PlasmidFactory founder Dr. Martin Schleef honoured with the NRW Innovation Award 2025
Iona Everson | September 12, 2025 | News story | | Innovation Award 2025, PlasmidFactory, cell and gene therapy, medical communications, research and development
The founder and long-standing CEO of PlasmidFactory, Dr. Martin Schleef, was honoured in Düsseldorf with the Innovation Award 2025 of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
The award is one of Germany’s most prestigious innovation awards and is presented annually by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine- Westphalia. It honours individuals who have made a lasting impact on business, science and society through outstanding research and transfer achievements.
“This award is a great honour for me and at the same time a recognition of the work we have done together at PlasmidFactory over many years. Innovation has been our driving force from the very beginning – in particular, the development of advanced DNA solutions such as Minicircle, which have made a decisive contribution to advancing the field of cell and gene therapy. I am therefore all the more delighted that this approach is now receiving such impressive recognition,” says Dr. Martin Schleef, founder and CEO of PlasmidFactory for the last 25 years.
PlasmidFactory was founded in Bielefeld in 2000. Under the leadership of Dr. Schleef, the company developed from a spin-off into a leading international supplier of high-quality DNA products. Today, PlasmidFactory supplies plasmids and minicircles for the production of adeno-associated vectors (AAV), mRNA and cell therapies, among other things, up to GMP quality to academic institutions, biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. With these products, the company provides crucial support for research and clinical development in the fields of gene and cell therapy, as well as vaccine development.
“We are proud to continue this success story. The NRW Innovation Award is not only a recognition of Dr. Schleef’s achievements, but also an incentive for all of us to continue actively shaping the future of biotechnology, and cell and gene therapy in particular. His pioneering work is the foundation on which we are building today with our team – and which we are consistently developing further with our high-quality DNA solutions,” emphasises Dr. Dirk Winnemöller, CEO of PlasmidFactory.
With 25 years of experience, an international customer base and state-of-the-art production facilities, PlasmidFactory is now an important partner for the development and manufacture of novel therapies.
The Innovation Award of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia has been presented since 2008 and is one of the most highly endowed innovation awards in Germany. It recognises outstanding achievements in the categories ‘innovation’, ‘innovation2business’, ‘innovation2market’ and ‘innovation4transformation’, and helps to highlight the state’s innovative strength.
PlasmidFactory, based in Bielefeld, Germany, is a global manufacturer of high-quality plasmids and minicircles. Its products are used in research, preclinical and clinical projects, covering applications ranging from basic research to the development of innovative gene and cell therapies. With a clear focus on quality and customer benefit, PlasmidFactory has been supporting international partners from science and industry in implementing their biotechnological innovations since 2000.
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