Healthcare industry

Cancer immunotherapy - 06/09/2018

The immunogenicity of tumours and the development of new cancer medicines

Microsatellite-unstable cancers are characterised by a large number of mutations within short repetitive DNA sequence regions, and can form novel peptides that the human immune system recognises as neoantigens. These cancers represent a starting point for the development of vaccines to prevent them appearing at an early stage of development. Microsatellite instability is particularly frequent in colon and cervical cancers.

Article - 27/02/2017

Michael Baumann – the new man at the helm of the DKFZ

On 1st November 2016, Professor Michael Baumann, a radiation oncologist from Dresden, became the new chairman and scientific director of the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg. Michael Baumann has the perfect background when it comes to combining basic and applied cancer research. This enables scientific findings to be used more quickly and effectively for preventing, diagnosing and treating cancer, and patients’ individual needs to be…

Article - 30/06/2016

Why fasting is good for health

A protein in the nucleus of liver cells is produced in greater quantities when we go hungry; it limits fatty acid uptake and adjusts the metabolism in the liver. However in people with metabolic disorders, the abnormal expression of this protein (GADD45β), which was previously only known to be involved in the regulation of cell division and DNA repair, leads to a dysregulated fat and sugar metabolism. Scientists from the DKFZ and Helmholtz…

The latest articles, press releases and dossiers on basic research in Baden-Württemberg

Article - 23/02/2015

Miriam Erlacher: apoptosis research – balancing clinical work and research

Programmed cell death plays an important role in embryonic development and has also been identified as the cause of a range of diseases. It also plays a key role in the development and survival of higher organisms. Its regulation is based on a sophisticated system of interacting antagonistic signals in a network that is still largely unknown. Disturbances in this delicate balance promote the development of diseases such as cancer. Dr. Miriam…

Article - 08/09/2014

Molecular effects of traumatic stress

After a traumatic experience, people often suffer not only mental, but also physical effects. Dr. María Moreno-Villanueva from the University of Konstanz has investigated the molecular effects of traumatic stress in people and has found a higher than normal number of DNA strand breaks. In the worst cases this can lead to diseases such as cancer. However, her study also shows that successful psychotherapy can reverse DNA damage. Her findings will…

Article - 25/11/2013

Elisa May: a sharp, microscopic look at DNA damage

DNA damage is part of our everyday life. Every day, tens of thousands of DNA single-strand breaks occur in every cell, but we have a variety of sophisticated genome maintenance mechanisms to protect ourselves against such problems. However, serious diseases can result in cases where the cellular repair system fails. Amongst other things, there is a close relationship between the failure of DNA repair mechanisms and the development of cancer.…

Article - 08/08/2013

Innovative measurement of cellular stress allows development of new cancer drugs

The chemical attachment of PolyADP-ribose a biopolymer with chemical similarities to nucleic acids to cellular proteins is part of the cellular DNA repair machinery. To investigate this process in more detail Dr. Aswin Mangerich and colleagues from the University of Konstanz and the MIT have developed a bioanalytical platform based on isotope dilution mass spectrometry to quantify PAR levels with high specificity and sensitivity. The results…

Article - 29/07/2013

‘Go back to start’ in the field of meiosis

Researchers have long thought they knew exactly how meiosis, meiosis regulators and the complex that forms between homologous chromosomes during meiosis work. The research group headed by Dr. Andrea Pichler from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg has now discovered a new mechanism that plays an important role in meiosis. The study carried out by Pichler and her colleague Dr. Helene Klug has shown why it is…

Article - 25/02/2013

Frauke Melchior and the SUMO wrestling match between proteins

Fifteen years ago, molecular biologist Frauke Melchior discovered a new mechanism of posttranslational protein modification that controls a variety of processes in eukaryotic cells. A small protein called SUMO is covalently bound to target proteins by specific enzymes and cleaved by other enzymes. This discovery has shaped Melchior’s scientific career.

Article - 28/12/2012

When cells go out of control – researchers to unveil the secret of cell ageing

The process of ageing appears, at least at first sight, to be fairly tangible and is visible both at individual and societal level. Nevertheless, science has not yet come up with detailed insights into the physiology of ageing. Jörg Bergemann, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences, is studying the processes of ageing in skin cells in a project that has recently been granted funding by the…

Article - 23/04/2012

Iris-Tatjana Kolassa – extreme stress takes a toll on cells

Molecular psychology has huge potential for the future. The discipline has used imaging methods for diagnostic purposes for a long time, but Iris-Tatjana Kolassa, a 33-year-old psychologist from Ulm, is convinced that in future it will increasingly use molecular biology and medicine methods. The idea of remaining blinkered in her own discipline is a notion that is utterly foreign to Kolassa; whenever she senses synergies, whether it be with…

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…

Article - 05/03/2012

Ubiquitin and related molecules do more than just degrade and recycle cellular waste

The proteins of the ubiquitin family have long been regarded as cellular Post-its with to be discarded written on them. However over the last ten years it has become increasingly clear that the proteins of the ubiquitin family that cells use to label defective or unneeded proteins also regulate a broad range of important cellular processes. It has also been found that they are involved in the pathogenesis of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases…

Article - 23/01/2012

Peter Rodemann – a career in radiobiology

Prof. Dr. H. Peter Rodemann has been head of the Division of Radiobiology and Molecular Environmental Research at Tübingen University Hospital for around 20 years. He has been awarded numerous prizes for his outstanding achievements, particularly during the second half of 2011 when he was awarded the Ulrich Hagen Prize by the German Society for Biological Radiation Research as well as being elected member of the German Academy of Sciences…

Press release - 04/11/2011

Alternate ending – living on without telomerase

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have discovered an alternative mechanism for the extension of the telomere repeat sequence by DNA repair enzymes.

Dossier - 22/08/2011

Stress and molecular defence mechanisms

Organisms can experience stress from exposure to bacteria and pathogenic fungi; in fact, stress can arise from exposure to any type of environmental influence. As they have evolved, biological cells have developed numerous molecular mechanisms that enable them to survive even in inhospitable conditions. What kind of effects do abiotic stress factors have on plants and human beings? How do cells protect themselves? Are researchers able to increase…

Article - 27/06/2011

New therapeutic approaches: nitric oxide for the treatment of brain tumours

Researchers led by neurosurgeon Dr. Astrid Weyerbrock from the Freiburg University Medical Centre are working on the improvement of therapies for the effective treatment of glioblastomas that involve deciphering the biological mechanisms that lead to these complex brain tumours. They are using a volatile molecule that is also found in the earths atmosphere.

Press release - 09/04/2011

Alexander Bürkle receives award for research into DNA repair

Dr. Alexander Bürkle from the University of Konstanz was awarded the GT-Toxicology Prize by the Society of Toxicology (part of the German Society of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacoloy and Toxicology) and the journal “Toxicology” for his work on DNA repair mechanisms. Bürkle’s research centres on the enzyme poly[ADP-ribose]polymerase (PARP). The reduced activity of PARP is known to cause the incomplete or delayed repair of continuously…

Article - 21/03/2011

Andrea Hartwig – trace elements, toxic metals and the thin line in between

For more than 25 years Prof. Dr. Andrea Hartwig has been investigating the quantities of metal compounds that have a beneficial or toxic effect on human health. As a basic researcher the new chair of the Department of Food Chemistry and Toxicology at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT has managed to clarify many mechanisms of action of toxic metals including on the molecular level.

Article - 07/02/2011

The discovery of the individual as business model

The move towards personalised medicine has made considerable progress, in particular in the field of oncology, where it is leading to the close integration of diagnostics and therapy as well as to the development of profitable new business models, some of which have controversial exclusive legal claims.

Article - 15/03/2010

Cornelia Ulrich: Cancer prevention through food and sports

The appointment of Cornelia Ulrich as professor and head of the Departments of Preventive Oncology at the National Centre for Tumour Diseases and the German Cancer Research Centre shows that Heidelberg is expanding its research priorities in the prevention and early diagnosis of cancer. Ulrichs main focus has been on the folic acid metablism C1 compounds and inflammation.

Article - 28/10/2009

Worn down and financially exhausted, but more popular than ever

When academic toxicologists in a German state join forces, it is virtually headline news. This is because the discipline is on the red list. Only in Baden-Württemberg does the number of toxicologists at university institutes justify the joining of forces. The ironic thing about this is that the competence of the rare species ”toxicologicus” is in greater demand than ever.

Article - 10/09/2009

Excessive numbers of ageing stem cells accumulate without a guardian

Adult stem cells grow older too. A group of researchers focusing on the ageing of stem cells at the Max Planck Institute in Ulm under the leadership of Leibniz prizewinner Lenhard Rudolph, has now made a surprising discovery in their research into telomer-associated ageing, which further substantiates this hypothesis.

Article - 23/06/2009

Hepatitis B and the Münchhausen enzyme

Virologists in Prof. Dr. Michael Nassals group at the University Medical Centre in Freiburg are investigating the molecular mechanisms used by the hepatitis B virus to reproduce. The researchers work might in future be able to help the three to four hundred million people worldwide who suffer from chronic hepatitis B infections.