Healthcare industry

Expert interview - 16/01/2019

Cybersecurity is an important issue for the pharmaceutical industry

In an increasingly interconnected world, the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors need to be aware of cybersecurity threats in manufacturing. We talked about these threats with Holger Mettler who is in charge of computer system validation and cybersecurity at Exyte (formerly M + W), a global enterprise that designs, engineers and constructs complex manufacturing facilities and buildings for the life sciences industry.

The new drug screening and safety pharmacology laboratory at NMI Technologie Transfer GmbH NMI TT GmbH in Reutlingen with its standardised and special test systems complies fully with the requirements of safety pharmacology tests.

Dossier - 05/10/2011

Biosimilars: follow-on biologics of innovator biopharmaceutical products

As blockbuster biopharmaceuticals go off patent, biosimilars are increasingly competing with them for a market share. However, the production of biosimilars is rather complex and costly. The approval of biosimilars is also subject to many hurdles. Their introduction to the very expensive biopharmaceuticals market is often associated with marginal price reductions.

Changes known as epigenetic modifications play an important role in cancer development, among other things. Being able to analyze them quickly and reliably could, for example, contribute significantly to the further development of personalized therapy.

Article - 08/07/2021

Individual operation risk assessment by the Cognitive Medical Assistant

Despite modern surgical techniques and anaesthetic procedures, serious complications can occur during surgical interventions. An interdisciplinary team at Heidelberg University Hospital has launched a project called the Cognitive Medical Assistant (German: Der Kognitive Medizinische Assistant, KoMed for short), designed to better assess the individual risk of these interventions. The project’s goal is to systematically and comprehensively analyse…

Article - 21/12/2016

For all types of tests: Signatope’s biomarker assays

Signatope is a new biotech company that has been offering innovative biomarker assays for application in drug discovery since August 2016. The company’s assays can be used in all phases of drug development to detect potential adverse drug effects on the kidneys, liver and other organs in any species whatsoever using minute amounts of sample.

Press release - 09/10/2009

BIOTECHNICA 2009 - turning ideas into value

BIOTECHNICA 2009 which took place in Hanover Germany from 6th to 8th October 2009 featured the seminal motto Turning ideas into value. The exhibition programme was rounded off by numerous talks and plenary discussions held at the joint Baden-Württemberg booth.

Dossier - 14/11/2011

The European Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation - an interesting recipe

The EU Nutrition and Health Claims Regulation applies to all nutrition and health claims made in commercial communications, including the advertising and labelling of food and promotional campaigns. While the information related to nutrition is now clear, the list of permitted health claims is still under development.

Laboratory automation - 29/11/2021

Reaching the goal quickly and efficiently with the help of artificial intelligence

Medical research is slow, costly and time-consuming. The system developed by the start-up LABMaiTE could soon change that. With the help of artificial intelligence, it will be possible to automate laboratory experiments and collect and analyse data at the same time.

Article - 24/05/2013

Nanotechnology in Ulm goes into application: a sensor for the life sciences

Life scientists use rather bulky measurement devices to study sensitive cells. Huge pipettes or cannulas are pushed into ultra-tiny structures such as cell membranes or cytoplasm in order to measure complex processes or reactions inside cells. Rough treatment of this kind can damage cells and affect measurement results in ways that are difficult to quantify. The materials scientist Steffen Strehle from Ulm University has plans to begin…

Article - 17/06/2008

"Study and work abroad!”"

Quick practically oriented and above all international The new bachelor and masters degrees in the natural sciences have been introduced to bring German university qualifications into line with the requirements of the international job market as well as to facilitate the uncomplicated exchange of scientists across the globe. However not everything always works out as planned. Research abroad is often limited by time and money.

Article - 30/07/2009

Keeping as many valuable attachments as possible

The goal of many projects focusing on the purification of recombinant proteins is to rapidly and effectively remove substances and side products that would compromise the quality and quantity of biopharmaceutical compounds. A consortium of industrial and scientific partners is currently focusing on a different step in the biopharmaceutical production process: the goal is to keep as many as possible of the drugs’ ‘attachments’. The project focuses…

Article - 13/03/2010

Assembling life from building blocks?

As part of its “Bioethics Forum”, the German Ethics Council recently held a meeting in Berlin to inform the public about the fundamentals of synthetic biology and potential ethical problems and consequences in terms of our ideas about life and mankind in general arising from the progress made in this new field of research.

Biochip systems - 02/09/2020

Miniature organs with great potential

Dr. Peter Loskill and his team at the Fraunhofer Institute in Stuttgart and the University Hospital of Tübingen are developing what is known as an "organ-on-a-chip" (OoC). An OoC is a microfluidic system that simulates small functional units of organ tissue. OoCs can be used in different ways: in basic and pharmaceutical research as well as in clinical research and application, where they might render many animal experiments…

Article - 19/12/2011

New research training group to investigate bacterial survival strategies

The University of Tübingen is to establish a new DFG-funded research training group in which doctoral students from twelve research groups will investigate bacterial survival strategies. The results will contribute to the development of new antimicrobial drugs and also be put to good use in the fields of epidemiology and ecology.

Article - 23/05/2011

Alzheimer’s disease puzzle remains unsolved despite new findings and theories

105 years after the first description of the Alzheimers disease by the German neuropsychiatrist Alois Alzheimer the disease still remains a mystery. Around 25000 researchers worldwide are focusing on Alzheimers and are coming up with a broad range of theories and hypotheses on its pathogenesis and potential therapies.

Article - 12/12/2011

Comprehensive Biomarker Center GmbH – next-generation biomarkers

Biomarker research has moved on from proteins to nucleic acids where one of the main priorities is the use of microRNA expression profiles. The Heidelberg-based biotech company Comprehensive Biomarker Center GmbH (CBC, formerly febit) has state-of-the-art technologies and the skills and knowledge to advance the development of new nucleic acid biomarkers for complex diseases in cooperation with partners from research and industry.

Press release - 27/11/2010

European Research Council awards outstanding University of Freiburg researchers with “ERC Grants” amounting to more than 5 million euros

Three researchers from the University of Freiburg, Wilfried Weber, Wolfram Burgard and Florian Mintert, have been awarded one of the most prestigious grants in Europe: the European Research Council (ERC) has awarded the scientists “ERC Grants” totalling more than five million euros. Prof. Katrin Wendland from Augsburg who has also been awarded an “ERC Grant”, has just been appointed professor in the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at the…

Press release - 02/08/2010

NMI – 25 years of success

The NMI in Reutlingen is one of the most prestigious research institutes in Germany, “a beacon of applied research” as the Minister of Economic Affairs recently called the institute. This success is no accident: for 25 years now, the institute with its interdisciplinary team has been working efficiently and actively towards this achievement. Moreover, it greatly succeeded in bridging science and industry.

Article - 07/06/2017

A gene that regulates body heat and fat storage

Researchers from Heidelberg have shown that the organismal balance between heat production and energy storage is regulated by a gene called THADA. In animal experiments, knocking out the THADA gene leads to excessive food intake, obesity and sensitivity to cold. As humans spread throughout the world and settled in different climate zones, THADA was exposed to high selection pressure due to evolutionary adaptation. This explains why human…

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…

Article - 09/01/2012

Nutritional medicine: Can certain foods help treat cancer?

Researchers at the Centre for Nutritional Medicine (ZEM), a joint institution of the Universities of Hohenheim and Tübingen, are investigating whether and to what extent certain food components can support the treatment of cancer and are hoping to derive scientifically founded dietary recommendations from their findings.

Article - 18/03/2019

EHR and PHR: digital records in the German healthcare system

EHRs, i.e. electronic health records (German: Patientenakte, ePA), are hailed as the key to increasing the quality of care. The Appointment Service and Supply Act (TSVG), adopted on 14th March 2019, requires the German statutory health insurance funds to provide policyholders with electronic health records from 1st January 2021 onwards.

Innovations in the field of endoscopy - 08/06/2020

Gastroscopies with pill cameras

A pill camera to examine the gastrointestinal tract that can be swallowed without major difficulty, controlled intuitively from the outside and deliver images in real time - why would any doctor or patient say no? To non-experts, it sounds more like science fiction but such a device is actually already in development: since 2019, Tübingen-based Ovesco Endoscopy AG and three partners have been working together on this in a project called nuEndo.

Article - 03/12/2010

Review: Science meets Business Day 2010 (part I)

Germinating seeds biosensors in the human body deaf people learning to hear again and new approaches to combat the flu virus the lectures held at the Science meets Business Day which concluded this years BioValley Science Week once again highlighted the innovations brought about through the joint efforts of research and industrial players on the Upper Rhine.