Healthcare industry

Article - 25/08/2008

Markers that reveal the correct biological age

Researchers at the University of Ulm have just identified a number of proteins that reveal the biological age of a person. These biomarkers might be used in medical applications to adapt the medical treatment of older people to their individual biological age.

Heidenheim-based Hartmann Group further accelerated its growth in the first six months of 2008. The company reports a growth in sales revenues to 678.5 million euros up 7.4 and increased its consolidated operating net income by 22.1 to 22.5 million euros. The greatest growth was achieved by the Operating Theatre Management segment.

Renal cell carcinoma is a rare disease. In addition, the disease is difficult to treat, and the majority of pharmaceutical companies find the development of new drugs for its treatment too financially risky. Their argument: the market is too small to make up for the high development costs. The Tübingen biotech company immatics was courageous enough to do so and will now be rewarded. The immatics scientists have developed a therapy that not only…

Cytonet GmbH & Co. KG, Germany’s leading cell therapy company, has provided the first clear evidence for the efficacy of its liver cell therapy in severe congenital metabolic disorders of newborns. The study was conducted in cooperation with the University Children’s Hospital in Heidelberg.

Researchers from the University of Freiburg have just shown that plant embryo decide already at the two-cell stage which cells will later become the shoot and which the roots. Experiments suggest this might be affected by the distribution of auxin.

Boehringer Ingelheim has increased its sales revenues to 5.52 billion euros which after consolidation in euro was 2.1. The companys operating income of 900 million euros decreased by about 10 to 899 million euros.

Worldwide less than 10000 people suffer from Gauchers disease which is the most common lysosomal storage disease. Genzyme has been offering the drug Cerezyme for the treatment of this rare genetic disease since 1994. The companys subsidiary in Constance markets and sells this enzyme replacement therapy in Europe and Asia. The active substance is produced in Chinese hamster ovary cell cultures.

Nycomed agreed with Bayer Schering Pharma on the sale of the preclinical anti-cancer program. The agreement is part of Nycomeds strategic decision not to further invest in oncology RD activities.

Researchers at the University Hospital in Ulm are investigating whether patients genotypes interfere with the effect and tolerability of specific cancer medicaments. This might help to estimate how patients respond to the therapy a certain EGF-R inhibitor.

For the first time ever a team from Heidelberg will participate in the renowned iGEM competition. A student team under the direction of Dr. Roland Eils is developing a biological machine that recognises and specifically kills pathogens or tumour cells.

Some scientists have their career path totally mapped out from the beginning not so Prof. Dr. Regine Peschka-Süss from the University of Freiburg. She takes the time to re-assess whether she is on the right track and if necessary makes changes. Peschka-Süss is currently working on the optimisation of carriers for gene therapeutic compounds.

More than 50 of recombinant proteins are altered while they are being synthesized in the cells sometimes once and sometimes several times. Experts call these alterations post-translational modifications.

The medical importance of vitamin D calciferol is most likely even higher than suggested by recently published studies. A study which also involves the endocrinologist Bernhard Böhm from Ulm has attracted enormous attention as it suggests that vitamin D deficiency increases mortality.

Article - 18/08/2008

The art of not getting trapped

The glandular trichomes of the South African plant Roridula gorgonias release an extremely adhesive secretion that traps insects. Researchers from Stuttgart have now discovered what enables mirid bugs to live on the adhesive flytrap without becoming trapped.

In contrast to the USA human granulocytic anaplasmosis infection rarely occurs in Germany. Dr. Friederike von Loewenich at the Freiburg Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene are investigating the reason for this discrepancy.

Alternative energy sources are increasingly gaining in importance. Several teams of researchers including scientists from the University of Karlsruhe are using different strategies to increase hydrogen production in algae. These might then become environment-friendly low-cost suppliers of energy.

Researchers at the Fraunhofer IPA Stuttgart have developed a method that enables the direct spotting of samples from common microtitre plates without further processing. It avoids the use of different vials and minimises sample contamination.

Claudia Friesen and her team of researchers from Ulm University discovered that methadone an agent used as a replacement-opiate in heroin addicts is able to kill leukaemia cells that are resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.

Despite having thousands of applicable ideas and having set up his own company, Prof. Alfred Nordheim sees himself as a true basic scientist. At this year’s International Genetics Congress in Berlin, the director of the Interfaculty Institute of Cell Biology at the University of Tübingen was elected president of the International Genetics Federation (IGF).

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen organised its biannual MEA conference from 8 to 11 July 2008. More than 200 developers and microelectrode array users from 18 countries came together in Reutlingen to present their latest developments and results.

The Starting Independent Researcher Grants supports postdocs in the creation or consolidation of young researcher teams.

Starting in the winter semester 20092010 the new Tuttlingen University Campus of Furtwangen University of Applied Sciences will offer 35 university places each in medical technologymedical engineeringproduction engineering and mechatronics.

How can a doctor reach a brain tumour with a scalpel? Stockert devices which use catheter technology and probes to localise and electrically neutralise problematic tissue help to solve the problem in hospitals all over the world.

In the next winter semester Freiburg University will offer a new masters course in Bioinformatics and Systems Biology. The objective of the two-year course is to train experts at the interface of the computer sciences and life sciences.

The new iNNOVATION fORUM of the Baden-Württemberg MicroMountains Network offered researchers and the medical device industry an intensive moderated dialogue and the chance to make new contacts and to improve their chances for future innovations.