Healthcare industry

Article - 26/03/2010

Heinz Kurz GmbH: innovations for ENT surgery

Heinz Kurz GmbH based in Dusslingen close to Tübingen has been supplying the world with implants for use in otorhinolaryngology for around 30 years. The success of the medium-sized company is based on the high-quality materials it uses to develop its products as well as on an intensive dialogue with the users of its products. Heinz Kurz GmbH is the European leader in middle-ear prostheses, for which it was awarded the Baden-Württemberg Innovation…

Article - 05/08/2013

Marina Rubini – a passionate researcher into protein folding and design

Therapeutic proteins play an important role in modern medicine. Correct glycosylation patterns are therefore fundamentally important for producing effective glycoprotein-based therapeutics. Dr. Marina Rubini from the University of Konstanz explores ways to alter the properties of proteins using non-natural amino acids for the post-translational site-specific attachment of carbohydrate groups. She uses the glycoprotein hormone erythropoietin…

Article - 23/07/2009

Making cancer cells commit suicide

They divide and divide, and no natural border can stop them. Tumours such as the Ewing sarcoma, a bone cancer that occurs predominantly in teenagers, grow incessantly, making treatment difficult. A few years ago, Prof. Dr. Udo Kontny and his team from the University Hospital in Freiburg discovered a way to stop the growth of this particular tumour by activating a switch on the surface of cells which induces cellular death. Can physicians learn to…

Article - 28/04/2010

Jochen Utikal: from melanocytes to pluripotent stem cells

Dr. Jochen Utikal, a dermatologist at the Mannheim Medical Faculty at the University of Heidelberg has received the Hella Bühler Prize with a purse of 100,000 euros for his outstanding scientific research on the production of induced pluripotent stem cells from pigment cells of human skin.

Article - 03/12/2009

Matthias Giese: DNA vaccine to combat worldwide honeybee deaths

Varroa mites attach to the body of bees and weaken them by sucking hemolymph infecting them with viruses that are believed to be the cause of the mass death of European honeybee colonies. Matthias Giese of the Heidelberg-based Institute for Molecular Vaccines developed a DNA vaccine that might just lead to a breakthrough in the quest to get rid of the Varroa parasites. Giese tells us about his project in the following interview.

Article - 22/02/2013

Malte Drescher provides insights into cells

Electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy can deliver information about the structure and dynamics of large molecules and was used by Dr. Malte Drescher from the University of Konstanz to develop a method for the structural analysis of biological macromolecules inside cells. It provides insights into the complex structure of molecules under physiological conditions and is a promising approach for the development of cancer drugs.

Article - 29/11/2010

Innovative 3D bioreactors for higher cell and tissue quality

Two projects from Baden-Württemberg were among the winners of the 12th Medical Technology Innovation Competition organised by the German BMBF. One project consists of a new bioreactor technology developed at the Institute of Anatomy of the Centre for Regenerative Biology and Medicine (ZRM) in Tübingen, which seeks to improve the supply of cells and tissue with nutrients and oxygen by cultivating them in aerosols.

Article - 25/02/2008

How crustaceans help bridge the gaps of knowledge in early evolution

The team of researchers led by Dieter Waloßek zoologist at Ulm University is working on the organisation of knowledge in their discipline. The taxonomists are documenting living creatures in particular arthropods which also includes issues of evolution. Only recently Waloßek along with Andreas Maas and their foreign colleagues have hit the headlines.

The Hartmann Group based in Heidenheim continues to grow in the first quarter of 2008. Sales increased 6.3 over the last year sales volume increased 7.1. The company expects further growth in sales and volume for the year 2008.

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.

Article - 15/05/2009

Interdisciplinarity starts with support and supervision

As new General Manager the all-round talent Dr. Heike Brandstädter has taken the helm of the PhD Graduate School. Through her work at the crossroads of the humanities and natural sciences her particular aim is to lessen the burden on young researchers and increase their chances of success on the job market.

The forensic scientist Dr. Frank Wehner from the University of Tübingen has developed a method that enables him to determine the time of death to within a few days. The method is based on the degradation of proteins like insulin or cystatin C.

Article - 16/05/2011

New analysis tools involving molecularly imprinted polymers

The demand for made-to-measure analytical methods is increasing as interest in the biological production of materials and pharmaceuticals increases. It is extremely important economically for bioindustry to know the production time and quantity of products that result from specific fermentation conditions. Inspired by natural molecular processes, researchers from Tübingen and Stuttgart are working on new, label-free analytical methods that make…

Article - 06/08/2009

PEPperPRINT wins award for its peptide chips

PEPperPRINT GmbH, a spin-off of the German Cancer Research Centre, has won the Science4Life Venture Cup, a German start-up contest that comes with the most prize money. The Heidelberg-based start-up company was previously awarded the renowned research prize by the German Stifterverband and was chosen as a “Landmark in the Land of Ideas” competition run by the German government in 2009.

Article - 14/06/2010

Promoters for the construction of genetic circuits

Gene switches or promoters are crucially important for the regulation of all cellular activities and thus play a pivotal role for researchers constructing externally controllable genetic circuits using synthetic biology methods. The most common artificial regulatory system uses the Tet technology and tetracycline-sensitive promoters invented by Bujard and his team.

Article - 17/06/2013

New software systems for patient-friendly cancer radiotherapy

The new large-scale cooperative project SPARTA is aimed at developing adaptive, intelligent and flexibly expandable software systems for the improved radiotherapy of cancer. The Heidelberg Institute of Radiation Oncology (HIRO), which integrates the common research interests of all institutions in Heidelberg active in the field of radiotherapy, plays a pivotal role in the project.

Article - 17/12/2012

Rare diseases – the long road to correct diagnosis and treatment

Rare diseases are conditions that are too often neglected by research, industry and medicine. Here we use Wilson’s disease as an example to illustrate the particular problems associated with research into and treatment of rare diseases and to provide information on measures that can be taken to improve the situation of people with rare diseases. These measures include central treatment and care institutions and programmes like the Wilson’s…

Article - 02/11/2010

Multicellular tumour spheroids: 3D models for tumour research

Multicellular tumour spheroids, MCTS or MTS for short, have been the focus of studies by researchers since the early 1970s. MCTS are spheroid tumour cell aggregates that offer an excellent in vitro system for investigating the properties of solid tumours and their responses to therapy, thereby opening up new strategies for the establishment of new therapeutic approaches.

Duchenne muscular dystrophy DMD is a severe disease affecting boys characterised by rapid progression of muscle degeneration so that boys as young as 10 to 12 years of age have to use a wheelchair and leading to death in young men. In Germany about 2500 children and young adults suffer from DMD.

Article - 17/12/2012

rent-a-lab – the bioassay specialist

rent-a-lab has been offering services to detect and determine the quantity of biomolecules for around ten years. The company is mainly focused on studies related to the binding of biomolecules to GTP-binding protein-coupled receptors, a field that has attracted a great deal of attention following the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 for the identification of this important class of receptors.

The German Society for Medical Physics DGMP has awarded its science prize to the medical physicist Gerhard Glatting for his research into the specific irradiation of tumour tissue using radioactively labelled antibodies.

The Dietmar Hopp Foundation has donated one million euro for a new small-animal tomograph at the University Hospital in Heidelberg. The new system is suitable for small animals such as rats and mice and can be used to investigate diseases and therapies.

Article - 26/01/2015

Pooling efforts against infectious diseases in Germany

Over 150 scientists at various locations throughout Germany work together as part of the German Centre for Infection Research (DZIF). The centre focuses on the development of new diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic methods for treating infectious diseases. Scientists from the University and University Hospital of Tübingen and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology are also part of the project. The researchers from Tübingen are…

Article - 25/02/2013

Molecular monitoring of premature infants

Premature births are not uncommon in Germany where around seven percent of newborns are born before week 37 of pregnancy. The WHO estimates that the numbers of preterm births are growing due to the increasing age of mothers. Doctors caring for the tiny patients are faced with a dilemma because regular blood samples required for the clinical monitoring of important blood parameters cannot be taken due to the infants low body volume.

Article - 23/05/2011

Mosquitoes and exotic infectious diseases in Germany

Exotic mosquitoes such as the Asian rock pool mosquito and the Asian tiger mosquito are invading many countries around the world including European ones. This is a direct result of rising temperatures and increasing international travel and transport of goods. Entomologists virologists and tropical medicine experts are working together on a number of projects aimed at monitoring the distribution of mosquitoes across Europe and reducing the risk…