Science / February 10, 2026

A jump-start for two spin-offs

This year, the Pre-GoBio program is supporting two planned spin-offs. Paul Schöpe aims to bring a drug targeting colorectal cancer metastases to market. And Ines Lahmann will further develop NMJCare, a model that can be used to test therapies for neuromuscular diseases.

This year, the Max Delbrück Center’s internal Pre-GoBio funding program will support the development of a new drug designed to target colorectal cancer metastases. Starting in May, Paul Curtis Schöpe from Professor Ulrike Stein’s Translational Oncology of Solid Tumors research group will receive an annual budget of 150,000 euros for two years to bring to market a compound that he and his colleagues discovered. The funding can be extended for an additional year.

Schöpe’s idea is also supported by a Field Study Fellowship from Helmholtz Enterprise. “I am being funded for three months to conduct interviews and market research to better understand the needs of our potential customers,” Schöpe says. The Pre-GoBio project will begin immediately afterward.

Eight outstanding ideas

woman — Ines Lahmann

© Felix Petermann, Max Delbrück Center

Dr. Ines Lahmann from Professor Mina Gouti’s Stem Cell Modeling of Development and Disease research group will also benefit indirectly from the Helmholtz fellowship. Under normal circumstances, the Pre-GoBio selection committee can fund only one of the submitted spin-off ideas per year. This year, however, the additional support for Schöpe freed up resources to fund Lahmann’s plans for NMJCare for one year as well.

Together with colleagues, Lahmann has developed a high-throughput system based on stem cells donated from patients with neuromuscular diseases to test new compounds and personalize existing therapies. Her idea was recently named one of the top ten in the Science4Life start-up competition. “With Pre-GoBio funding, we now have the financial means to deliver proof-of-concept for NMJCare and, in parallel, to further develop the business model,” Lahmann says.

Eight teams applied for the internal seed funding last year. “An exceptionally large number of outstanding ideas were submitted, which made every single rejection incredibly painful,” says Dr. Nevine Shalaby, head of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship department at the Max Delbrück Center. With the Pre-GoBio program, Shalaby and her team aim to help researchers at the center bring projects with high medical and commercial potential to the clinic as quickly as possible. “We want to foster entrepreneurial thinking so that our research can have greater impact,” Shalaby says.

The primary tumor is the lesser problem

Despite many recent advances in treating colorectal cancer, the disease is still often fatal. However, it is not the intestinal tumors themselves that lead to adverse outcomes. “In around nine out of ten cases, metastases – for example in the liver or lungs – are the cause of death,” explains Stein. Together with her team, she is searching for ways to better prevent colorectal cancer from spreading.

“I am very pleased that such an outstanding colleague as Paul Schöpe will now take our discovery into his own hands and develop it to market readiness. Hopefully, the first colorectal cancer patients can soon benefit from it,” Stein says. Schöpe is not only being supported by Stein, his research group leader, but also by Professor Wolfgang Walther and Dr. Dennis Kobelt from the biotech company Experimental Pharmacology & Oncology in Berlin-Buch, a spin-off of the Max Delbrück Center.

The molecule E12 inhibits metastases

Man — Paul Schöpe

© Felix Petermann, Max Delbrück Center

Colorectal cancer metastases could in the future be prevented by a small molecule called E12, which Schöpe and his colleagues selected as the most promising candidate from around 100,000 potential compounds. “Even at low concentrations, it inhibits the production of the protein S100A4 and, to a lesser extent, MACC1,” Schöpe explains. The gene for MACC1, which Stein and her team identified in 2009, plays a key role in the development of colorectal tumors and their metastases. S100A4 cannot directly cause tumors, but it promotes tumor growth and the formation of metastases.

MACC1 and S100A4 are already being used in studies as biomarkers to identify patients at particularly high risk of developing metastases. More recently, a team led by Schöpe showed in a mouse model of human colorectal cancer that E12 prevented tumor cells from reading the gene for S100A4, and impaired transcription of the MACC1 gene. As a result, the animals developed fewer metastases, and the primary tumor also shrank.

A blood test for personalized therapy

“With Pre-GoBio funding, we want to further develop E12,” Schöpe says. Firstly, he and his colleagues will investigate how the body metabolizes the compound. Secondly, they will conduct experiments with colorectal cancer cells to understand how E12 works at the molecular level and to identify its precise target. “That will allow us to better assess side effects and chemically modify the compound to make it even more effective,” Schöpe explains.

“With this knowledge, we want to bring investors on board so that initial clinical trials with E12 become possible,” says Schöpe, who took part in the GeneNovate entrepreneurship program last year where he gained a great deal of entrepreneurial know-how. As part of his start-up venture, the researcher also plans to develop a blood test that measures levels of S100A4 and MACC1 to identify colorectal cancer patients who are most likely to benefit from the new therapies.

Text: Anke Brodmerkel