| Group Leader |
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| Mailing address: | Department of Pharmaceutical Technology and Biopharmacy
Sonnenstrasse 5
D-79104 Freiburg i. Br. | |
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| Email address: | Andrea Allmendinger |
| LinkedIn Profile: | Andrea Allmendinger |
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Research interest
We are a growing, young, interdisciplinary team and closely connected to the Pharmaceutical Technology groups of Prof. Heerklotz and Prof. Süss. We believe that we can make a meaningful contribution to a sustainable tomorrow and, motivated by the 17 UN developmental goals, we would like to contribute to 'Good health and Well-being'.
Our Vision
We are aiming for easing access to parenteral products including biologics, gene and cell therapeutics globally and particularly for global southern countries.
Our Mission
In two focus groups for (A) biologics and (B) ATMP drug products (Advanced Therapeutic Medicinal Products, including cell therapeutics and nucleotide-based formulations), the research group focuses on enhancing stability of drug products by lyophilization and facilitating their delivery by the development of combination products.
We are specifically working on parenteral drug product formulations, their delivery by injection devices, and the drug product manufacturing processes to enable and facilitate product access - in particular for countries with limited (medical) infrastructure.
We are interested in freeze-dried mRNA therapeutics incorporated into lipid nanoparticles, and address three major challenges: (1) the cold chain; (2) aseptic product preparation before administration; and (3) cost of goods.
Furthermore, using our internal cell culture capabilities, we are pursuing our goal towards long-term stabilization of cells at refrigerated rather than frozen storage conditions for application in allogenic cell therapies.
While we do not optimize mRNA constructs nor cell production processes, we develop drug product solutions for parenteral delivery with adequate long-term stabilization collaborating with our international partners from academia and industry from Switzerland, Denmark, and Ireland.
Curriculum vitae Dr. Allmendinger
→ Download CV Dr. Allmendinger
Featured publications
→ Download complete list of publications
- Excipients for Room Temperature Stable Freeze-Dried Monoclonal Antibody Formulations. Haeuser C, Goldbach P, Huwyler J, Friess W, Allmendinger A*. J Pharm Sci. 2020 Jan;109(1):807-817. doi: 10.1016/j.xphs.2019.10.016. PMID: 31622600
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- Formulation screening of lyophilized mRNA-lipid nanoparticles. Ruppl, A, Kiesewetter D, Köll-Weber M, Lemazurier T, Süss R, Allmendinger A*. Int J Pharm. 2025, 671:125272. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2025.125272. PMID: 39875036
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- Science-Based Risk Assessment for the Categorization of Visual Inspection Defects of Sterile Dosage Forms. Mahler HC, Folzer E, Ananthavettivelu R, Koehler J, Ferrari M, Allmendinger A. Pharmaceutics. 2025, 17(9):1121. doi: 10.3390/pharmaceutics17091121. PMID: 41012459
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- Filling unit operation for biological drug products: Challenges and considerations. Adler A, Allmendinger A*. J Pharm Sci. 2024, 113(2):332-344; doi: 10.1016/j.xphs.2023.11.017. PMID: 37992868
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- SC review Reaching New Heights? Maximum Subcutaneous Injection Volumes from a Technical and Clinical Development Strategy Perspective. Allmendinger A, Mahler HC, Bittner B. ADDR. 2025.
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Completed thesis
- Yuen Li Butt (MSc, 2017) Controlled Nucleation during Lyophilisation of Protein Formulations
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- Dominique Ditter (PhD, 2018) Interaction of Parenteral Drug Products with Surfaces of Glass Vials – Studies of Glass Delamination
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- Christina Häuser (PhD, 2019) Investigation of lyophilized antibody formulations to enable short freeze-drying cycles and storage at room temperature
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- Beatrice Drayer (BSc, 2023) Gefriertrocknung von Poly-A Lipid Nanopartikeln: Einfluss verschiedener Lyoprotektoren & Evaluierung der Robustheit des Herstellungsprozesses
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- Dilara Ali (MSc, 2023) Impact of tubing material and properties used during the aseptic fill-finish process of biopharmaceutical drug products on VHP uptake
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- Franziska Strütt (MSc, 2023) Stress testing of Poly(A)-Lipid nanoparticles
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- Denis Kiesewetter (MSc, 2023) Shaking and freeze/thaw stress studies of mRNA-lipid nanoparticles
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- Corinna Perez (MSc, 2024) Establishment of methodologies to study ready-to-use primary packaging material
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- Sarah Pelaez (PhD, 2025) Evaluation of freeze/thaw equipment in biopharmaceutical drug product manufacturing
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- Anna Ruppl (PhD, 2025) Formulation and process development of freeze-dried mRNA-lipid nanoparticles
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- Jari Acocella (MSc, 2025) Characterization of ready-to-use syringes for intravitreal administration
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- Elisabeth Fackler (MSc, 2025) Drug substance identity testing using Nano Differential Scanning Fluorimetry (nanoDSF)
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- Dilara Ali (PhD, ongoing) Characterization of disposable consumables in biopharmaceutical drug product manufacturing
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- Elisabeth Fackler (PhD, ongoing) Drug substance identity testing
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- Mehrnaz Farzan (PhD, ongoing) Lyophilization of Cell Therapeutics for Allogenic Cell Therapy
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- Ivan-Luka Bagaric (MSc, ongoing) Formulation screening for recombinant adeno-associated viruses
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- Fatos Serifovic (MSc, ongoing) Stabilization of protein formulations
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- Javier Rodriguez (MSc, ongoing) Comparison of recombinant endotoxine methods
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- Carolin Tenner (MSc, ongoing) Lyophilization of cell therapeutics
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