Healthcare industry

For 93 of Europeans preserving biodiversity is a moral obligation affecting current generations as stewards of nature. European citizens are also aware that their well-being and quality of life depend on biodiversity.

All movements - each grip and step - have their origin in the brain. Carsten Mehring and his group at the Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience and the Institute for Biology I at the University of Freiburg plan to use brain signals for the control of prostheses or for the operation of computers.

Tumours develop sophisticated strategies to escape the immune defence. One of these strategies is the modification of the cells sugar coat. Specific immune cell receptors bind to these sugars thereby preventing the tumour cell from being discovered by the immune system. Medics from the University of Tübingen are investigating the mechanisms involved and are looking for therapeutic targets.

Article - 25/01/2008

How do cells work? Glycoconjugate cell coat models provide new answers

At the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research in Stuttgart researchers are developing model systems that imitate the sugar coats of living cells. They hope to gain new insights into the regulation of biological functions and develop the system into a platform for biosensoric applications.

Oligosaccharides and low-molecular polysaccharides are polymers made of different sugar units. Specialist companies such as Esslingen-based Anoxymer GmbH are focusing on plant sugar structures that have a therapeutic and preventive benefit.

Scientists from Ulm and Paris have joined forces to develop new medications against malignant brain tumours. The two-year research project will focus on developing betulinic acid which is found in abundance in birch bark into a cancer drug.

The BMBF has announced the guidelines for the new SMU innovative Optical Technologies funding programme.

The deadline for the submission of preproposals is 29th February 2008.

The EU hopes to tap innovative markets through a Lead Markets Initiative LMI in which electronic health services eHealth were identified as an important market.

Micro-biolytics GmbH now based in the Esslingen-based Life Science Centre develops and produces microsystems solutions for bioanalytical issues. With the support of networks micro-biolytics is hoping to considerably expand its activities.

Press release - 20/01/2008

LifeCodexx AG - Clarity within the genetic data jungle

Constance based GATC Biotech founds the subsidiary company LifeCodexx AG. LifeCodexx is the first web-based information service for the storage and utilisation of biological and medical data from the analysis of genetic codes and protein codes in the EU.

Press release - 20/01/2008

Genetic causes and therapy of cardiac insufficiency

Since 2001 the Medical University Hospital in Heidelberg has coordinated the Cardiovascular Network within the framework of the National Genome Research Network NGFN which also involves nine other big German university hospitals.

Sales revenues of the Carl Zeiss Group rose by seven per cent to 2604 million. The growth posted for EbIT Earnings before Interest and Taxes increased by 26 per cent to 394 million. Zeiss AG is thus continuing the series of successes that has lasted for four years.

Partnering with Prognosys Biosciences febit offers a new Genome-to-Array Service. This Service gives scientists access to the latest technology and know-how in sequencing and microarrays even for DNA where no standard microarrays are available.

The Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region is hoping to become a National Centre for Dementia Research. Professor Beyreuther director of the NAR at the University of Heidelberg is coordinating the application.

Gender-specific differences are currently not only a subject of debate for experts but have also raised broad media interest. However there are very few specific investigations that are able to provide a clear answer said Prof. Volker Kühlkamp chief physician in the Department of CardiologyElectrophysiology at the Lake Constance Heart Centre in ConstanceKreuzlingen and specialist in cardiac arrhythmia.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Nycomeds ALVESCO ciclesonide Inhalation Aerosol in the United States for the maintenance treatment of asthma and as prophylactic therapy in adult and adolescent patients aged 12 years and older.

Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignant tumour in men. Researchers from Freiburg and Bonn have succeeded in developing the basics for new therapies in particular for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

New degree courses look set to complement Baden-Württembergs higher education landscape. The Council of Ministers took the decision to establish a Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences department in Tuttlingen.

Article - 14/01/2008

Tetec AG to erect new building in Reutlingen

Tetec AG a leader in regenerative medicine is building a new facility in ReutlingenKusterdingen in which Aesculap AG is the only investor. This construction represents a major progress for the Medical technology and health TuttlingenNeckar-Alb top cluster.

Researchers led by a scientist at the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital in Heidelberg has identified a new gene variant as a risk factor for cerebral venous thromboses. 16.7 per cent of patients with cerebral venous thrombosis had the new variant compared to only 5.5 per cent of the healthy population.

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ have now succeeded in generating peptides on a microchip - faster and thus cheaper than with previous methods.

A new report by European Commission scientists gives a full picture of preimplantation genetic diagnosis PGD. Parents need better information on genetic testing of IVF embryos.

What is a thought? First of all it is a firework of neuronal activity produced by the neurons which encode and transmit information as electrical impulses. However when we think or remember something there is not always an input from the environment.

Article - 07/01/2008

Thomas Hirth becomes new director of the Fraunhofer IGB

Prof. Dr. Thomas Hirth took over the management of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart. In 1992 he became a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Karlsruhe.