Developing replacement methods for animal testing is the main goal of the 3R network. One of three new 3R centres in Baden-Württemberg was launched at Ulm University at the beginning of the year and has now officially started work with a kick-off event. The abbreviation 3R stands for "Replace, Reduce, Refine", i.e. replace and reduce animal testing and improve the conditions for unavoidable animal experiments.

Quantum Technology Ulm - 08/04/2021

Diamonds for life sciences innovations

The world's first commercial quantum computer,’IBM Q System One’, is now in operation in Ehningen near Stuttgart. This is a major leap forward in quantum technology in Germany. It marks the point at which conventional computers reach their limits. The University of Ulm is involved in three of six collaborative projects being funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Housing Construction.

Dossier - 03/06/2013

Food analytics applied consumer protection

Consumers rightly expect to be supplied with healthy, high-quality and safe foods. However, over the past few years, food scandals have frequently hit the headlines. They are brought to light in laboratories that have a huge arsenal of methods and procedures to analyse food. Although the media would have us believe otherwise, the vast majority of foods are safe and very rarely hazardous to human health.

Prof. Dr. Peter Loskill and Dr. Silke Riegger from the 3R Center Tübingen for in-vitro models and animal testing alternatives have been awarded the Ursula M. Händel Animal Welfare Prize 2024. The prize, endowed with 80,000 euros, was awarded to them in Würzburg for the development of organ-on-chip (OoC) systems as an alternative to animal testing.

Dossier - 09/09/2019

Artificial intelligence in medicine: assistance for human senses

There is no way around it. Whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence (AI) has long been part of our lives, in traffic management, marketing campaigns or in the fields of medicine and life sciences. AI is omnipresent, often without us being aware of it. Baden-Württemberg is home to one of the largest AI research consortia in Europe and has recently become one of the European hotspots for this key technology.

Detecting drug resistance of tumour cells - 25/05/2023

AI-assisted diagnostics declares war on lung cancer

Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers and has a particularly high mortality rate. A significant challenge in treating this disease lies in the resistance of lung tumours to conventional drug therapies, rendering chemotherapy ineffective. There is hope on the horizon as a team of experts from Baden-Württemberg has joined forces to develop an innovative AI-supported test procedure that paves the way for individualised therapy approaches.

Expert interview - 08/03/2023

How do new active substances from university research reach patients?

Access to capital remains one of the biggest challenges in the life sciences sector. Over the last two years, the Baden-Württemberg Center for Academic Drug Discovery (BWCAD2) has successfully implemented a model of cooperation between academic drug research and industry for the development and validation of therapeutic concepts. Dr. Barbara Jonischkeit spoke with the initiator and leading figure behind the BWCAD2 project, Prof. Dr. Stefan Laufer

Dossier - 24/05/2012

Biochips microsystems technology for the life sciences

Nanoscale robots and intelligent measurement systems in arteries, fingernail-sized DNA chips that can be used to analyze thousands of genes in tiny samples, intelligent DNA microsensors – the trend in the life sciences is moving towards miniaturization.

Cluster of the future - 25/11/2021

nanodiagBW: using nanopores to create completely new diagnostic possibilities

Modern medicine has a wide range of molecular diagnostics at hand. In the next decade, this will increasingly be supplemented by prognostic methods. The BMBF Cluster of the Future finalist, nanodiag BW, is developing prognostic methods to identify epigenetic factors for diseases through a new type of bioanalytics – single molecule analysis in nanopores – which would make it possible to take personalised prevention approaches.

Hearing loss - 29/06/2022

Innovative micro loudspeaker brings back hearing

Hearing loss often severely restricts the lives of those affected and can only be partially reversed with conventional hearing aids. The innovative hearing aid developed by Vibrosonic GmbH from Mannheim transmits sound vibrations directly to the eardrum and can thus almost completely restore the natural hearing experience.

A centre for model-based artificial intelligence has been set up at Heidelberg University to link mathematical modelling methods with information processing in neuronal networks. The Carl Zeiss Foundation (CZS) is funding the CZS Heidelberg Center for Model-Based AI with five million euros over a period of six years.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced the first pivotal decisions for the "Clusters of Excellence" funding line as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. The University of Stuttgart has been given the green light for two new cluster initiatives.

A building with 7400 m² of research space for robotics and artificial intelligence is being built on the Max Planck Campus in Büsnau. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (MPI-IS) and the University of Stuttgart will be working there with partners from science and industry as well as start-ups from 2027.

Tumor cells circulating in the blood are the "germ cells" of breast cancer metastases. They are rare and could not be propagated in the culture dish until now, which made research into therapy resistance difficult. A team from the DKFZ, the Heidelberg Stem Cell Institute HI-STEM and the NCT Heidelberg has now succeeded for the first time in cultivating stable tumor organoids directly from blood samples of breast cancer patients.

Investing in a healthier future: The HORNBACH Group is supporting the new National Cancer Prevention Center in Heidelberg with a donation of five million euros. In the future, a new laboratory will conduct research into more effective early detection and screening methods.

The committee of the Joint Science Conference of the federal government and federal states in its meeting cleared the way for the application submitted by ZEW Mannheim for a research programme focusing on the implications of the digital transformation for the analysis and the design of digital health care markets. This paves the way for an expansion of the Institute's activities by establishing an independent health economics research unit.

As a dominant part of southern Germany’s life-science industry hub, Heidelberg will soon have a life-science startup incubator of its own. BioLabs, the premier US network of managed co-working lab space, will open its first German branch in the Heidelberg Innovation Park (hip). On August 16, representatives of city and state governments, BioLabs and the life-science industry celebrated the Heidelberg BioLabs groundbreaking.

Dossier - 23/07/2012

Extremophilic bacteria

Extremophilic bacteria love it hot, sour or salty, toxic substances like heavy metals also do them good and even give them energy. As molecular and systems biology techniques get better and better, industry is also becoming increasingly interested in these exotic organisms. What potential does knowing the biochemistry of extremophilic bacteria have for the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and sanitary articles industries?

Dossier - 15/10/2013

Adult stem cells hope for regenerative therapies

Adult stem cells have the lifelong ability to generate new specialised cells. They secure the continuous replenishment of cells therefore enabling the constant replacement of dying cells with new ones. Progress in the characterisation isolation and specific differentiation of adult stem cells over recent years raises hopes for the future use of the cells in the therapy of degenerative diseases. Knowledge about adult stem cells also has the…

Professor Claudia Denkinger from Heidelberg University's Faculty of Medicine is leading the international collaborative project "BreathForDiagnosis". Researchers from Germany, Italy, South Africa and Romania are working with an industrial partner from Switzerland to develop user-friendly breath tests for the rapid diagnosis of respiratory infections such as tuberculosis.

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have signed a groundbreaking cooperation agreement. This partnership combines the expertise of both institutions in the fields of production and characterization of materials for biological systems and energy storage as well as the application of statistical methods in medicine.

Dossier - 28/04/2014

Data mining new opportunities for medicine and public health

Research and healthcare activities produce huge quantities of data that need to be presented in an understandable structure. This requires computer-assisted extraction of relevant data and the use of statistical methods. This process, known as data mining, enables the discovery of patterns in large data sets. Data mining methods are of particular importance in fields that use high-throughput, visualisation methods and telemedical applications.

3D tumor models, simulations of drug responses or plant stems used for testing heart stents: the 3R-BioMedicUS center at the University of Stuttgart is developing innovative biomedical approaches to improve preclinical studies, to be seen in the new video.

BioRegio STERN Management GmbH was today presented with an award at the Innovation Day for SMEs held by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action. Its “biohymed” project was named the year’s best innovation network under the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM).

Dossier - 10/02/2014

Multiresistant pathogens a self-inflicted threat?

Most bacterial infections have lost their capacity to cause terror thanks to antibiotics. However, the increase in antibiotic resistances is making the fight against bacterial pathogens rather difficult, and the widespread overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics continues to fuel the increase in antibiotic-resistant bacteria.