Healthcare industry

Article - 10/07/2010

WEE-Solve GmbH – removing troublemakers

The purification and fractionation of polymers using innovative methods is of huge importance in many areas, including pharmacy and cosmetics. This is due to the fact that some polymers can only exert their full effect after fractionation. WEE-Solve GmbH offers innovative methods and scientific experience in polymer fractionation and rheology.

Article - 20/09/2010

mayer-THERMOPLASTE GmbH – technically sophisticated production

mayer-THERMOPLASTE GmbH is a specialist in high-quality plastics injection moulding. The company’s flexible organisation of production enables it to react quickly to customer requirements. Based on the idea of using biomaterials for injection moulding, the company’s managing directors, Dirk Elger and Günter Lachnit, are currently planning to become involved in production using sustainable plastics.

Article - 23/07/2012

Inhospitable niches are a rich source of extremozymes

At first sight nothing much seems to grow in either the Namib desert or the Antarctic. However a closer inspection of the ground a few centimetres below the surface reveals an enormous diversity of organisms. Industry is well aware of this rich source of microorganisms that have something to offer on the molecular level as well as for use in technical applications. So-called extremozymes have long been popular ingredients in cosmetics detergents…

Article - 09/07/2012

Crayfish chitin is an important raw material

In his Konstanz-based Vegafood project office Dr. Peter May is focused on sustainable breeding of crayfish with the aim of advancing industrial scale chitin research. European crayfish shed their skin several times a year providing research institutions and chitin product manufacturers with access to crustacean carapaces.

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.

Article - 16/04/2012

DNA recombination for targeted plant breeding

Did evolution invent games of chance? During the development of sperm and egg cells, maternal and paternal genes are mixed at random, thus giving rise to new combinations of traits. What are the molecular mechanisms of this process known as DNA recombination? How can it be used to breed plants with higher yields? Prof. Dr. Holger Puchta and his team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) are investigating the processes associated with the…

Press release - 30/04/2009

Research project "Biomass from short rotation forestry"

The research project “Biomass from short rotation forestry” was kicked off during a planting campaign on 29th April in Buchen-Oberneudorf (administrative district of Neckar-Odenwald). The objective of the project is to establish an area of 150 ha for fast-growing trees and Miscanthus in Baden-Württemberg between 2008 and 2012 and thus advance the expansion of renewable energies.

Press release - 04/10/2011

European joint conference on chemical engineering and biotechnology in Berlin end on an upbeat note

The 8th European Congress of Chemical Engineering and 1st European Congress of Applied Biotechnology closed on Thursday in Berlin on an upbeat note. For four days, about 3,000 scientists from industry and academia discussed topics from research and practical application. Especially the lectures on downstream processing of biotechnological products were strongly frequented; sessions on energy storage, future thinking in innovation and process…

The research group led by Prof. Ralf Reski is a moss specialist and has now, for the first time, succeeded in producing a human protein in a moss bioreactor – the complement factor H. The lack of this protein leads to age-related macular degeneration in about 50 million people worldwide. The complement factor H has been assigned ‘orphan drug’ status by the respective EU authorities.

Press release - 29/03/2011

Freiburg Regional Council to fund MedicalMountains cluster initiative

The Freiburg Regional Council has granted MedicalMountains AG funds totalling 405,000 euros for establishing a professional management structure for the Tuttlingen-based medical technology cluster. District President Julian Würtenberger awarded the 405,000-euro grant to Dieter Teufel, president of the Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg Chamber of Industry and Commerce and representative of the Tuttlingen-based cluster, in which BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg…

Press release - 21/03/2011

Crop production - plate or tank?

As part of the “University of Hohenheim – strength through communication” thematic year 2011, Dr. Detlef Virchow, Executive Manager of the Food Security Center at the University of Hohenheim, talked to us about the medium-term risks of E10 biofuel in relation to global food safety.

Article - 18/09/2010

Empa Testmaterials: assessing the effectiveness of washing processes

Empa Testmaterials AG focuses on the research and development of test systems and materials that enable biofilm to be successfully removed from washing machines as well as controlling the level of hygiene of individual wash cycles. As a competence centre in washing and cleaning the company specialises in the assessment of washing and cleaning processes in terms of effectiveness energy efficiency damage and hygiene.

Press release - 16/06/2010

Network for the promotion of bio-active plant ingredients

The Steinbeis-Europa-Zentrum receives funding to build a network for "Bio-active plant ingredients” in Baden-Wuerttemberg from the "Central Innovation programme SME - ZIM" under the funding module NEMO of the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. BIOPRO Baden-Wuerttemberg GmbH supports the network as one of the partners.

Press release - 14/07/2010

GMOs: Member States to be given full responsibility on cultivation in their territories

The EU Commission proposed to confer to Member States the freedom to allow restrict or ban the cultivation of Genetically Modified Organisms GMOs on part or all of their territory. The EUs science-based GM authorisation system will be kept unchanged.

Article - 10/07/2010

Algae light up industry

The potential of Microalgae cannot yet be optimally used on the large scale. The bioprocess engineer Dr. Rosa Rosello and her team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT are investigating the conditions under which different microalgae species can optimally grow in photobioreactors and lead to high product yields. It is all a question of light and shade.

Article - 14/01/2010

A biological test for environmental toxins

Every day, we breathe in gas emitted by waste incineration plants, evaporation from chemicals in wooden furniture and particulate matter from car exhausts or office equipment. Scientists in Dr. Richard Gminski’s group at the Institute of Environmental Medicine and Hospital Hygiene (IUK) at the Freiburg University Medical Centre are investigating the components that can cause damage to body cells. The researchers are using living human cells to…

Press release - 04/09/2009

Motivation impetus for researcher on bacteria

Dirk Linke 37 has been awarded the Advancement Award of the German Society for Hygiene and Microbiology Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hygiene und Mikrobiologie DGHM. The award includes prize money of 2500 Euro and will be presented on September 20th 2009 during the 61st Annual Meeting of the DGHM in Göttingen.

An excellent idea: a new technology or innovative methods and products for which patents have been filed or already granted, might be eligible for the Patent Award 2008, a brand new prize, on offer for the first time in 2008. Due to the popularity of the prize, the application deadline has been extended to 30th September 2008.

The deadline for submitting applications is the 14th March 2008.

Dossier - 10/09/2012

Horizon 2020 – the EU framework programme for research and innovation – a boost for top-level research in Europe

In the face of the ongoing financial crisis Europe is working on a new research strategy that is aimed at creating new economic growth and jobs. The new EU framework programme for research and innovation Horizon 2020 replaces the 7th Framework Programme FP7 and will run from 2014 with a budget of 80 billion. In July 2012 Brussels launched the final FP7 calls for proposals for 2013 that offer numerous market-based instruments designed to bridge…

Press release - 16/11/2015

The Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry – a strong economic power

(Stuttgart – 16th November 2015) BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg has just published its latest analysis of the Baden-Württemberg healthcare industry including comprehensive facts and figures. Baden-Württemberg continues to be one of the top locations for medical technology, pharma and biotechnology in Germany.

Article - 01/06/2008

Plants as soil remediators

Max Planck scientists and researchers at the University of Heidelberg have discovered a gene that enables certain plants to grow on soils with high heavy metal concentrations and that even contributes to the soils remediation. The gene product is a transport protein in the cell membrane.

In its applied science and technology transfer activities Constance University of Applied Sciences will focus to an even greater extent on special research priorities and interdisciplinarity. For this reason three new institutes have been set up.

Article - 30/11/2015

Bacterial MccA is better than other enzymes when it comes to reducing sulphites

Dr. Bianca Hermann from the University of Freiburg specialises in multi-haem enzymes, and investigates the enzymes’ structure and reaction mechanisms. She has clarified the enzymes’ crystal structure and reaction mechanisms and found out why the bacterial MccA enzyme complex can reduce sulphur-containing substances such as sulphites up to a hundred times faster than other enzymes.

Press release - 08/12/2009

Vaccination of honeybees against the Varroa mite is possible

For the first time ever, honeybees were orally ‚vaccinated’ with a genetically engineered product that was later detected in the bloodsucking Varroa mite. This product is a DNA-plasmid that is normally used for man, horses, swine and also for fish. The inventor of this innovative DNA-vaccination system for bees is Matthias Giese, PhD, who launches his own Institute for Molecular Vaccines (IMV) in Heidelberg/Germany starting in 2010.