Viral cancer therapy - 26/10/2022 Therapeutic viruses against tumours and metastases Viruses can overcome cell barriers and transfer information to their host cells. They know how to make their host cell’s infrastructure work for them. This makes them excellent biotechnological tools, which a research group from the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart is using to its advantage. The team is developing a therapeutic virus that not only recognises and fights tumours, but also has the potential to reach metastases.
Press release - 20/10/2022 Cytoskeleton acts as cells’ bouncer for bacteria Researchers of the University of Freiburg have discovered a previously unknown function of septins in defending cells against dangerous hospital pathogens.
Press release - 06/09/2022 Biointelligent sensor for measuring viral activity Today, genome editing is almost as easy as programming software. However, the generation of viral vectors as initial material is still associated with many expensive and error-prone handling procedures. Viruses are generated via complex biological processes that have to be optimised virus-specifically in order to produce high-quality therapeutics. A new method is needed that simplifies and optimises these processes.
RHEACELL GmbH - 28/07/2022 Innovative stem cell therapy for chronic wounds Non-healing, chronically inflamed wounds can be very painful and carry the risk of serious infections. The Heidelberg company RHEACELL has developed a unique drug based on ABCB5-positive mesenchymal stem cells that helps reprogramme the relevant immune cells and promote healing.
Organ-on-chip for the analysis of drug effects - 20/07/2022 New 3D cell platform allows continuous metabolic monitoring Organ-on-chips systems are systems containing miniature tissues grown inside mircrofluidic chips. By integrating microsensors, researchers at the IMTEK Freiburg, together with the RWTH Aachen University Hospital, created a novel variant that allows the measurement of metabolic activity directly on site and in real time. This enables the rapid and detailed analysis of drug effects outside an organism.
AaviGen GmbH: Hope for heart failure - 14/07/2022 Gene therapy for weakened hearts Treating a weak heart – for example after a heart attack – at the GP’s surgery with a single intravenous injection, without causing serious side effects: what sounds almost too good to be true is actually already under development. The Heidelberg-based biotech company AaviGen is working on a platform technology based on adeno-associated viruses that can help introduce therapeutic genes in a highly specific way into diseased heart muscle cells.
Biotech in outer space - 06/07/2022 yuri, a space start-up: weightlessness for commercial research Growing cells without the effect of gravity could revolutionise drug development. A start-up called yuri on Lake Constance enables made-to-measure experiments on the ISS for stem cells, artificial organs, surfaces and materials. On board the next mission are some mini-cell labs from Berlin's Charité and Goethe University Frankfurt.
Press release - 29/06/2022 RNA modifications in mitochondria promote invasive spread of cancer Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, and they contain their own genetic material and RNA molecules. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now discovered that certain modifications in mitochondrial RNA boost the invasive spread of cancer cells by supporting protein synthesis in mitochondria.
Press release - 23/06/2022 Cancer patients receiving immunotherapy: no evidence of increased risk for severe immune complication after COVID-19 vaccination Does COVID-19 vaccination increase the risk of cancer patients undergoing therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors to suffer a dangerous immune complication known as a "cytokine release syndrome"? A team of Heidelberg physicians and scientists has now shown in a clinical study: Increased serum levels of the characteristic cytokines occur frequently in cancer patients, but clinically relevant cases of the dreaded syndrome were not…
Assay to support the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases - 22/06/2022 Tracking down pathogenic immune complexes Soluble complexes of antibodies and their target structures circulating in the blood can trigger serious systemic inflammations. Dr. Philipp Kolb and Haizhang Chen from the Institute of Virology at the Freiburg University Medical Centre have developed a sensitive, cell-based test system for detecting these immune complexes. The system can be used to diagnose systemic autoimmune diseases, and also severe cases of COVID-19.
Press release - 12/05/2022 New hope for broad spectrum viral entry inhibitors – Negatively charged polymer proves effective against a wide range of viruses While broad-spectrum antibiotics can offer protection against a wide variety of bacteria, there are currently no analogous clinically available broad-spectrum antiviral agents that can act on several different viruses. An international research team has now shown that polystyrene sulfonate (PSS), a negatively charged polymer, has the potential to be used in the prevention of viral infections – not only in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 and cold…
Peptide-based COVID-19 vaccine - 21/04/2022 CoVac-1: T-cell activator against COVID-19 Current vaccines against COVID-19 aim at forming neutralising antibodies that prevent the virus from penetrating the host cells. Since people with impaired B-cell immune responses – which can also occur in cancer or autoimmune diseases – are not able to do this, researchers at the University of Tübingen have developed the peptide-based T-cell activator CoVac-1, which promises broad and long-term immunity.
