Healthcare industry

High-Tech Gründerfonds is investing EUR 600,000 in Reutlingen-based SIGNATOPE GmbH. SIGNATOPE will use the funds to advance the development of its unique biomarker assay system, that has been established to support pharmaceutical research. The technology is based on special antibodies and allows the early detection of possible side effects during the drug development process. Thereby, the need for animal testing will be reduced while the drug…

Dossier - 26/03/2012

Nanobiotechnology

The term nanotechnology is known by well over 50 of Germans especially since the lotus effect hit the headlines in the late 1990s. Around the turn of the millennium bio was inserted between nano and technology and nanobiotechnology has since taken up more and more room in the headlines as well as requiring major financial investment. What is nanobiotechnology what is the difference between nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology and where and what…

Article - 03/07/2018

The digital laboratory is picking up speed

A new team at the Fraunhofer IPA is developing digital laboratory systems to support industrial partners in planning and managing laboratory processes. This benefits companies in terms of quality assurance, economic efficiency and, notably, ergonomic improvements to the work place.

Retrospective Meet & Match Pharmaceutical Process Technology - 07/04/2016

Speed dating for Pharmaceutical Process Technology – a business flirt at Bosch

The speed dating format is no longer just a popular and simple dating method for lonely hearts, but has also become a rewarding way for establishing new business contacts and connections quickly and efficiently. BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg chose speed networking, as speed dating is called in the corporate world, for its recent Meet & Match event on pharmaceutical process technology, which took place on 15th March 2016 with the support of Bosch…

Article - 06/08/2012

VivaCell Biotechnology GmbH investigates the health-promoting effect of food

VivaCell Biotechnology GmbH offers in vivo and in vitro demonstration of the efficacy of pharmaceutical and phytopharmaceutical compounds and nutraceuticals. Using its specific in vitro and in vivo models, the company has been able to prove the health-enhancing effect of numerous foods, and is thus an excellent partner in the Bioactive Plant Foods Network.

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.

To diagnose an infection with the coronavirus, usually a throat swab is taken and genetic viral material detected by using a highly sensitive PCR. To date, more than 65 million of these tests have been performed in Germany alone. Due to the massive increase in testing worldwide and simultaneous loss of production, there was a significant shortage of test materials in the early stage of the pandemic.

Article - 24/09/2015

New test system for detection of HPV-related oral cavity cancers

The number of people suffering from oral or oropharyngeal cancer is rising steadily. The major cause of these cancers is human papillomaviruses (HPV) that colonise the oral cavity, where they are difficult to detect. QIAGEN Lake Constance GmbH from Stockach, in cooperation with Abviris Deutschland GmbH, has developed a new test system to improve the detection of oral HPV. This new system enables rapid and reliable quantitative detection of…

Scientists from the Center for Prenatal Diagnosis and Human Genetics, Kudamm-199, in Berlin have been working with scientists from GATC Biotech AG and LifeCodexx AG to develop a non-invasive diagnostic test based on Next Generation Sequencing which reliably detects a fetal trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).

Article - 01/09/2011

Quality by Design – a paradigm change in bioprocess development

Bioprocess technology has undergone a fundamental change with regard to the criteria used for validating product quality: around ten years ago, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised the 1987 process validation guidance and the subsequent establishment of the Process Analytical Technology (PAT) initiative heralded a paradigm change in bioprocess understanding and control. The FDA’s guidance underwent a paradigm shift from what was…

Article - 09/12/2013

Stronger base pairing improves DNA analyses

A team from the Institute of Organic Chemistry at Stuttgart University has found a chemical substitute for one of the four primary DNA building blocks, i.e. thymine. Thymine can cause problems in DNA hybridisation experiments. The thymine substitute called “E”, which stands for ethynylpyridone, binds more strongly and selectively with the adenine base on the complementary DNA strand than thymine. Highly specific DNA tests might benefit from the…

The Deep-Tech Start-Up memetis GmbH from Germany, which produces the world’s most compact and lightest commercially available valves driven by shape memory alloys, announces a new partnership with Fluid-o-Tech S.r.l., an Italian innovation and market leader in the field of fluid-pumps.

Article - 17/12/2012

rent-a-lab – the bioassay specialist

rent-a-lab has been offering services to detect and determine the quantity of biomolecules for around ten years. The company is mainly focused on studies related to the binding of biomolecules to GTP-binding protein-coupled receptors, a field that has attracted a great deal of attention following the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 for the identification of this important class of receptors.

Press release - 08/01/2009

ILM – Screening methods

Optical screening methods are of huge importance for a broad range of analytical issues. Fluorescence-based methods are highly significant for their high sensitivity amongst other things. Important technological developments have focused for example on reducing sample volumes increasing sample throughput high-throughput screening HTC or on information content high-content screening HCS. With regard to screening methods the ILM is currently…

Article - 25/02/2013

Molecular monitoring of premature infants

Premature births are not uncommon in Germany where around seven percent of newborns are born before week 37 of pregnancy. The WHO estimates that the numbers of preterm births are growing due to the increasing age of mothers. Doctors caring for the tiny patients are faced with a dilemma because regular blood samples required for the clinical monitoring of important blood parameters cannot be taken due to the infants low body volume.

Article - 03/07/2010

Erbasens: Using the power of nature

Before setting up her own company biologist Dr. Elke Schulz amassed a wealth of knowledge in the pharmaceutical industry. Now she harnesses the power of plants to develop and sell dietary supplements and natural cosmetics. Her company Erbasens specialises in combining high-quality oils and plant essences to create products such as Paramirum that safeguards the effectiveness of the immune system and promotes the bodys defence systems.

Article - 06/08/2012

varionostic: specialist in epigenetic analyses

Ulm-based varionostic helps epigenetics researchers to obtain information on gene activity. The company is specifically focused on the analysis of methyl groups (-CH3) that are attached to DNA and turn genes on and off. Just as the field of epigenetics, previously only known to insiders, has emerged as a biomedical area of research, the University of Ulm spin-off has matured and grown over the past six years since it was set up.

Press release - 29/03/2012

GATC Biotech’s NightXpress sequencing service goes Europe-wide

GATC Biotech, Europe’s leading sequencing provider, now offers its overnight sequencing service NightXpress Europe wide. This unique overnight service has been made possible by the recently opened European Custom Sequencing Centre in Cologne. In Constance, the company’s headquarters, GATC Biotech is building up the European Genome and Diagnostics Centre.

Article - 18/08/2014

Biometry: Peter Martus works at the interface of mathematics and medicine

It’s not computer science, but it’s close to data: Prof. Dr. Peter Martus has an in-depth knowledge of how professional biotechnology and medical statistics are generated. Prof. Martus works at the University of Tübingen where he brings his know-how to clinical trials as well as working on life sciences projects where statistical issues need to be resolved.

Article - 13/10/2014

Personalised cancer therapy based on microRNA analysis

microRNAs are not just required for the regulation of gene expression, their expression signatures also allow conclusions to be drawn on the type and progression of cancer. Sensovation AG is therefore working with partners from industry and clinical research to develop an automated microRNA analysis platform that can detect and evaluate microRNA signatures faster than has previously been possible. The system is designed to make it easier to…

Press release - 30/06/2009

febit First to Offer Newly Published Mouse Genome on a Chip for DNA/RNA Detection and Enrichment

In the near future, Next-Generation Sequencing technologies will lead to a rising number of completed genomes of model organisms and other species of interest, as demonstrated by the updated mouse genome. This accelerated development will generate a variety of tools available in the short term for the application of the new data into experiments. febit’s technology enables the conversion of new sequence data into biochips for gene expression…

In a collaborative project scientists in Stuttgart and Heidelberg succeeded in cutting the production costs for highly complex peptide arrays by a factor of 100 at the same time as being able to increase the number of functional peptides by a factor of 20.

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.

Article - 12/03/2012

Biological nanopores on chips for determining the properties of molecules

Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Jan C. Behrends and Dr. Gerhard Baaken from the University of Freiburg have developed a chip the size of a fingertip containing biological nanopores that determine molecule mass with great precision. Developing this new system which is a combination of biological and micro-technical components involved a great deal of technical skill. The system has the same level of sensitivity as a chromatography device but is much…

Article - 09/08/2010

IBAM GbR - Enzymes, neurotransmitters and Greek mountain tea

The Denzlingen-based company IBAM GbR offers solutions that enable faster and cost-effective drug discovery. IBAM GbR was spun off from the University of Freiburg and supports industrial customers in identifying biochemical targets of potential drugs or the modes of action of enzymes and second messengers in the central nervous system and other tissues. Over the last few years the companys managing director Dr. Rainer Knörle and his partner Dr.…