Healthcare industry

Article - 09/03/2008

Successful attack on resistant tumour cells

In laboratory experiments Dr. Anja Apel from the University Hospital in Heidelberg proved that cancer cells that are resistant to radiation therapy can be made to become susceptible to this kind of treatment again by blocking the cells own recycling system.

Since the 1st March 2008 the Department of Diagnostic Radiology at the University Hospital in Heidelberg has a new medical director Professor Dr. Hans-Ulrich Kauczor 45 succeeds Professor Dr. Günter Kauffmann.

The Dietmar Hopp Foundation has donated one million euro for a new small-animal tomograph at the University Hospital in Heidelberg. The new system is suitable for small animals such as rats and mice and can be used to investigate diseases and therapies.

Dr. Gilbert Gorr has been fascinated by the moss Physcomitrella patens for many years in fact it occupies a great deal of his waking moments. The enthusiasm with which the CSO of greenovation Biotech GmbH talks about the key object of his work is both intoxicating and contagious. The latest discovery The moss produces a therapeutic antibody that is far more effective than its predecessors created in animal cell cultures.

Haemochromatosis is not as has been previously assumed a disease of the small intestine but a disease of the liver. Scientists from Heidelberg have shown in the animal model that the disease is caused by a mutated gene influencing hepcidin production.

mtm laboratories has launched the Cervatec assay for the early diagnosis of cervical cancer. The Cervatec assay will initially be commercialized as an adjunct to the Pap test for the screening of women aged 35 and younger.

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.

Karin Bundschuh of BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg asked Dr. Jens Clausen how these developments should be viewed from an ethical perspective. The bioethicist spent many years studying the status of embryos the ethics of cloning and stem cell research.

A new specialist outpatient clinic at the University Hospital of Ulm is treating haemochromatosis sufferers and is investigating the causes of this disease. Haemochromatosis which as the effect of poisoning the body is one of the most frequent hereditary diseases.

Article - 07/02/2008

New life sciences centre in Ulm

The new Life Science Centre will house eleven interfaculty research groups dealing with aspects of tissue regeneration. The state of Baden-Württemberg and the University both expressed their high expectations for the centre at the official opening.

Article - 05/02/2008

Protecting the liver from oxygen stress

The Emmy Noether junior research group in the Department of Surgery at the University Hospital of Heidelberg is to be funded with 1.2 million over the next five years. The group will focus on how tissue damage in donor livers can be prevented. The group headed by Dr. Martin Schneider.

The new University Clinic for Dermatology Venerology and Allergology building located on the Mannheim hospital campus has now been opened. The hospital directed by Prof. Dr. med. Sergij Goerdt treats approximately 2000 patients on an inpatient basis.

Article - 30/01/2008

How cells communicate

Prof. Valentin Wittmann professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Constance is investigating carbohydrates. At present his major area of interest is carbohydrate-RNA and carbohydrate-protein interactions where he is trying to understand the biological functions of complex sugar molecules glycans.

Article - 29/01/2008

Breakthrough for glycomics

New databases and bioinformatic tools provide the field of glycomics with a solid basis for dynamic development in molecular biology and medicine. Willi von der Lieth a researcher from Heidelberg was an important pioneer of glyco-bioinformatics. His sudden death is a great loss for this new scientific field.

Proposals must be submitted prior to 7th May 2008.

Tumours develop sophisticated strategies to escape the immune defence. One of these strategies is the modification of the cells sugar coat. Specific immune cell receptors bind to these sugars thereby preventing the tumour cell from being discovered by the immune system. Medics from the University of Tübingen are investigating the mechanisms involved and are looking for therapeutic targets.

Scientists from Ulm and Paris have joined forces to develop new medications against malignant brain tumours. The two-year research project will focus on developing betulinic acid which is found in abundance in birch bark into a cancer drug.

The Rhine-Neckar metropolitan region is hoping to become a National Centre for Dementia Research. Professor Beyreuther director of the NAR at the University of Heidelberg is coordinating the application.

Prostate cancer is the most frequent malignant tumour in men. Researchers from Freiburg and Bonn have succeeded in developing the basics for new therapies in particular for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer.

Scientists at the German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ have now succeeded in generating peptides on a microchip - faster and thus cheaper than with previous methods.

Nycomed grants Baxter International Inc. NYSE BAX exclusive rights to market and distribute Nycomeds TachoSil patch in the United States. The agreement is part of Nycomeds strategy to seek marketing and commercialisation partnerships for the US market instead of operating its own sales force.

The microRNA miR-21 suppresses the production of tumour suppressor Pdcd4 which protects cells from developing cancer. Researchers at the DKFZ have now found out that colorectal cancer cells in particular lack Pdcd4 while these cells have an oversupply of miR-21.

Nycomed filed a marketing authorisation application with the European Medicines Agency for an intranasal fentanyl spray in Europe. If approved the centralised filing could allow Nycomed to be the first to enter the market in 29 European countries with the fentanyl spray.

The German Cancer Research Centre and the Centre for Molecular Biology Heidelberg have created a new type of cooperation between the university and the Helmholtz Society. They hope that this will help increase their attractiveness to high-calibre scientists.