In December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine was approved for use across the EU, marking a crucial step forward in the fight against coronavirus. The development of this COVID-19 vaccine built on important research that was undertaken by Mainz-based biotechnology company, BioNTech, in collaboration with the Jülich Center for Neutron Science (JCNS). Using neutron scattering instruments operated by the JCNS at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Center in Garching, researchers investigated new approaches for the packaging and delivery of the mRNA. Such experiments provide important insights into the relationship between structural properties, biological activity and the vaccine production process, which will help to advance the development of RNA therapeutics and vaccines.

Find out more about how neutron scattering experiments at JCNS have contributed to the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.

The Mantid project provides a framework that supports high-performance computing and visualisation of materials science data. It has been created to manipulate and analyse neutron scattering and muon spectroscopy data, but could be applied to many other techniques. The framework is open source and supported on multiple target platforms (Windows, Linux, Mac).

Since January, Prof. Dr. Martin Müller has been the new director at the Heinz Maier-Leibnitz Zentrum (MLZ), succeeding Prof. Dr. Stephan Förster in the role. A materials physicist, he now represents the Helmholtz partners Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) and Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG) in the Scientific Directorate of the MLZ. By rotation, Martin Müller will also be the spokesman of the directorate for a period of two years.