Dossier - 16/12/2021

Advanced therapy medicinal products: gene and cell therapies

Novel gene and cell therapies for treating incurable and hereditary diseases have raised high expectations. However, success has so far been limited to the long-established bone marrow transplants involving the administration of haematopoietic stem cells used to treat blood cancer. CAR T-cell therapies have recently emerged as a major new hope in cancer treatment.

Today, the EU Parliament adopted the EU Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which includes not only new medicines (including gene and cell therapies), but also medical devices.

A new interdisciplinary research project aims to uncover information that can help decode hereditary colon cancer with the aid of mathematical models. Mathematicians and tumour biologists of Heidelberg University, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Heidelberg University Hospital, and the German Cancer Research Center are collaborating on the project.

The development of immunotherapies against blood cancer could be more successful if T cells are activated moderately rather than excessively. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have now been able to show this in mice: If the researchers blocked a cytokine that slows down the immune system, the T cells became exhausted and failed in the fight against leukemia.

At Tübingen University Hospital, a preclinical study led by Dr. Clemens Hinterleitner and Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, Medical Director of Medical Oncology and Pneumology, led to extremely promising results. The research group was able to develop a new methodology that makes it possible to better predict the likelihood of success of immunotherapies for lung cancer.

Gene regulation as a starting point for cancer therapies - 02/12/2021

New investigation method for deciphering complex epigenetic networks

The development and maintenance of uncontrolled cell division in tumours is often due to the unbalanced, complex interplay of regulatory epigenetic networks. Researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry in Stuttgart have developed a new screening system to identify essential components that can serve as targets for anticancer drugs.

Parkinson's disease is characterised by a slow, progressive loss of nerve cells in certain brain areas. The disease is still incurable and the exact causes are unclear. The dopamine deficiency in the brain can only be controlled to some extent in the initial phase of the disease. Basic research is being conducted in an attempt to unravel the mystery of Parkinson's disease.

In multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow, relapse almost always occurs after treatment. Initially, most patients respond well to therapy. However, as the disease progresses, resistant cancer cells spread in the bone marrow, with fatal consequences for the patients.

Laboratory automation - 29/11/2021

Reaching the goal quickly and efficiently with the help of artificial intelligence

Medical research is slow, costly and time-consuming. The system developed by the start-up LABMaiTE could soon change that. With the help of artificial intelligence, it will be possible to automate laboratory experiments and collect and analyse data at the same time.

Cluster of the future - 25/11/2021

nanodiagBW: using nanopores to create completely new diagnostic possibilities

Modern medicine has a wide range of molecular diagnostics at hand. In the next decade, this will increasingly be supplemented by prognostic methods. The BMBF Cluster of the Future finalist, nanodiag BW, is developing prognostic methods to identify epigenetic factors for diseases through a new type of bioanalytics – single molecule analysis in nanopores – which would make it possible to take personalised prevention approaches.

After a highly competitive process Ulm University has been awarded its fifth Collaborative Research Centre (CRC). The new CRC 1506 ‘Aging at Interfaces’ addresses one of the most urgent medical challenges of our time: the aging of the human body and the diseases and constraints that are frequently associated with the aging process.

At the University Hospital Tübingen, clinical evaluation of an in-house developed vaccine (CoVac-1) against SARS-CoV-2 was started in November 2020 under the direction of Prof. Dr. Juliane Walz in the CCU Translational Immunology of the Medical Clinic (Medical Director Prof. Dr. Helmut Salih). Now the results of the Phase I study are available and demonstrate a potent activation of the T-cell response against the coronavirus.

Furtwangen University publishes the world’s first molecular biological study on bacterial contamination of slit lamps. Slit lamps are among the most important tools used by ophthalmologists and opticians. They allow selected areas of the eye to be magnified and examined for diseases.

As cancer progresses, the tumor cells continually change, ultimately resulting in a tumor consisting of a large number of different cell clones with different characteristics. This is referred to as "tumor heterogeneity". In many cases, the cancer cells become resistant to the treatments available.

Treatment resistance is a central problem in the treatment of cancer. Bone and soft tissue tumors – known as sarcomas – in adolescents and young adults often stop responding to treatment too. This is because cancer cells develop a large number of new characteristics as the disease progresses and often become resistant to drugs that were originally effective.

Microfluidic systems - 18/11/2021

Dermagnostix develops molecular diagnostic tests for skin diseases

Dermagnostix GmbH has developed a rapid test to differentiate between psoriasis and eczema. This test is currently undergoing preclinical testing, with market launch planned for 2023. The start-up is already working on two other dermatological tests. Centrifugal microfluidics is the name of the technology on which the tests are based.

Scientists of the Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg (TLRC) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have discovered a new link between excessive airway mucus and chronic airway inflammation that is characteristic of cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The researchers showed that mucus in the airways reprograms certain cells of the immune system.

Doctors and scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and from Heidelberg University's Medical Faculty Mannheim have successfully tested a neoantigen-specific transgenic immune cell therapy for malignant brain tumors for the first time using an experimental model in mice.

Plastic products can be found everywhere in daily life, soft plastic in particular often being used for packaging or children's toys. These often contain so-called plasticizers which ensure that the material remains flexible. Because plasticizers are not bonded permanently to the plastic, they can escape from the material, meaning they can be absorbed by humans.

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.

Booster for neutrophil granulocytes - 27/10/2021

Acetate supports immune cells to fight against sepsis

Blood poisoning is the most dangerous complication of bacterial infections and often leads to death. Researchers at the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University of Tübingen have now identified acetate as a potent agent for stimulating innate immune system cells, supporting their ability to destroy bacteria.

Rolandic epilepsy is a common form of epilepsy in children which occurs primarily during sleep. Short sounds played during sleep can partially suppress the neuronal discharges characteristic of epilepsy. That’s according to a research team from the University of Tübingen and Tübingen University Hospitals. The team is headed by Dr. Hong-Viet Ngo and Professor Jan Born from the Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Neurobiology.