companies
German Chancellor delighted after company visit to Knauer, calling the company a pearl
German Chancellor Dr. Angela Merkel visited Berlin-based manufacturer of high-tech laboratory instruments Knauer Wissenschaftliche Geräte GmbH on Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. Managing director and owner of the family business with 160 employees Alexandra Knauer, together with her managing director Carsten Losch, welcomed the Chancellor in the best weather at the company’s headquarters in the southwest of the city. The perceptible slight nervousness and excitement in anticipation of the high-ranking visitor quickly gave way as soon as the first words were exchanged with the Chancellor.
A
ngela Merkel was on site to get an idea of the activities of the medium-sized company. Here, for almost 60 years, equipment has been developed for science and research, “the highest precision technology” as the Chancellor put it.
The upscaling of the production of the lipid nanoparticles was a prerequisite for the provision of the new mRNA vaccines, which were used against COVID-19 for the first time on a large scale worldwide. In a round of talks, in which company founders Roswitha and Dr.-Ing. Herbert Knauer also took part, Mrs. Merkel and her delegation learned from two Knauer experts how the development of the so-called “Impingement Jets Mixing Skids” (IJM skids) for lipid nanoparticle production came about. Starting in the summer of 2020, these skids were successfully developed within a few months in close contact with a large
Managing Director Carsten Losch (left) and Dr. Kate Monks, Head
The German Chancellor congratulates company founders Dr.-Ing.
of Applications, Academy & Quality (right) explain an IJM skid
Herbert Knauer, who celebrated his 90th birthday on Sept. 12, 2021,
for mRNA lipid nanoparticle production to Dr. Angela Merkel
and his wife Roswitha on the success of the Knauer company
(Photos: Knauer)
In particular, Dr. Merkel was interested in the company’s systems, that made the encapsulation of the delicate mRNA into vaccinatable lipid nanoparticles against COVID-19 possible in quantities. The delicate mRNA active ingredient is then located inside the lipid nanoparticles (LNP) and can be transported undamaged to the cell to exert its immunizing effect.
técnicas de LABORATORIO
448
Nº 464 SEPTIEMBRE 2021
