Healthcare industry

Infection control - 07/01/2021

Gene accordions as potential markers for pathogenic properties

Bacteria must react to changes in the environment in order to survive. This is partly done by adapting genetic material, for example by multiplying and shortening individual genome segments. The research group led by Dr. Simon Heilbronner from the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University of Tübingen has shown that these so-called gene accordions are frequently found in the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus.

In contrast to the USA human granulocytic anaplasmosis infection rarely occurs in Germany. Dr. Friederike von Loewenich at the Freiburg Institute for Medical Microbiology and Hygiene are investigating the reason for this discrepancy.

Press release - 09/10/2012

Bacterium in a Laser Trap

Scientists from the Department of Microsystems Engineering IMTEK of the University of Freiburg have constructed an innovative new optical trap that can grab and scan tiny elongated bacteria with the help of a laser. Optical tweezers could previously only be used to grab bacteria at one point not to manipulate their orientation. The Freiburg researchers have now succeeded in using a quickly moving focused laser beam to exert an equally distributed…

Article - 30/08/2010

How cancer-causing bacteria reached the South Seas in outrigger canoes

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori causes gastric ulcers and gastric cancer. The prehistoric great migrations of human populations, including the expansion of the Austronesians across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, can be reconstructed in precise detail from the genetic makeup of different Helicobacter strains.

Article - 16/02/2015

The cellular power station of the cholera pathogen – from the structure to new antibiotics

The bacterium Vibrio cholerae causes cholera, a severe disease that affects up to 3.5 million people a year. A team of scientists from the universities of Freiburg, Hohenheim and Konstanz have now gained new insights into the way the bacterium produces energy. They have elucidated the structure and function of the bacterium’s energy-production machinery. The research results provide new insights into biochemical energy production and the…

Article - 06/07/2014

Behaviour-changing signalling molecules as alternative to antibiotics

Bacteria display group behaviours when they form biofilms or cause infections. These group behaviours protect them against adverse environmental conditions. Thomas Böttcher from the University of Konstanz studies the signalling molecules that control this behaviour. His work involves identifying and characterising natural substances that can prevent bacteria from forming biofilms and from swarming. The substances’ medically relevant effect makes…

Article - 01/09/2016

Tailor-made biotech fibres for improved wound dressings

Scientists have developed a biotechnological process to produce bacterial alginate. The alginate quality is highly reproducible, making it suitable for the production of fibre-based medicinal products such as wound dressings.

Article - 14/06/2010

Mycoplasma bacteria as models for minimal cells

Bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma are one of the smallest self-replicating cells and serve as model organisms in synthetic biology research for investigating essential life functions as well as being used as chassis for novel, tailor-made biosyntheses. Researchers from Heidelberg are among the groups who focus predominantly on investigating mycoplasma bacteria as minimal organisms.

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…

Press release - 17/03/2010

Bacterial balance that keeps us healthy

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, working within the European project MetaHIT and in collaboration with colleagues at the Beijing Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, China, established a reference gene set for the human gut microbiome – a catalogue of the microbe genes present in the human gut. Their work proves that high-throughput techniques can be used to sequence environmental samples, and…

Article - 18/05/2013

Biofilm research aims at fighting hospital germs

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a common bacterium that can be found in many different places – soil, water, washing basins, toilets and washing machines, to name but a few examples. Due to its resistance to antibiotic treatment, P. aeruginosa is mainly known as the cause of hospital-acquired infections. David Schleheck, a biologist from Konstanz University, deals specifically with the bacterium’s presence in biofilms. His research could open up new…

Press release - 30/03/2011

Bacteria poison themselves from within

The research group led by Anton Meinhart at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has shown that proteins from the zeta toxin group trigger a self-destructive mechanism in bacteria. The triggers for this bacterial suicide are toxin/antitoxin systems that play an important role in the hereditary transmission of resistance and virulence genes. The scientists have thus found a valuable new tool for the development of new…

Article - 10/09/2012

Jan Wehkamp to investigate the causes of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases

It takes a great deal of courage to question a common scientific doctrine especially for scientists at the very beginning of their careers. But around ten years ago Dr. Jan Wehkamp did not shy away from doing just that and as a result he and his scientific partner Professor Dr. Eduard Stange came up with a new explanation for the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.

Dossier - 30/08/2010

Disease prevention through better diagnostics

“Classical treatment approaches are not the only way to ensure good health, rehabilitation and care. In fact, it is envisaged that more effective prevention will contribute to halting the development of diseases and maintaining good health. Prevention is designed to prevent health risks and diseases, make them less likely and delay their onset.” (Declaration of the German government; Official Records of Parliament 17/845, 26th February 2010)

Article - 01/08/2010

Manfred Kist – 25 years of fascination for a stomach bacterium

Helicobacter pylori is a genus of bacteria that inhabits the human stomach. The bacteria can cause duodenal and gastric ulcers and are also linked to the development of gastric cancer. Prof. Dr. Manfred Kist from the Freiburg University Medical Centre has spent around 25 years of his scientific career on investigating H. pylori a bent rod-shaped bacterium.

Bakteriocins - 24/05/2022

New antibiotic alternatives from soil bacteria

Bacteria are not the greatest of friends among themselves: many release antimicrobial substances into their environment in order to gain an advantage in their ecological niche. Researchers at the University of Ulm are making use of such bacteriocins by creating a genetically modified soil bacterium that can be used as a biotechnological platform organism to produce alternatives to antibiotics in pure form and in large quantities. The fact this…

Dossier - 09/09/2013

New trends in the field of immunology

B- and T- lymphocytes along with macrophages have long been regarded as the most important cells of the human immune system and have thus been a major focus of research. This has now changed and it is now the dendritic cells that are regarded as the major components of the adaptive immune system and have become a major focus of scientific interest. Research into innate immune defence mechanisms has also become more important due to the discovery…

The bacterium Staphylococcus epidermidisis primarily a harmless microbe found on the skin and in the noses of humans. Yet some strains of this species can cause infections – in catheters, artificial joints, heart valves, and in the bloodstream – which are difficult to treat. These bacteria are often resistant to a particularly effective antibiotic, methicillin, and are among the most feared germs in hospitals.

Article - 25/01/2014

Call for responsible antibiotics prescription

Heidelberg University Hospital and the University Medical Centre in Mannheim are working hard to counteract the increase of antibiotic resistance. Strategies include a European-wide system for infection surveillance, the training of health professionals in the responsible use of antibiotics and the search for novel antibiotic substances in unconventional organisms.

Article - 02/06/2014

Researchers shed light on important metabolic pathway

A research team led by microbiologist Dr. David Schleheck, in cooperation with chemists from the University of Konstanz, has discovered how sulpho-glucose is degraded in Escherichia coli bacteria. As this sulphurous glucose analogue is produced by all photosynthetically active organisms, the researchers’ discovery is of great importance for our understanding of the global sulphur cycle.

Article - 23/05/2018

Bacteriophages as alternatives to antibiotics

Multidrug-resistant bacteria are resistant to many existing antibiotics and can be difficult to treat. There are increasing numbers of them worldwide. Although novel antibiotics are being developed, there are far too few of them to tackle the rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria. In Eastern Europe, doctors have been treating bacterial infections with viruses that infect bacteria, so-called bacteriophages, for almost 100 years.

Article - 12/08/2013

A doorman in the bacterial membrane

We are fortunate to have membranes; they separate the interior of cells from the exterior and ensure that precious substances do not leave the cell and toxic substances cannot enter. Membrane proteins do an amazing job in transporting substances from one side of the membrane to the other. This process occurs in bacteria and in humans in much the same way. Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Koch and his team at the Institute for Biochemistry and Molecular…

Article - 11/10/2010

Georg Sprenger - virtuoso of bacterial metabolism manipulation

Microorganisms can be taught to do things that they are unable to do naturally. Bacterial metabolisms can be changed in order to make the bacteria produce new products and convert new substrates. In addition, existing bacterial conversion strategies can be optimised for biotechnological applications. Prof. Dr. Georg Sprenger is the head of the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Stuttgart and he is an expert in this field.

Press release - 18/01/2010

Measurement instead of culture – rapid detection of Legionella

There has been an unusually high frequency of Legionella infections in the city of Ulm in the period since mid-December 2009. The search for the source of the infection is well underway, although the use of traditional detection methods make it a time-consuming process. New screening methods developed by the Fraunhofer IPM could considerably reduce the time required to detect the source of infection.

Article - 20/01/2014

Curetis AG: Miniaturised laboratory for the simple, rapid and reliable diagnosis of serious infections

Acute pneumonia usually leaves doctors with no choice the situation can quickly become life threatening requiring doctors to act quickly. Instead of waiting for laboratory results they often prescribe an antibiotic that is effective against numerous bacterial species in the hope that it will also work against the bacterium that has caused the inflammation in the lung tissue. Curetis AG from Holzgerlingen close to Stuttgart has developed a…