Article - 01/12/2015 Process optimisation in the operating theatre Modern IT solutions and the digital networking of devices and work processes permeate many areas of life, and this does not stop at hospital gates. A cooperative project, InnOPlan, coordinated by KARL STORZ GmbH & Co. KG in Tuttlingen, is studying data-driven optimisation of processes in operating theatres.
Press release - 16/11/2015 The Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry – a strong economic power (Stuttgart – 16th November 2015) BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg has just published its latest analysis of the Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry including comprehensive facts and figures. Baden-Württemberg continues to be one of the top locations for medical technology, pharma and biotechnology in Germany.
Article - 04/11/2015 DNA capture molecules wanted for cells Artificial blood vessels made of special polymers are no longer a pipedream. However, one problem that needs to be solved is that the artificial vessels have to be compatible with tissue. One solution could be to dupe the body into thinking that the artificial vessels are real by coating their inside walls with the patient’s own cells. Researchers from Reutlingen have developed a microfluidic chip that identifies molecules that can capture the…
Article - 29/10/2015 Personalised Parkinson’s therapy using intelligent brain stimulation For many decades, deep brain stimulation has been used for treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. However, the mechanisms of the procedure, which involves implanting stimulation probes into low lying brain areas, are still not clear. Prof. Alireza Gharabaghi, Dr. Daniel Weiss and their teams of researchers at the University of Tübingen have now been able to demonstrate a direct relationship between deep brain…
Telemedicine - 19/10/2015 Medical apps – potential helpers for physicians and patients Can smartphones become health counsellors for patients or diagnostic tools for doctors? The answer is yes, at least technically. However, health apps that comply with valid medical device regulations are still rather rare in Germany. Many health insurance companies are reluctant to pay for the use of these modern tools because the legal framework is inadequate and doctors are not yet fully capable of using them. Nevertheless, the use of such…
Telemedizin - 19/10/2015 SMARTY – a new way to treat and care for chronically ill children Chronic and complex diseases in children are often a heavy burden on their families. Parents naturally want their children to have the latest treatment, and children are usually treated by several specialists. This makes it rather difficult, or, at the very least, involves considerable effort to keep everyone up to date. Dr. Joachim Riethmüller from the University Children’s Hospital in Tübingen and his team of doctors are using telemedicine in…
Article - 24/09/2015 New test system for detection of HPV-related oral cavity cancers The number of people suffering from oral or oropharyngeal cancer is rising steadily. The major cause of these cancers is human papillomaviruses (HPV) that colonise the oral cavity, where they are difficult to detect. QIAGEN Lake Constance GmbH from Stockach, in cooperation with Abviris Deutschland GmbH, has developed a new test system to improve the detection of oral HPV. This new system enables rapid and reliable quantitative detection of…
Article - 27/07/2015 Fraunhofer PAMB accelerates the development of medical devices Dr. Auguste van Poelgeest is head of the “Control Systems for Medical Engineering” research group that is part of the Project Group for Automation in Medicine and Biotechnology (PAMB). The project group is based at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA. In an interview with Dr. Ariane Pott from BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg, van Poelgeest explains the role of automation in the field of medicine and how…
Article - 20/07/2015 How cells communicate with each other The ability of cells to move around as a cohesive group and communicate with each other plays a major role in many vital processes, including wound healing and embryo development. One cell becomes a lead cell and determines the direction that follower cells take. Researchers led by biophysicist Joachim Spatz from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have successfully decoded the collective movement of cells in the body.…
Article - 22/06/2015 3D bioprinting: replicating the shape of bone parts Prof. Dr. Günter Finkenzeller, head of the Research and Tissue Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery at the Freiburg University Medical Centre, and Dr. Peter Koltay from the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg, are being given German Research Foundation (DFG) funds for a period of three years to develop a 3D printing technique for functional bone tissue containing blood…
Article - 22/06/2015 Attentive observer of metabolic processes Physicist Dr. Jan-Bernd Hövener makes magnetic resonance imaging devices smaller and their magnetic fields weaker in the hope that precisely these properties will help him detect abnormal metabolic processes and tumours. On 9th June 2015, the International Organisation for Medical Physics (IOMP) awarded Hövener the Young Scientist Award in Medical Physics, the organisation’s most important prize for up-and-coming scientists.
Article - 01/06/2015 High-tech fibres for organ and tissue regeneration Biologically degradable polymers can be electrically spun into a type of fleece that can be used as a scaffold and growth matrix for living cells. This fleece can be used to replace diseased or damaged tissue. In the field of cardiovascular medicine, the fleece can be used to produce new heart valves and tissue.