Healthcare industry

Expert interview - 14/11/2016

The great untapped potential of herbal medicines

Baden-Württemberg is home to a large number of companies that produce herbal medicines, i.e. preparations made from plant extracts rather than pure compounds. In an interview with Dr. Ariane Pott from BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg, Professor Dr. Michael Wink, Director of the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Heidelberg, explains how these special extracts are placed on the market and how they differ from medicines…

The main goal of the European Research Council (ERC) is to fund Europe’s brightest minds and thus encourage the highest quality research. In April 2016, the ERC announced the awarding of its prestigious Advanced Grants, and three life sciences researchers from Baden-Württemberg were among the recipients.

Article - 12/08/2013

Baden-Württemberg – strategies for the future of biodiversity conservation

The alarming decline in animal and plant species stands more chance to be stopped by action on local and regional levels than through global conventions. Research and action programmes by German federal and state governments can help preserve biodiversity in Baden-Württemberg.

Article - 29/07/2013

Genetic fingerprinting - a useful method in fruit production

Genetic fingerprinting is a well-known technique used for paternity testing and in forensic science. However, the technique is also used in the field of agriculture. Molecular genetics makes it possible to develop and apply new research and breeding methods to the field of fruit production in order to improve production and quality standards. Dr. Haibo Xuan from the Competence Centre for Fruit Production (KOB) at Lake Constance has been working…

Press release - 22/10/2012

New Commission proposal to minimise the climate impacts of biofuel production

On 17th October 2012, the Commission published a proposal to limit global land conversion for biofuel production, and raise the climate benefits of biofuels used in the EU. Through changes of the current legislation the Commission wants to promote biofuels that help achieving substantial emission cuts, do not directly compete with food and are more sustainable at the same time.

Article - 14/05/2012

Biogas and sustainability

The German Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) has led to a considerable increase in the use of biogas in Germany. However, increasing biogas production must make ecological sense and not generate conflict with the sustainability objectives of environmental conservation schemes. There must therefore be a careful consideration of the overall conditions. An analysis of the ecological impact of the generation and use of biogas in Germany taking into…

Article - 20/02/2012

"1KITE" project to unravel the evolution of insects

The large international “1K Insect Transcriptome Evolution” research project aims to construct a robust phylogenetic tree of insects, which is the most species-rich group of organisms. The project aims to study the transcriptomes of 1000 (1K) insect species. The Heidelberg-based Institute for Theoretical Studies provides the software for producing the phylogenetic trees.

Press release - 05/05/2011

European Commission announces new strategy to halt biodiversity loss

The European Commission presented today a new strategy to protect and improve the state of Europe's biodiversity over the next decade.

Press release - 09/09/2009

“Road trip” to the Lake Constance

American scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute JCVI have recently visited the Institute of Limnology at the University of Constance at Lake Constance. The visit was part of the Sorcerer II Expedition which is a unique global mission to sample and discover the diversity of microorganisms and their role in global substance flows.

Article - 21/08/2009

Biodiversity to reflect the state of the environment

Three research sites were established in 2006; the biosphere reserve Schorfheide-Chorin in Brandenburg near Berlin; the Hainich-Dün National Park in Thüringen near Jena and the Swabian Alb biosphere reserve in Baden-Württemberg near Ulm. They were established to address the relationship between biodiversity change, ecosystem functioning and land-use intensity, with a particular focus placed on the area of tension between biodiversity, ecosystem…

Dossier - 29/03/2009

Options for the food industry

Biotechnology has since found its way into the food industry and in fact into the entire value creation chain from raw material production to food processing to the sale of the final product. There are many ways in which biotechnology can contribute to better food products. These include the use of enzymes and microorganisms as well as in the production of food supplements and to improve analytic tests.

Press release - 14/01/2009

Hunters of lost treasures

On 1st December 2008 Prof. Dr. Karl Schmid the first person to hold the F.W. Schnell Foundations endowed professorship for crop biodiversity and breeding informatics started the ball rolling on a unique European-wide project. Schmid and his colleagues are searching gigantic databases in which genetic analyses and plant descriptions are stored for hidden treasures.

Article - 20/02/2008

Threadworms throughout time

Threadworms are versatile research objects and are excellent models for investigating fundamental evolutionary principles. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology use the Caenorhabditis and Pristionchus threadworm genera to study the molecular mechanisms of biodiversity.

For 93 of Europeans preserving biodiversity is a moral obligation affecting current generations as stewards of nature. European citizens are also aware that their well-being and quality of life depend on biodiversity.