LIH publishes its Annual Report 2017

2018 - 09 - 19

LIH is pleased to present its Annual Report 2017. New leadership, strategic reorientation, important project starts, scientific discoveries… The report provides the opportunity to look back on an intense year.


New management and strategic vision

Dr Ulf Nehrbass, CEO of LIH since October 2017, has already been able to lay the foundations for a strategic reorientation of the institute to further focus on the valorisation of research results. Formerly founder, CEO and Scientific Director of the Pasteur Institute Korea, then CEO and Scientific Director of Ksilink, a translational research centre specialised in personalised medicine located in Strasbourg, Dr Nehrbass is a strong supporter of patient-centred research - carried out for and with the patients.

Having a fresh judgement on the national research sector and on the potential of Luxembourg to play a pioneering role in the field of personalised medicine, Dr Nehrbass sees LIH already on the right track: ‘The institute has acquired strong expertise in several research fields. The next step will be to translate the scientific discoveries into tangible progress for patients. There is no better place in the world than Luxembourg to develop next-generation healthcare at a national scale’, stresses Dr Nehrbass.

LIH will foster the transfer of research results to concrete applications by adopting a coherent and integrative translational approach, addressing unmet patient needs in a "bed-to-bench-to-bed" cycle.

CLINNOVA - data serving patients

It is also in this perspective that the CLINNOVA project was launched in 2017, for which LIH teamed up with the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg, IBBL- Integrated BioBank of Luxembourg and the Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR).

The purpose of this project? The creation of a Centre of Excellence in Digital Health and Personalised Healthcare in Luxembourg - a true research data sharing platform that will connect researchers and clinicians and ensure that innovations from the laboratory lead to clinical implementation. The project will focus on neurology, oncology and immunology.

European funding within the TEAMING instrument of the Horizon 2020 programme has been secured and will be used to develop a business plan to establish such a centre in Luxembourg. This business plan shall allow to submit a proposal for further funding by the European Commission. It is of utmost importance for Luxembourg that this project can be implemented, as it will enable the country to move towards a personalised, integrated and forward-looking medicine of the future.

2017 in brief

The scientifically intense year once again showed the dynamism and the excellence of the research conducted at LIH, as well as the growing international recognition of the institute.

Key figures for 2017:

  • 316 scientific publications, of which 10% of very high quality published in internationally renowned journals

  • 12 new clinical studies launched

  • 41 partnerships with the private sector

  • 205 collaboration agreements signed with the academic and private sector

  • 22 young researchers starting their doctoral training

  • > 270 research projects initiated or in progress

  • 12.9 million Euros from competitive and contractual funding

    Read more about LIH’s activities! Download the Annual Report 2017.