Great joy at Aalen University of Applied Sciences: Chemistry professor Dr. Christian Neusüß was recently awarded the highly-respected, prestigious, research prize "SCIEX Microscale Separations Innovations Medal and Award". This makes him only the second German to receive this award, which has been presented for over 20 years. He is being honored for his many years of research work in the field of capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry - a process that combines two important instrumental analysis methods. This is particularly important for drug development.
Over 50 percent of the drugs that come onto the market today are antibody-based. Antibodies are part of the natural human defense against infections caused by viruses or bacteria. Researchers have further developed antibodies so that they can also be used as a kind of "health police" for non-infectious diseases such as inflammation or cancer. They work, for example, by specifically docking onto cancer cells and killing them through various mechanisms. "The success and safety of these novel antibodies and thus of drug development depends largely on the possibilities of bioanalytics," says Prof. Dr. Christian Neusüß, Head of the Institute of Analytical and Bioorganic Chemistry at Aalen University of Applied Sciences.
However, the current methods and technicians for analyzing antibody-based active ingredients quickly reach their limits. "This often results in delayed drug development," says Neusüß. Together with his team of currently seven doctoral candidates, he is working on novel analytical systems that combine the separation of very similar molecules by capillary electrophoresis with characterization by mass spectrometry. "This gives us detailed information about the proteins and thus also about their medical effects," explains the chemist. The fact that he has now been awarded the highly-respected "SCIEX Microscale Separations Innovations Medal and Award" for his pioneering research at a conference in Florida is a great honor for him.
Neusüß, who grew up in Bonn, has been teaching and conducting research at Aalen University of Applied Sciences since 2006. After studying Chemistry in Heidelberg and in Bergen, Norway, he then did a doctorate, to complete doctoral studies, to earn a doctorate at the University of Leipzig. "During this time, I was handed a capillary electropheresis machine for the first time and was immediately fascinated by the School of Engineering," recalls the tall, slim man. "It can be used to analyze sample volumes of ten to 100 nanoliters. You can't really imagine how small it is," says Neusüß enthusiastically.
The 53-year-old is a researcher with heart and soul. "I'm not the classic bang-bang chemist," says Neusüß and laughs, "I've always been fascinated by the analytical aspect, the components - what holds the world together at its core, so to speak." Finding out something new, developing things further and thus contributing to better health care or treatment of diseases is what drives the father of two. "I live for research. 'Can't' is not an option for me. But finding another way is always the goal." Just like now with the innovative and award-winning analytics system.
