Healthcare industry

Article - 30/01/2019

candidum – computer-assisted enzyme design

Industry has been using enzymes for over a hundred years. While it initially had to content itself with natural enzymes, it is now increasingly possible to design tailor-made biocatalysts with specific properties. The start-up company candidum GmbH from Stuttgart promises to achieve this faster than ever before - mostly thanks to accelerated virtual screening.

Article - 09/01/2019

HQS Quantum Simulations for industrial quantum mechanics applications

The door to the quantum world is opening wider and wider. Behind it is a whole new view of materials and molecules. Quantum mechanics applications not only benefit science, they also offer huge economic potential. The Karlsruhe start-up HQS Quantum Simulations is playing a pioneering role in quantum simulations for the chemical and pharmaceutical industries.

Three researchers at the MPI for Immunobiology and Epigenetics receive millions in funding from the European Research Council. Dominic Grün, Nicola Iovino and Ritwick Sawarkar from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg will each be awareded one of the prestigious Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council. This means that 6 million euros in funding will go to fundamental research in Freiburg over the next…

University takes next hurdle in the German government’s Excellence Strategy funding program. The University of Tübingen is to have three new Clusters of Excellence.As part of the German government’s Excellence Strategy funding forhigher education research, Tübingen will host new outstanding research networks starting in January 2019. Representatives of Germany’s higher education policymakers announced the decision in Bonn on Thursday.

Dossier - 28/08/2018

With molecular diagnostics to biomarker-based personalised therapy

Diagnosing suitable biomarkers is a prerequisite for tailoring personalised therapies to patient heterogeneity. Genetic tests and genome sequencing play a key role in these diagnoses. Up until now, personalised therapy has achieved the greatest success in the field of oncology. However, personalised treatments are also gaining in importance for treating other diseases. In Baden-Württemberg, the expansion and further development of personalised…

Article - 26/03/2018

Eliciting reliable information from big data with classifiers and multimodal data fusion

Prof. Hans A. Kestler knows a great deal about large amounts of data. He heads up the Institute of Medical Systems Biology at the University of Ulm and is constantly inundated with cooperation enquiries from clinicians. On behalf of BIOPRO, Walter Pytlik asked him whether the conditions for using big data more in biomedical research are already largely present.

Article - 13/03/2018

“More data does not automatically imply more knowledge“

In Germany, one of the big names in evidence-based medicine is Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Gerd Antes, co-director of Cochrane Germany. In the following interview, Antes talks about the hype surrounding big data, warns against false promises and reminds us about what is taken for granted.

Article - 14/12/2017

Looking at the whole genome raises new questions

Research laboratories around the world have long focused on studying the whole human genome. It is hoped that knowing the whole human genome will improve diagnostics and enable more specific therapies. Although genome analysis has not yet reached routine clinical application, whole genome sequencing has already raised many ethical and legal issues - for researchers, physicians and patients.

Article - 07/12/2017

GoSilico: a formula for the industrial purification of biomolecules

“Stop experimenting – GoSilico” is the motto of a young start-up company from Karlsruhe. The founding team of GoSilico GmbH is causing a furore with a simulation software that would make many laboratory experiments obsolete. The chromatographic separation of biomolecules from organisms, samples and cell cultures can be reliably simulated after just a few starter experiments. This saves time, work, material and costs in pharmaceutical development.

GATC, one of the leading sequencing provider will be a part of the Eurofins Group as of July 2017 to create the leading company in the worldwide sequencing market.

Article - 04/05/2017

Big data make therapy work better

An international team of researchers has shown for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) that cancer therapy can be personalised using big data. The authors of the study “believe this paper is a step towards validation of genetic techniques as a route to personalised medicine”.

Article - 20/03/2017

Expansion of the de.NBI, the German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure

The German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure, de.NBI for short, is a successful model for infrastructures in the life sciences and biomedicine that is currently being expanded. The network, which was established in 2015, will benefit from more hardware, more staff, more projects and its own cloud. It has also joined the European ELIXIR network.

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.

Article - 26/10/2016

GeneWerk: precision analyses for humans

Gene therapy approaches are increasingly being used for treating life-threatening diseases in humans. GeneWerk GmbH, a spin-off of the DKFZ and the NCT in Heidelberg, offers customised, high-resolution molecular and bioinformatic analyses that ensure the efficacy and safety of gene therapy and immunotherapy studies.

Article - 20/09/2016

CRISPR-Cas has more surprises in store

Since 2012, a DFG-funded research group called FOR1680 has been studying CRISPR-Cas, an immune system that unicellular bacteria and arachaea use to protect themselves against attacks from viruses and plasmids. Prof. Dr. Anita Marchfelder, a molecular biologist at Ulm University and coordinator of the FOR1680 research group, and many other researchers were surprised to find that prokaryotes incorporate the genetic material of enemies as a kind of…

Article - 05/07/2016

HS-Analysis GmbH – using digital histology to develop new drugs

The idea of analysing tissue samples automatically sounds more of a pipe dream than anything else. However, it already happens. HS-Analysis GmbH's ability to interpret tissue samples automatically is driving new drug development a decisive step forward.

Article - 13/06/2016

Matthias Willmann wants to get the big picture – tracking down infectious agents

While fighting and curing bacterial infections in sick patients is one part of the picture, epidemiological investigation of the spread of pathogens is another. Dr. Matthias Willmann also assesses the impact of these factors on the healthcare system as a whole and draws conclusions that might boost early detection of pathogens and prevention of infections.

Article - 30/05/2016

The unknown dark spot of the microcosm

The world of microorganisms is still largely unknown. Researchers such as Kai Sohn from the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart are working on decoding, analysing and gradually gaining a better understanding of the microbial genome. In their search for new enzymes and other biomolecules, both biotechnologists and pharmacologists are interested in micoorganisms, and physicians are hoping that detailed insights into the microbial genome will lead to the…

Article - 12/05/2016

Novel method for predicting the spatial structure of biomolecules

Biomolecules can only fulfil their diverse functions in the cell when they fold into a characteristic native three-dimensional structure. Knowing this structure is not only of paramount importance for basic research, but also for medicine and pharmacology. Scientists from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have therefore developed a simple method to predict the three-dimensional structure of biomolecules from the analysis of readily…

Article - 15/02/2016

Bacteria – a treasure box for genetic engineers

Bacteria have developed a versatile defence system to protect themselves against viral infections. One of these defence tools, known as CRISPR/Cas9 system, is currently hogging the headlines as it promises to revolutionise the way genetic material can be modified. Prof. Rolf Backofen from the Institute of Bioinformatics at the University of Freiburg has managed to classify the defence system of all bacterial species sequenced to date. This will…

Article - 10/12/2015

cubuslab helps laboratories to enter the digital era

cubuslab, a start-up company that was spun off from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in March 2015, has developed a technology to connect different types of laboratory equipment, from precision balances to analytical instruments. The technology is aimed at automating workflows and connecting and storing data in an electronic laboratory notebook.

Article - 04/12/2015

Exploring the retinal code

The ability to see things depends on different types of eye cells and neurons in our brain working together in a highly complex process. Dr. Philipp Berens from the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of Tübingen uses computer models to study how light that enters the retina is turned into events that trigger nerve impulses. Berens works with experimental scientists in the Department of Ophthalmology at Tübingen…

Article - 14/10/2015

High-throughput technologies and bioinformatics from a single source – the Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC)

“Omics” is a current buzz word used to describe comprehensive investigations in many areas of the life sciences. In practice, omics refers to fields of scientific study that involve a huge number of experiments and even more data. Evaluating and managing all the data within a fixed period is a huge challenge for most researchers working on their own. It was to address these issues that the Quantitative Biology Center – QBiC for short – was…

Article - 29/06/2015

How can influenza virus prediction be improved?

Every February, the World Health Organisation (WHO) publishes recommendations on the composition of influenza virus vaccines for use in the upcoming influenza season. The WHO’s decision is based on observations and laboratory tests as well as experience and intuition. The particular type of influenza virus that is likely to be circulating in a given season has previously been mainly a matter of speculation. Richard Neher from the Max Planck…

Article - 15/06/2015

Centre for Personalised Medicine in Tübingen - developing tailor-made treatments for patients

Since January 2015, Tübingen has been home to a Centre for Personalised Medicine (ZPM). Twenty-three institutes and hospitals have joined forces to improve diagnosis of disease and develop individualised treatments for patients with a variety of diseases. In parallel, the centre also develops new diagnostic strategies. This means, for example, that data derived from the analysis of the entire genetic material of cells, proteins and metabolic…