. Because molecules spend only very short residence times within the membrane matrix, the system supports high flow rates and correspondingly short analysis cycles. At the same time, digital control of chromatographic processes allows for more precise and reproducible analysis of small sample volumes. This makes it possible to examine antibody variants early in the development process for their binding to Protein A, charge properties, or potential variants. Another key difference lies in the elution step: instead of the conventional pH shift, antibodies are released using electrical fields. This approach is significantly gentler on the molecules and allows them to be eluted directly into a desired target buffer.

Rapid identification of promising antibodies

Digital membrane chromatography can thus become a powerful tool in antibody discovery workflows: It enables rapid pre-selection of promising candidates and supports the integration of chromatographic analytics into automated screening platforms. Within the Life Science Nord cluster, i3 Membrane GmbH has taken a pioneering role in this field. The company introduced the world’s first DMC adsorber, setting new benchmarks in biotechnological purification. Hamburg provides an ideal environment for such innovation: international logistics connections via port and airport, modern industrial and laboratory spaces, and a strong infrastructure for both development and production.

The regional life science cluster provided access to leading research partners, state-of-the-art technologies, and qualified specialists, while the pronounced industrial collaboration enabled rapid scaling, practical further development, and early market readiness.

Kathrin Hahn, CMO & Team Lead Lab/Pharma, i3 Membrane GmbH

The close integration with research institutions such as the University of Hamburg and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, as well as industrial networking in the metropolitan region, supported the further development of the technology from the concept phase to market readiness. The combination of scientific collaboration and industrial implementation capacity facilitated scaling and accelerated the international positioning of the product.

Major advances in antibody-based cancer therapies

The development of antibody-based cancer therapies is currently one of the most dynamic areas in oncology. In particular, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and other linked formats, in which antibodies are combined with small or large molecules using modern biotechnological methods, enable targeted tumor control with improved tolerability.

A company that represents this field at an internationally leading level in the cluster is Indivumed GmbH. The company, founded in Hamburg in 2002, has its scientific basis in close cooperation with Hamburg clinics as well as other leading cancer clinics in the USA, Asia, and Europe. From the beginning, the goal was to develop standardized processes for obtaining and processing tumor and normal tissue samples with the shortest possible ischemia time. On this basis, a high-quality biobank and comprehensive database emerged, linking genomic, transcriptomic, miRNA, proteomic, and phosphoproteomic data with detailed clinical information.

“By integrating this multi-omics data, comparing tumor and normal tissue from our biobank, and enriching relevant clinical patient data, we identify specific molecular changes and new therapeutic targets that would not be visible genomically alone,” explains Prof. Dr. Hartmut Juhl, founder and CEO of Indivumed GmbH. “This multimodal strategy opens up numerous target opportunities and increases the success chances of pharmaceutical developments.”

Based on this standardized multi-omics data collection, Indivumed pursues an integrated process for target identification and validation. Using bioinformatic and biomathematical analyses – including specially adapted AI tools – potential therapeutic points of attack are systematically prioritized.

Experimental validation is largely carried out in 3D tumor models and organoids – developed from the specifically collected and prepared patient tissue – that better reflect the biological reality of a tumor than classical 2D cell lines and thus provide a more precise picture for, e.g., resistance mechanisms in active substance development.

Thus, Indivumed exemplifies a biotechnological approach in the cluster where high-quality clinical samples, comprehensive molecular characterization, and data-driven analysis are closely interlinked to increase the precision and probability of success of new oncological therapies.

For Indivumed’s growth, the Hamburg location offered ideal conditions with its high density of powerful clinics, short paths between research, clinic, and politics, and international visibility through institutions like the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The regional clinic network enabled expansion of the biobank to further tumor entities and the establishment of international partnerships.

Short paths to politics, strong support, e.g., through city funding at founding, and excellent infrastructure with high quality of life that makes it easy to attract new employees, make Hamburg not only nationally but also internationally an attractive location for life sciences companies.

Prof. Dr. Hartmut Juhl

Innovation Park Altona: Start-up forge in the North

The diverse biotech ecosystem of the Life Science Nord cluster thrives on its innovative power. To maintain this dynamic, it needs constant fresh impulses – above all from ambitious start-ups. But where do young innovators find the optimal conditions to turn their visions into market-ready solutions?

The Innovationspark Altona offers a perfect starting point for this, as the heart of a vibrant innovation ecosystem that utilizes the immediate proximity to leading research institutions such as the German Electron Synchrotron (DESY), the European XFEL, the University of Hamburg, and the Fraunhofer Institute and thus seamlessly links science, technology, and entrepreneurship – an environment where innovations and marketable products can emerge. Modern office and laboratory spaces like the tecHHub Hamburg are already available today to give young teams space and infrastructure for development, networking, and growth. This combination of excellent research connectivity, access to highly specialized infrastructure, and targeted support for young companies makes the innovation park a top location for deep-tech and science-based start-ups that can bring their ideas to market maturity here and scale sustainably.

Overall, biotechnology in the North has evolved into a well-established and diverse area of innovation covering the full pharmaceutical value chain. This dynamic is driven by the close networking of companies, research institutions, and infrastructure partners in the Life Science Nord cluster. In the future, LSN will consistently further develop and strengthen the location – with the aim of sustainably establishing it as a leading European biotech hotspot.

Text: Martin Reich, Uta Mommert

Cover image: © Indivumed