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.

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.

The cochlear implant (CI) is the most successful neural prosthesis worldwide. Thanks to direct stimulation of the auditory nerve, it enables more than half a million people worldwide to hear, even though those affected were born deaf or deafened.

rMSI technology - 08/11/2021

New multispectral imaging technology improves endoscopic tumour detection capabilities

The quality of minimally invasive surgery depends to a large extent on the imaging properties of the endoscopes used. The Mannheim-based company Thericon GmbH has developed a multispectral imaging technology that overlays views from multiple light channels in real time to create a detailed image on which tumours can be better identified.

Nanoparticles are omnipresent in our environment: Viruses in ambient air, proteins in the body, as building blocks of new materials for electronics, or in surface coatings. Visualizing these smallest particles is a problem: They are so small that they can hardly be seen under an optical microscope.

Certain anchor proteins inhibit a key metabolic driver that plays an important role in cancer and developmental brain disorders. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Innsbruck, together with a Europe-wide research network, discovered this molecular mechanism, which could open up new opportunities for personalized therapies for cancer and neuronal diseases. They published their results in the journal Cell.

Dossier - 24/05/2012

Biochips microsystems technology for the life sciences

Nanoscale robots and intelligent measurement systems in arteries, fingernail-sized DNA chips that can be used to analyze thousands of genes in tiny samples, intelligent DNA microsensors – the trend in the life sciences is moving towards miniaturization.