Award-winning startup at TWINCORE

Frank Pessler's spin-off honoured as "Emerging Startup" at BioVaria 2025

Frank Pessler and his team member Fakhar Waqas with the award

Prof Frank Pessler, Head of the TWINCORE research group Biomarkers for Infectious Diseases, received the Emerging Startup award for his spin-off Citrapeutics at the BioVaria 2025 conference in Munich.

Citrapeutics aims to develop active substances that can restore immune function in infections or cancer. Pessler and his team described the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of citraconic acid in the journal Nature Metabolism in 2022. They subsequently founded Citrapeutics to further develop these and other substances into active pharmaceutical ingredients.

 

In the photo: Frank Pessler (left) and his team member Fakhar Waqas with the award. ©TWINCORE/T. Damm