Services

Our mission

We bridge gaps in anti-infective drug development by providing customized preclinical research and development services in a one-stop-shop concept.

Our services

As an expert preclinical development platform for new anti-infectives, iCAIR® covers the drug development chain from ideas via target identification and hit-to-lead to the non-clinical proof of concept.

iCAIR® offers e.g. academic groups, spin-offs, and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) access to high-quality R&D services, expertise and infrastructure to bridge the gap between basic research and regulatory development.
iCAIR® provides a customized development plan, planning and performance of preclinical studies, and regulatory support in a one-stop-shop concept.
iCAIR® enables you to develop your early-stage compounds to the stage of preclinical proof of concept, ready to go into regulatory development for market approval or out-licensing to industry partners.

Our expertise

iCAIR® focuses on infectious (viral, bacterial and fungal) respiratory diseases.
Our speciality is structure-based, rational drug design and directed drug development.
Our strengths are predictive, state-of-the-art models.
Our unique approach for drug delivery targeting respiratory diseases is inhaled administration.

iCAIR® focuses on infectious (viral, bacterial and fungal) respiratory diseases

Other pathogens available upon request.

Viral

Rhinovirus (RV)
Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV)
Influenza
Parainfluenza
SARS-CoV-2

Bacterial

Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Staphylococcus aureus (incl. MRSA)
Klebsiella pneumoniae
Burkholderia cepacia

Fungal

Aspergillus fumigatus

Our speciality is structure-based, rational drug design and directed drug development

Drug targets

Target identification
Target validation
Structural and functional characterization
Glycomics

Hit identification

Rational and structure-guided drug design
In-vitro compound and fragment screening
In-silico compound screening
Qualitative and quantitative binding studies

Hit-to-lead and lead optimization

Medicinal chemistry
Compound derivatization and optimization
Chemical synthesis
In-vitro efficacy testing

Preclinical development

Ex-vivo and in-vivo efficacy testing / proof of concept
Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics
Regulatory safety and toxicology studies
Competence in in-vivo inhalation

Our strengths are predictive, state-of-the-art models

Based on our excellent expertise in inhalation of substances and lung function measurements, our pneumonia models can be applied in particular for testing of inhaled drugs or formulations.

Ex-vivo human airway epithelium model

Human airway epithelial cells cultivated at an air-liquid interface
Differentiated epithelium, including ciliated and mucus-secreting cells
Can be infected with different pathogens
Treatment and exposure from the basal (via medium) or apical (via air) side

Fresh human ex-vivo lung slices

Can be kept viable for up to 14 days
Can be infected with different viruses, virus-like particles or bacteria to simulate a human infection ex-vivo
Display the human local immune response; responses may be translated to clinical data

Functionally intact, ventilated and perfused organ

Provides relevant clearance and transport processes
Systemic availability: Analysis of concentration profile in perfusate after inhaled application
Lung retention: Tissue concentration or blood-tissue distribution

In-vivo respiratory infection models

Viral mouse infection models

reproduce symptoms of mild infection, inflammation and induction of anti-viral response
suitable to test efficacy of anti-virals or immune modulators

Acute and chronic bacterial pneumonia models

reproduce hallmarks of human pneumonia including clinical symptoms, bacterial distribution and lung inflammation

Our unique approach for drug delivery targeting respiratory diseases is inhaled administration

In-vivo inhalation toxicology

This includes:

Guideline-compliant study performance with state-of-the-art inhalation and measurement equipment allowing studies up to large scale with eight exposure groups in parallel. We offer inhaled administration and toxicity assessment of:

Pharmaceuticals including small molecules, recombinant proteins and non-standard products such as cell and gene therapies or bacteriophages
Nanoparticles and novel formulations
Toxicity studies after intratracheal instillation
Complex project designs for adequate toxicological characterization
In-vitro/in-vivo genotoxicity studies with chemicals and complex mixtures

In-vitro testing of airborne substances for inhalation toxicity

This includes:

The innovative and patented P.R.I.T.® technologies enable the use of cell cultures and tissues at the air/liquid interface for testing of inhalable substances under appropriate conditions. Our patented P.R.I.T. ® ExpoCube® features:

Standardized in-vitro inhalation of drugs in cell and tissue cultures
Optimized exposure efficiency while preserving cellular viability due to CFD (computational fluid dynamics)
High particulate deposition efficiency without cell-damaging effect

Further information

How to work with iCAIR®

Contract research: commission your preclinical R&D projects to iCAIR®
Collaboration: apply for funding by external investors, foundations or public grants together with iCAIR®

iCAIR® – translating research into drugs

Our mission

Our services

Our expertise

iCAIR® focuses on infectious (viral, bacterial and fungal) respiratory diseases

Viral

Bacterial

Fungal

Our speciality is structure-based, rational drug design and directed drug development

Drug targets

Hit identification

Hit-to-lead and lead optimization

Preclinical development

Our strengths are predictive, state-of-the-art models

Ex-vivo human airway epithelium model

Fresh human ex-vivo lung slices

Functionally intact, ventilated and perfused organ

In-vivo respiratory infection models

Our unique approach for drug delivery targeting respiratory diseases is inhaled administration

In-vivo inhalation toxicology

This includes:

In-vitro testing of airborne substances for inhalation toxicity

This includes:

Further information

How to work with iCAIR®

Learn more about the iCAIR® partners and their specific expertise

Interested in working with iCAIR®? Contact us!

Contact Press / Media

Prof. Dr. Armin Braun

Contact Press / Media

Dr. Jana Führing