Healthcare industry

Article - 07/02/2008

New life sciences centre in Ulm

The new Life Science Centre will house eleven interfaculty research groups dealing with aspects of tissue regeneration. The state of Baden-Württemberg and the University both expressed their high expectations for the centre at the official opening.

The Theatrum Anatomicum enriches medical training at the University of Ulm. That is the unanimous verdict of the lecturers involved in medical training. The Theatrum is a fully equipped demonstration operation theatre with standing room for approximately 70 people.

A software developed by the Stuttgart-based Systemhaus Schegel covers all activities related to administering cultures it guarantees the foolproof production and propagation of plants and when printed out on a thermal printer incorporates all the necessary information on a barcode label.

The German Bundestag gave the go ahead for the new version of the German Genetic Engineering Law. The new version incorporates the introduction of the Not genetically engineered label as well as stricter regulations on the cultivation of genetically modified plants.

Article - 05/02/2008

Protecting the liver from oxygen stress

The Emmy Noether junior research group in the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Heidelberg is to be funded with 1.2 million over the next five years. The group will focus on how tissue damage in donor livers can be prevented. The group headed by Dr. Martin Schneider.

According to estimates by the German Federal Minister of Research and Education Annette Schavan Germany is on the right path towards the objective of spending three per cent of the countrys gross domestic product on research and development RD by the year 2010.

The new University Clinic for Dermatology Venerology and Allergology building located on the Mannheim hospital campus has now been opened. The hospital directed by Prof. Dr. med. Sergij Goerdt treats approximately 2000 patients on an inpatient basis.

VC-facts has published the Life Sciences Venture Capital Yearbook for the first time 2007. It shows that the total volume of financing in the life sciences amounts to 438.65 million euros.

Victor Sourjik received the prize for his research in the field of cellular signalling and as support for his research project on the analysis of bacterial chemotaxis. The award comes with a purse of 100000 which the beneficiary can use to carry out research projects.

German biotech companies are optimistic about 2008. So says a survey conducted by the German Biotechnology Industry Association BIO Deutschland e.V. in cooperation with the biotech magazine transkript.

Dossier - 01/02/2008

Glycobiotechnology - sugar research is picking up speed

Alongside DNA and proteins sugar structures play an important role in cellular transport and communication processes. They are also part of the molecular control and regulation machinery making them of particular interest to biotechnologists. The pharmaceutical industry as well as the food sector and material sciences have realised the potential of sugar structures.

Article - 30/01/2008

How cells communicate

Prof. Valentin Wittmann professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Constance is investigating carbohydrates. At present his major area of interest is carbohydrate-RNA and carbohydrate-protein interactions where he is trying to understand the biological functions of complex sugar molecules glycans.

Article - 29/01/2008

Breakthrough for glycomics

New databases and bioinformatic tools provide the field of glycomics with a solid basis for dynamic development in molecular biology and medicine. Willi von der Lieth a researcher from Heidelberg was an important pioneer of glyco-bioinformatics. His sudden death is a great loss for this new scientific field.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 7th April 2008.

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.

Proposals can be submitted up until 9th April 2008.

Proposals must be submitted prior to 7th May 2008.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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