Healthcare industry

The GABI-PRECISE consortium which originates from the Genome Analysis of the Plant Biological System GABI initiative has announced a cooperative project on the introduction of gene targeting in barley.

It began as a service laboratory for DNA sequencing and within a few years became a worldwide network of highly specialised biotech companies for molecular biology products. Investments in platform technologies play a key role in this development. Since then the team at Stuttgart-based BioLux GmbH has found that the production of antibodies is its highest revenue business activity.

Professor Roland Schuele from the University Womens Hospital in Freiburg originally studied biochemistry. Nowadays Schuele is researching the development of prostate cancer. During his scientific career he has learnt that research cannot be steered in a particular direction. It develops and we follow it said Schuele who has been able to gain astonishing insights into the molecular processes in tumour cells.

Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center have discovered a key molecule that is responsible for the immature structure of blood vessels in malignant tumors. If this molecule is switched off in mice vessels normalize so that immune cells are better able to get to the tumor tissue.

The moral theologian from Freiburg Eberhard Schockenhoff is a self-styled protector of life but so is the stem cell researcher Marcel Leist from the University of Constance. The two men clashed at a recent debate on the use of embryonic stem cells.

The neurogeneticists in the group of Professor Karl-Friedrich Fischbach at the University of Freiburg are investigating how the complex optical areas of the brain are organised. They found that proteins form a functional unit.

The supervisory board of the Landesstiftung foundation has agreed to fund new projects and programmes with a total of 32.7 million euros in 2008. The board has agreed on new research and education priorities.

Article - 13/04/2008

Selective internal radiotherapy

Since early 2008 the Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Mannheim University Hospital has been offering a new therapy for the treatment of liver cancers selective internal radiotherapy SIRT.

Scientists have shown that a particular variant of a receptor gene impacts smoking behaviour and hence confers a 30 increase in risk of lung cancer and a 20 increase in risk of peripheral artery disease PAD.

A new prosthetic hand is being tested at the University Hospital of Heidelberg. The hand can hold a bank card the forefinger can operate a keyboard and lift a bag weighing up to 20 kg. A patient at the Orthopaedic Hospital at Heidelberg University has now tested the i-Limb-Hand.

The benchmark paper on the Genetic Diagnostics Act which has long been heralded by the governing coalition foresees the binding counselling of people concerned. The coalition is opposed to allowing employers to require their employees to undergo genetic tests.

The German parliament voted on Friday 11th April 2008 in favour of changes allowing the import of stem cells of embryos taken before 1st May 2007. This inreases the number of stem cell lines available to German researchers from 21 to almost 500.

Article - 08/04/2008

Michael Frotscher - "Creativity is of great importance to me"

According to Professor Michael Frotscher from the University of Freiburg German research does not lack money or good researchers what it lacks most is time. Researchers in leading positions have to deal with huge amounts of administrative work reducing the time they can spend on creative inspiration. Frotscher thrives on creative challenges. He actually fled from the former East Germany because he could not develop his ideas freely during his…

Boehringer Ingelheim enjoyed continued success in 2007 and its growth is outpacing the pharmaceuticals market for the eighth year in a row. The companys turnover rose by 8.8 in local currency to almost EUR 11 billion.

The increasing number of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is becoming a great problem in the treatment of infected wounds. The Hohenstein Institutes are developing novel wound dressings that use bacteriophages to combat even the most virulent pathogens.

Article - 06/04/2008

Molecular chaperons in algal chloroplasts

Michael Schroda from the Department of Plant Biochemistry at the University of Freiburg is examining the role of HSP70B a chaperon in the chloroplasts of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae which is important for protecting the algae against high light intensity.

Press release - 05/04/2008

Hezinger Algaetec: Bio-diesel should soon become cheaper

The system exporter Hezinger GmbH wants to act in future as a global supplier of photobioreactors for the breeding of algae in order to promote the extraction of bio-diesel from the vegetable oil of algae as an alternative to the use of wheat rapeseed and maize.

In the second article in the series on the platforms successful cooperations BioValley presents an encouraging approach for improving the quality of life of severely ill cancer patients and the successful establishment of an industrial biochip platform.

In their early developmental stages living organisms are very sensitive to exposure to chemicals. Scientists at the KIT Institute of Toxicology and Genetics ITG have developed a model system with fish embryos to specifically identify the effects of environmental toxins at a very early point.

A consortium of two universities two applied research institutes and a research-based pharmaceutical company is looking for innovative cellular models of the human heart with the aim of developing better methods for drug testing.

Article - 31/03/2008

First biosimilar from Ulm close to approval

ratiopharm Germanys second largest generics producer received a positive assessment from the EU regulatory body EMEA in London for the first filgrastim biosimilar. The company expects to receive marketing authorisation for its first biosimilar by mid to end April.

The first European Conference for Clinical Nanomedicine is to be held soon in Basel. BIOPRO has therefore discussed this promising area of application with Beat Löffler and Dr. Patrick Hunziker the founders of the European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine.

Article - 30/03/2008

Small air bubbles with a huge impact

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research in Stuttgart and their colleagues from Chicago and Miami have identified a physical mechanism that gives a new explanation as to how ion channels work.

The Swabian businessman Adolf Merckle has reorganised his company empire and withdrawn all family members from business operations. This affects the head of the Ulm-based ratiopharm business Philipp Daniel Merckle.

The Heidenheim based Hartmann Group increased its sales growth by 5.3 to EUR 1.28 billion in 2007. According to Rinaldo Riguzzi CEO of Paul Hartmann AG consolidated net income rose 14 to EUR 38.8 million.