Lyon, France, and Luxembourg, July 1, 2020 – Advanced BioDesign, a French biotechnology company specializing in the development of innovative therapies for resistant forms of cancer, and the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH), a public biomedical research institute, announce today a partnership to embark on a collaborative research program.

The Large Scale Testing COVID-19, developed by Research Luxembourg’s COVID-19 Task Force and led by the Luxembourg Institute of Health is ongoing and will continue until 28 July 2020.. Residents and cross-border workers are still encouraged to participate voluntarily and Say #AAAH.

Researchers at the Department of Infection and Immunity of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) developed LIH383, a novel molecule that binds to and blocks a previously unknown opioid receptor in the brain, thereby modulating the levels of opioid peptides produced in the central nervous system (CNS) and potentiating their natural painkilling and antidepressant properties. Opioid peptides are small proteins that act as neuromodulators by interacting with four ‘classical’ opioid receptors on the surface of CNS cells, playing a key role in mediating pain relief but also emotions such as euphoria, anxiety, stress and depression.

Starting on 15 June, Prof. Dirk Brenner is appointed as joint Professor in Immunology & Genetics at both the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH). This new position will reinforce the already very dynamic immunology research in Luxembourg and develop synergies between the two institutions.

As the first pandemic in the digital era, COVID-19 has created an urgent need for coordinated mechanisms to respond to the outbreak across health sectors.

Dr. Torsten Bohn, leader of the Nutrition and Health Research Group at the LIH Department of Population Health (DoPH), together with co-first authors Mohammed Iddir (PhD Student) and Dr. Alex Brito, recently published an article reviewing the importance of an optimal status of specific nutrients and additional dietary constituents to effectively aid in controlling inflammation and oxidative stress, thereby strengthening the immune system during the COVID-19 crisis.

Max Meyrath, Dr Andy Chevigné and Dr Martyna Szpakowska from the Immuno-Pharmacology and Interactomics research group of the Department of Infection and Immunity (DII) published a book chapter on cancer signalling, in collaboration with international partners. The scientific publication, which was released in February 2020 in Advances in Cancer Research, reviews the roles of atypical chemokine receptors (ACKRs) in the different phases of cancer development, progression and metastasis, their clinical relevance, as well as their implications for cancer therapy.

On Friday, May 29th, the Luxembourg National Research Fund (Fonds National de la Recherche - FNR) announced the results of the second round of financing under its novel COVID-19 Fast Track Call. A total of 21 out of the 55 eligible projects were retained for funding, corresponding to an FNR commitment of EUR 1.12 million. Namely, four LIH projects are among the selected ones, for a total support amounting to over EUR 197,000.

On April 24th, the Research Luxembourg Taskforce officially launched “Predi-COVID” (Luxembourg cohort of positive patients for COVID-19: a stratification study to predict severe prognosis»), a study led by the Department of Population Health (DoPH) of the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH).