Healthcare industry

Dossier - 11/05/2009

Diabetes, a danger that is still underestimated

In 2010 there will be 10 million diabetes patients in Germany and nearly 33 millions in Europe. The diabetes avalanche is rolling and what is Germany doing? So far so little say experts. There is a lot happening at the same time in different places little is evaluated and a lot is lost in the maelstrom of individual interests. The figures are clear The metabolic disease known as diabetes has reached the proportions of a worldwide epidemic. It not…

Article - 09/06/2009

We would gladly finance more biotechs

For four years, the High-Tech Gründerfonds (high-tech company establishment fund) has been supporting technology-oriented company founders. The project, which is backed by the Federal German government and major businesses, has 272 million euros of largely federal funds at its disposal, and its objective is the accelerated marketability of ideas. We spoke with Marco Winzer, representative and Investment Director at High-Tech Gründerfonds,…

Article - 28/11/2014

Martin Plenio - turning Ulm’s quantum biology into a technology forge

Quantum biology has the potential to become the next big research coup. Professor Martin Plenio, 46, director of the Institute of Theoretical Physics at Ulm University and one of the world’s leading quantum technologists, is right at the forefront. He has been Alexander von Humboldt Professor since 2009, and holds a part-time professorship at Imperial College London, where he was formerly chair of quantum physics.

Article - 20/04/2017

Health app to be integrated into clinical trials

Questionnaires are a thing of the past, now it is becoming increasingly likely that information for clinical trials will be collected via apps in the future. A new research platform has been developed to prepare patient data transmitted via smartphone applications. Doctors who are carrying out research will thus have access to more accurate results that will also ultimately benefit patients.

Article - 16/04/2019

Tumour monitoring using liquid biopsy

Liquid biopsy, the analysis of cancer biomarkers and circulating tumour cells in body fluids such as blood, is revolutionising the diagnosis and monitoring of cancer. It has also been possible to expand circulating tumour cells from the blood under laboratory conditions. It is expected that in the future, liquid biopsy will be able to precisely characterise tumour cells at every stage of a cancer.

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…

Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB - 24/04/2020

A rapid pyrogen test: the human immune system as model

Every year, around 11 million people die of sepsis (blood poisoning) caused by microorganisms or microbial residues, known as pyrogens, entering the bloodstream. The smallest amounts can trigger fever. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have developed a pyrogen test that does not require a laboratory and is not tested on animals. It is expected to be placed on the market soon.

Article - 12/09/2016

New target for the therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma discovered

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. If the tumour is at an advanced stage, doctors have few treatment options. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Lars Zender from the University of Tübingen have now identified one of the cancer's Achilles' heels, namely, the interaction between C-MYC and AURKA proteins, which can be destabilised with a drug, thus killing cancer cells.

Dossier - 05/08/2013

Progress expands bioethical boundaries

Bioethics is a rich and continually evolving field. In the broadest sense, bioethics relates to the way human individuals treat any form of life. The issue of whether human beings have the right to do whatever they want goes way back. However, rapid progress in genetic engineering and cell biology means that it is now necessary to look at certain issues in a new way and recognise that not everything that is technically feasible should actually be…

Article - 25/01/2010

Intelligent use of suitable biomarkers

How quickly does a pharmaceutical substance exert its effect? What mechanisms does it use to exert its effect on people and how long does it remain active? In a team headed by Prof. Dr. Martin Elmlinger Nycomed GmbH has developed an efficient biomarker discovery concept specially adapted to the companys requirements and designed to clarify such questions. The concept is specifically geared to the phases and requirements of the companys projects.…

Press release - 26/03/2010

Restarting the muscular engine – Research Prize awarded to two medical practitioners from Ulm and Heidelberg

Dr. Karin Jurkat-Rott, associate professor at the Institute of Applied Physiology at the University of Ulm, and Dr. Marc-André Weber, associate professor and chief physician in the Department of Radiology at the Heidelberg University Hospital, were awarded the Eva Luise Köhler Research Prize for Rare Diseases in Berlin on 1st March 2010. The prize was awarded by Luise Köhler in the presence the German Federal President Horst Köhler, the German…

Article - 22/02/2010

Treasure trove of data from Ulm helps in the understanding of community-acquired pneumonia

CAP community-acquired pneumonia is a common type of pneumonia that mainly affects young and old people. In Germany around 800000 people contract CAP every year and almost one third has to be admitted to hospital exceeding the number of admissions due to cardiac infarction or stroke. The CAPNETZ competence network which up until recently was funded by the German government is gradually shedding light on a hitherto little known disease.

Since May 11, 2020, CeGaT offers a CE certified corona antibody test. This test determines whether a person has antibodies against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. People who have antibodies are assumed to have undergone a coronavirus infection and are highly likely to be immune.

Article - 28/08/2017

SpinDiag GmbH – rapid test makes it difficult for pathogens

Antibiotic-resistant pathogens are becoming an increasing problem, especially in hospitals. Infected patients must be isolated as soon as possible. However, appropriate methods for testing patients upon admission to hospital and isolating them if necessary are still lacking. A young biotechnology company from Baden-Württemberg called SpinDiag GmbH has developed a cost-effective method for the rapid testing of microbial resistance in normal…

Biosensor - 13/11/2018

Rapid medical test for at-home use

For quite a number of illnesses, patients need to have the concentrations of the medications they are taking and their blood metabolites checked on a regular basis, which can make life rather difficult. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg have now developed a test based on the firefly enzyme luciferase. This enzyme can be used to quickly and cheaply measure parameters of interest.

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.

TGU Varimol - 24/07/2020

Click chemistry for new medical procedures

Using a simple molecular click process, biochemists have been able to connect ring-shaped molecules with each other and couple therapeutically active substances to these molecules. Drugs can thus be specifically delivered to diseased cells and used for imaging processes or biosensors. The Stuttgart-based start-up Varimol is using this new technology to provide its customers with tailored applications that are as simple to use as a kit.

Vision Zero in oncology - 02/09/2019

Call for a comprehensive master plan for preventing and treating cancer

While a cancer-free world may seem unrealistic given the increasing numbers of cancer cases, we need to reach a social consensus that cancer deaths are unacceptable and that everything possible must be done to prevent them. Leading cancer researchers around the world are calling for more investment in prevention research and cancer screening to move towards the vision of a near cancer-free world.

Big Data - 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.

“In order to fully understand an organism, it is necessary to consider it as a whole,” said Dr. Uwe Schulte, biochemist and CEO of Logopharm GmbH in Freiburg. A growing number of scientists hold the same view, and there is a growing inclination to research the big picture. This is reflected in the continuously increasing number of projects looking into systems biology research.

Treatment resistance is a central problem in the treatment of cancer. Bone and soft tissue tumors – known as sarcomas – in adolescents and young adults often stop responding to treatment too. This is because cancer cells develop a large number of new characteristics as the disease progresses and often become resistant to drugs that were originally effective.

Article - 22/10/2019

Using CAR T cells for treating cancer

After successes in the treatment of advanced blood cancers, CAR T-cell immunotherapy has become a major beacon of hope in oncology. The first therapies have received regulatory approval. Despite their success, these immunotherapies can have serious side effects. The company AVA Lifescience develops antibodies with high tumour specificity to use as the basis for effective precision-guided CAR T-cell therapies that are better tolerated by patients.

Article - 30/06/2016

Why fasting is good for health

A protein in the nucleus of liver cells is produced in greater quantities when we go hungry; it limits fatty acid uptake and adjusts the metabolism in the liver. However in people with metabolic disorders, the abnormal expression of this protein (GADD45β), which was previously only known to be involved in the regulation of cell division and DNA repair, leads to a dysregulated fat and sugar metabolism. Scientists from the DKFZ and Helmholtz…

Microstructure Technology - 17/07/2020

An electronic nose for many applications

Sensory organs are sophisticated masterpieces of nature. That is why humans have often tried to copy them. Be it cameras or microphones - there are technical objects that have always been based on natural models such as the eye or the ear. For a long time, however, no artificial sense of smell has featured in the technical repertoire. Now researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have developed an electronic nose. It can…

Article - 04/07/2016

Epigenetic modifications for the treatment of oesophageal cancer

Oesophageal cancer is a rare but highly aggressive type of cancer with a rather poor prognosis. Dr. Theresa Ahrens, a researcher in a group led by Prof. Dr. Silke Laßmann and Prof. Dr. Martin Werner at the Institute of Clinical Pathology at the Freiburg University Medical Centre, has tested a variety of epigenetic drugs that can interfere with the development of oesophageal cancer.