In Portrait | Nano Research at the Boundaries of the Cell

Highly specialized laboratories, complex measuring instruments, and interdisciplinary cutting-edge research: in the modern new SupraFAB building on the campus of Freie Universität Berlin in Dahlem, scientists from the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology have been conducting research at the cell boundaries for about a year and a half.

More than half of all commercially available drugs target proteins located in the cell membrane. When pathogens try to invade a cell, complex processes take place between the proteins on the cell surface. These processes, in turn, determine whether and how severely a person will become ill. Despite their importance, little is known about how these proteins function at the cell's borders. One of the goals of the scientists who have been working in the ultramodern SupraFAB (Supramolecular Functional Architectures at Biointerfaces) research building for the past year and a half is to change this and implement further research ideas. There is space for about 120 researchers. A special feature is the focus on interdisciplinary work. The SupraFAB laboratories and large-scale research equipment are shared by various research groups from the fields of physics, biology and chemistry.

Special foundation for reduced vibrations

"The SupraFAB research building will provide Freie Universität Berlin with outstanding interdisciplinary work opportunities in the fields of cell research, supramolecular chemistry, and bio- and nanophysics. The new building forms the basis for further networking of interdisciplinary cutting-edge research in the nanobiosciences on Freie Universität's central research campus in Berlin-Dahlem. Scientists from the participating departments of biology, chemistry, pharmacy, and physics will now have access to highly specialized laboratories and state-of-the-art large-scale research equipment that is extremely costly to purchase and maintain," said the spokesperson for the facility, chemist Prof. Dr. Rainer Haag.

Construction of the sustainable and technically sophisticated building on the campus of Freie Universität Berlin (FUB) in Dahlem began in 2016. The new building, which cost 48 million euros, was largely financed by the Joint Science Conference (GWK), a federal-state program for new research buildings. The upper three floors house seminar rooms, laboratories, and offices, while the lowest floor houses the large instrumentation laboratories. A special feature of the building is that the SupraFAB stands on a low-vibration, one-meter-thick baseplate to prevent external influences from distorting the sensitive measurements. In addition, a special 40-ton foundation on air springs provides even greater isolation for some of the instruments.

After six years of construction, the SupraFAB was officially opened in May 2022, and researchers from various departments of the FU Berlin gradually moved in. Since then, the SupraFAB laboratories have been used on an interdisciplinary basis. Researchers have access to a wide range of state-of-the-art equipment: In addition to super-resolution optical microscopes, there is one of the few "near ambient pressure" X-ray photoelectron spectroscopes (NAP-XPS) in Germany, which can examine biomolecular compounds at near normal pressure. The low-temperature scanning tunneling atomic force microscope (LT-STM-AFM) achieves particularly high resolution and can image changes on a surface in the sub-nanometer range. A state-of-the-art 300-kilovolt cryo-transmission electron microscope, which can image shock-frozen protein molecules and other structures in their functional state in a natural aqueous environment at a resolution of one-tenth of a nanometer, or atomic resolution, enables researchers to understand the structure and function of individual proteins and protein complexes.

Research for drug development

Put simply, researchers use the instruments to study cell boundaries at the nanoscale. In biosafety level 2 (S2) laboratories, researchers are investigating how to block virus-cell interactions and what insights this can provide for diagnostics and therapies. Insights into the structure and function of individual proteins, protein complexes and other complex supramolecular architectures at biological interfaces, which are relevant for the interaction of pathogens with cell membranes, are important for health research, especially for the development of novel drugs; research topics here include neuronal signal transmission in nerve cells, complex protein structures on cell surfaces and in the cell membrane, and hydrogels as components of biological interfaces.

"The SupraFAB research building is another new research building in the city that underscores Berlin's positive development as a top research location. The research building is a great asset for Freie Universität and, in terms of health research, for all of us. The research conducted here can develop the basis for new diagnostic and therapeutic concepts and strengthen interdisciplinary research between the natural sciences, life sciences, and medicine," said Prof. Dr. Rainer Haag at the opening ceremony and continued: "In four Collaborative Research Centers, a graduate college and the Nanoscale Focus Area, we are working together intensively in biology, chemistry and physics and networking with other disciplines. With SupraFAB, we now have an optimal research environment to tackle the major challenges of supramolecular architectures at biointerfaces and to forge new ideas.

Junior research groups working in the SupraFAB research program also have the opportunity to receive funding from SupraFAB in the early stages of their formation and to use the infrastructure, such as expensive large-scale research equipment and specialized laboratories.

Synergy between business and science

The Airport Region Berlin Brandenburg is characterized by a network of business and science. Companies find an excellent basis for university and institute-based research, as well as an environment in which scientific institutions and technology-oriented companies work closely together. These conditions are ideal for turning innovative ideas into marketable products. 

For more information on the economic development of growth industries and start-ups in the region, as well as on business and technology promotion for companies, investors and scientific institutions, please contact:

Melanie Gartzke I melanie.gartzke(at)airport-region.de

Source: Portrait Cluster HealthCapital Berlin-Brandenburg "Portrait | The SupraFAB research building: Nanoresearch at the Cell Boundaries", Jan. 25, 2024; https://www.healthcapital.de/