The Leibniz Center for Photonics in Infection Research (LPI) is a user-open translational research infrastructure funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) under the National Roadmap for Research Infrastructures. The overall budget amounts to around €182 million. Four institutions run the LPI jointly: Leibniz-IPHT, Leibniz-HKI, Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU) and Jena University Hospital (UKJ).

The LPI structures its services along a diagnostic and therapeutic pipeline. It connects technology development, validation and transfer so that projects from academia and industry work with defined handover points and reliable processes. In this way, the LPI supports the implementation of light-based approaches for diagnosis, monitoring and therapy of infectious diseases, up to application-ready solutions.

By 2030, a new building of about 4,000 m² will be completed on the UKJ campus; construction is planned to start in 2027. In addition, the LPI will operate a First-in-Patient Unit (FiPU) in the intensive care environment, scheduled to begin operation in 2026/27. There, teams test new approaches close to the patient and feed the results back into the refinement of the baseline technologies and the operational concept.

Baseline technologies (high TRL, the LPI’s technological backbone)

Since 2021, cross-institutional teams have developed five baseline technologies at high technical readiness; the BMBF provides around €50.95 million for this work.

Multidimensional, multimodal imaging platforms (coordination: Leibniz-IPHT): The LPI develops imaging platforms for infection-relevant scenarios and combines them with sample preparation workflows for cells, tissues, organ models and organs. The methods capture morphological and chemical changes in biological structures.

Photonic interaction assays for point-of-care and high throughput (coordination: Leibniz-IPHT): The LPI builds compact devices, analysis strategies and sample-preparation methods, with a focus on liquid samples.

Artificial intelligence for photonic data analysis (coordination: FSU): The LPI develops AI, machine-learning and deep-learning methods for diagnostic datasets. It sets up data infrastructures that combine data security and privacy with FAIR principles for reusability, and it supports the design of standardized data acquisition.

Characterization and modelling of the immune response (coordination: UKJ): The LPI develops light-based methods for companion diagnostics and functional monitoring to characterize host responses under time pressure, including in intensive care settings. Leibniz-IPHT contributes photonic approaches that work with very small sample volumes.

New therapy concepts and assays (coordination: Leibniz-HKI): The LPI investigates molecules, therapeutic microbes, and proteins and antibodies as options beyond classical antibiotics. In parallel, it develops photonics-based molecular and biochemical assays that map the diagnostic process from sample to result.

Funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space.

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