Foundation
History of the YAEL foundation
The YAEL foundation was established in December, 2006 by Prof. Dr. Ansgar W. Lohse. As assets of the foundation, the founder brought in his patents and licensing agreements, as well as the revenues based on these. The patents and licensing agreements are related to a diagnostic test helping to make the diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis. This test detects SLA/LP autoantibodies, which are a highly specific marker for autoimmune hepatitis. The development of this test, as well as the patent was made possible by identification of the target antigen of SLA/LP autoantibodies.
In appreciation of the received public funding and research infrastructure, which made this invention possible, the founder established the YAEL foundation to give support to the medical science community. The revenues of the invention are being used solely and completely for acknowledged charitable objectives.
Yael is a biblical name derived from the Hebrew word for Ibex. Born at the time the invention was made, the founder’s daughter Yael became eponym of the foundation. However, YAEL is also an acronym, in which Y stands for an antibody and AEL stands for ‘Autoimmune Erkrankungen der Leber’, i.e. ‘autoimmune liver diseases’ in German.