Healthcare industry

Article - 26/07/2019

New test assay leads to discovery of new influenza virus infection route

Researchers from the University of Freiburg have recently discovered a completely new mechanism that influenza viruses use to infect cells. This discovery was partly made possible by a so-called emulsion coupling assay - an extremely sensitive, digital detection method developed by Actome GmbH in collaboration with scientists from the Freiburg University of Applied Sciences and Hahn-Schickard. The assay is used to count individual molecules and…

The High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) and two private investors are convinced of the importance of single-cell isolation for the production of biopharmaceuticals and for genetic analysis in research and diagnostics. EUR 3 million will be invested in the further development of the technology, the expansion of the sales organization and in opening up further applications for Cytena’s single-cell printers.

Article - 07/02/2019

Artificial intelligence in ophthalmology

Retinal diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) are now treatable. However, it is hard to predict individual disease progression. A group of researchers at the University Eye Centre in Freiburg are currently developing a new system which is hoped will allay fears and improve therapy planning. The system uses artificial intelligence to predict therapeutic outcome from image and patient data. Initial results are already available.

Press release - 10/12/2018

High distinction for stem cell researcher Andreas Trumpp

This year's State Research Prize of Baden-Württemberg awarded for outstanding achievements in applied research goes to Andreas Trumpp from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM). Theresia Bauer, State Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, presented the award, which carries a monetary prize of €100.000, at a festive ceremony on December 10, 2018.

Article - 30/10/2018

Eucor – bringing the European Campus to life

Enrolling at one university and being able to use the services of a total of five universities is unique in the European Research Area. A model project called Eucor - The European Campus offers students and young scientists this opportunity at universities in the Germany-France-Switzerland border triangle, which simultaneously acts as a borderless academic area for the sciences.

Two Clusters of Excellence for the University of Freiburg: Biological Signalling Studies and Bioinspired Materials Research. It is a major boost to cutting-edge research in Freiburg: in the current Excellence Strategy competition, scientists at the University of Freiburg have been granted two Clusters of Excellence, CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies, and livMatS – Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials…

Article - 19/03/2018

Regenerative medicine: curing rather than simply treating diseases

Some scientists refer to the latest developments in the field of regenerative medicine as the "next revolution in medicine". With the help of gene therapies or stem cells, regenerative medicine aims not only to treat disease symptoms, but to cure them at source. Some approaches are already being used to treat patients and several others are close to application.

Article - 14/02/2018

Animal-free diabetes research with the pancreas chip

Quite a number of promising drug candidates for the treatment of diabetes are currently in the pharmaceutical pipeline, including innovative drugs that can stimulate the regeneration of insulin-producing pancreatic cells. However, they will have to be safety tested in animals. Scientists from Ulm University Hospital have now begun to develop a pancreatic chip from stem cells.

Article - 27/11/2017

Antimicrobial layer expected to fight hospital acquired infections

Infections caused by bacteria that contaminate the surface of medical devices such as catheters and wound dressings are not that rare and can even be life-threatening. However, at present there is no really effective way to keep these products germ-free until they are used. Scientists at the University of Freiburg have now developed a surface coating that reliably kills bacteria, but is harmless to human cells.

Article - 24/05/2017

Ralf Reski: from moss to humans

Prof. Dr. Ralf Reski conducts basic research at the University of Freiburg. But this is not all the well-known plant biotechnologist does. He also wants his ideas to become concrete products. This is why he established Greenovation Biotech GmbH, a company which produces novel drugs in mosses. The company’s first moss-produced drug candidate – Moss-aGal – a recombinant form of human α-galactosidase, is now being tested in a phase I clinical trial.…

Article - 02/03/2017

Personalised antibiotics therapy: fewer antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Antibiotics have long been used as all-purpose weapons against infectious diseases – too often and too early, as we now know. This tendency has caused many bacteria to become resistant to standard antibiotics. The search for new substance classes has proved quite difficult. Care must therefore be taken to use existing antibiotics prudently in order to reduce the number of bacteria becoming resistant to them in the long term. Researchers from…

The European Research Council awards Wilfried Weber an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Wilfried Weber, Professor of Synthetic Biology at the University of Freiburg, has received a grant of roughly €150,000 for his project “Hide and Seek with Cancer Drugs” in which he is working to improve the drugs used in cancer treatment.

Company profile - 14/07/2016

neuroloop GmbH: how the manipulation of neuronal information can lower blood pressure

Millions of people worldwide suffer from high blood pressure. However, taking medicines to control high blood pressure does not work for everyone. Dr. Dennis Plachta and Prof. Dr. Thomas Stieglitz from IMTEK have now developed a neurostimulator to control blood pressure. Together with Dr. Michael Lauk, an experienced company founder, the two researchers set up a company called neuroloop, which is funded by Aesculap AG and aims to turn the…

Article - 04/04/2016

An intelligent system for the storage and controlled release of pharmaceutical substances

A sophisticated reservoir that sits under the skin and dispenses precise quantities of drugs locally and at a particular point in time now exists. A junior research group from the University of Freiburg’s BrainLinks-BrainTools excellence cluster led by Dr. Maria Asplund and her doctoral student Christian Böhler from the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) has developed a small storage system made of organic-inorganic hybrid material…

Article - 15/02/2016

Bacteria – a treasure box for genetic engineers

Bacteria have developed a versatile defence system to protect themselves against viral infections. One of these defence tools, known as CRISPR/Cas9 system, is currently hogging the headlines as it promises to revolutionise the way genetic material can be modified. Prof. Rolf Backofen from the Institute of Bioinformatics at the University of Freiburg has managed to classify the defence system of all bacterial species sequenced to date. This will…

Article - 14/12/2015

Cathepsin L: overcoming stress in tumours

Cathepsins are proteases, i.e. enzymes that break down proteins into smaller fragments. They are also involved in the formation of new blood vessels and wound healing. Another thing that cathepsins do is help tumours spread and form metastases in the body. Prof. Dr. Thomas Reinheckel and his team from the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research at the University of Freiburg are studying how this happens. Insights into the role of…

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 - 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 - 11/11/2015

A metal enzyme that can cleave benzene rings

Aromatic rings are extremely stable and very difficult to break apart. Prof. Dr. Matthias Boll from the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Biology and his team work with Geobacter metallireducens, a bacterium that can completely degrade aromatic compounds under strictly anaerobic conditions. While the biological degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons is of global relevance, the chemical resulting from the reduction of benzene rings could also be…

Article - 28/09/2015

Breast cancer: a few millilitres of urine to diagnose the disease early

It would be phenomenal news if it turned out that breast cancer could be detected by way of urine samples. Treating physicians would be able to use conspicuous test results to begin further examinations as quickly as possible along with therapy if necessary. Prof. Dr. Elmar Stickeler and his team from the Freiburg University Medical Centre have developed a method that identifies the composition of microRNAs in urine. They were able to predict…

Article - 31/08/2015

Company foundation in Baden-Württemberg: Günter Roth and the biomolecule copier

Dr. Günter Roth is head of the “Microarray Copying“ research group at the Center for Biological Systems Analysis (ZBSA) at the University of Freiburg. Roth, who studied physics and biochemistry, has developed a biomolecule copier that he plans to use to establish his own company. The company will be called BioCopy, and the planned product lines, AptaSWIFT and immune2day, have already won numerous prizes for Roth and his team. In an interview with…

Article - 17/08/2015

CDT – a bacterial toxin that mediates its own delivery into cells

Clostridium difficile is totally harmless in healthy people. However, in combination with antibiotics it can cause severe diarrhoea and intestinal inflammation in elderly and debilitated people. But how does the spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterium deploy its power? And how does it enter the cell? Dr. Panagiotis Papatheodorou and his colleagues from the Institute of Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology (Director: Prof. Dr. Klaus…

Article - 06/07/2015

Using mosses to produce medicines

Human disease can be treated with substances from traditional medicinal plants or with molecular pharming products. Molecular pharming uses genetic engineering techniques to insert genes into plants or animals that would otherwise not express these genes. These transgenics can then be used to produce therapeutic proteins such as antibodies. Dr. Eva Decker from the University of Freiburg and her team have now successfully produced a key protein of…

Article - 22/06/2015

3D bioprinting: replicating the shape of bone parts

Prof. Dr. Günter Finkenzeller, head of the Research and Tissue Engineering Laboratory in the Department of Plastic and Hand Surgery at the Freiburg University Medical Centre, and Dr. Peter Koltay from the Department of Microsystems Engineering (IMTEK) at the University of Freiburg, are being given German Research Foundation (DFG) funds for a period of three years to develop a 3D printing technique for functional bone tissue containing blood…