Healthcare industry

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.

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen is a role model for how research findings can be turned into financially sustainable products and services. Prof. Hugo Hämmerle has been a key figure in this success story for over 20 years. In February 2008 he took over as Managing Director of the institute.

At the International Symposium on the Separation of Proteins Peptides and Polynucleotides 2008 in Baden-Baden quantiom bioinformatics will showcase new application software.

In conjunction with reference laboratories of the World Health Organization WHO medtech company Curetis AG is developing new technologies and products that identify the pathogens of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and their resistance. The solutions are impressive.

Dossier - 24/04/2008

Contract manufacture: the order books remain full

The market for therapeutic proteins is continuing to grow in double figures. Current estimates of the total market value are in the range of 60 to 70 billion US dollars and the market is estimated to grow by 13 per cent p.a. up until 2010. Biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers have established themselves on the market and market observers estimate that the number of biopharmaceutical medicines will grow from 100 2005 to approx. 150 until 2010.

The biotechnology sector is growing and new companies have excellent opportunities to establish themselves on the market. Dr. Michael Steinwand explains what companies have to beware.

Things that work on a small scale are not necessarily as successful on a large one. It takes a lot of patience and money to scale up analytical or therapeutic processes from the laboratory to industrial production. A new platform consisting of several building blocks minimises the costs.

Biametrics Marken and Rechte GmbH has developed new analytical devices based on reflectometric interference spectroscopy thus adopting the trend of label-free detection methods. This is because labelling tends to interfere with the natural activity of the biomolecules under investigation.

Article - 10/02/2008

4th Biomarker Workshop at the NMI in Reutlingen: another success

The Biomarker Workshop held at the NMI in late January has become a fixed date for a growing number of proteomics researchers. With an attendance of 130 this years workshop exceeded all previous ones. Those who were keen to find out more about the latest trends and findings were presented with a successful mix of basic and applied research information.

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.

Micro-biolytics GmbH now based in the Esslingen-based Life Science Centre develops and produces microsystems solutions for bioanalytical issues. With the support of networks micro-biolytics is hoping to considerably expand its activities.

Press release - 20/01/2008

LifeCodexx AG - Clarity within the genetic data jungle

Constance based GATC Biotech founds the subsidiary company LifeCodexx AG. LifeCodexx is the first web-based information service for the storage and utilisation of biological and medical data from the analysis of genetic codes and protein codes in the EU.

About 500000 people in Germany suffer from dilatative cardiomyopathy DCM. Viral infections are the major cause of this myocardial disease. Its molecular and cellular mechanisms are being investigated in a transregional SFB project at the University of Tübingen.