Healthcare industry

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.

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.

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.

Proposals must be submitted prior to 7th May 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.

The deadline for submitting proposals is 7th April 2008.

Proposals can be submitted up until 9th April 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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.