Healthcare industry

Press release - 23/05/2011

GATC Biotech and LifeCodexx develop a diagnostic test for early detection of preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder of the mother during pregnancy. It is among the leading causes of death of mother and unborn child and occurs in approximately two to five percent of all pregnancies in Germany. Early detection is critical and improves the prognosis for the further course of the pregnancy.

Curetis AG, an innovative molecular diagnostics company focusing on the development and commercialization of in-vitro diagnostic products for infectious diseases, today announced an extension of its Series A financing, bringing the total size of the round to € 24.5 million. CD-Venture joined the funding as a new investor, while all of Curetis' existing VC investors participated in the round. Several private investors also continued to…

Article - 02/05/2011

Production of high-density peptide arrays

Frank Breitling and Alexander Nesterov-Müller from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT are working on the development of a second-generation peptide laser printer and a peptide chip printer based on computer chips. This development will enable the low-cost production of high-density peptide arrays consisting of up to one million peptides as well as opening up completely new areas of application.

Article - 25/04/2011

New Centre for Rare Diseases established at the University of Heidelberg

It is believed that there are around 9000 rare diseases of which around 6000 have been described. The Centre for Rare Diseases ZSE at the University of Heidelberg brings together doctors and scientists from a broad range of different disciplines to work with experts in Germany and around the world. The ZSE was officially opened on 15th April 2011.

Press release - 21/04/2011

Gut bacteria could help with diagnostics and influence treatments

In the future, when you walk into a doctor’s surgery or hospital, you could be asked not just about your allergies and blood group, but also about your gut type. Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and collaborators in the international MetaHIT consortium, have found that humans have three different gut types.

Scientists from the Center for Prenatal Diagnosis and Human Genetics, Kudamm-199, in Berlin have been working with scientists from GATC Biotech AG and LifeCodexx AG to develop a non-invasive diagnostic test based on Next Generation Sequencing which reliably detects a fetal trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).

Scientists from Heidelberg University Hospital the German Cancer Research Center and the company Febit Biomed GmbH have now developed a method that facilitates the analysis and detection of disease-causing genetic modifications for the first time ever this method enables the genetic characterisation of cardiomyopathy patients. For patients and their relatives this means that the disease can now be reliably diagnosed and specific treatment and…

Article - 04/04/2011

Technical innovations for better diagnostics

The quantitative detection of DNA single-strand breaks is of great importance for many areas of biomedical research and diagnostics. The Fluorescence-detected Alkaline DNA Unwinding FADU assay assists in the investigation of mechanisms of DNA damage and repair following DNA strand breaks upon exposure to chemicals. Prof. Alexander Bürkle and his team at the University of Konstanz have automated and optimised the original FADU assay which was…

Press release - 02/04/2011

Nanosensor detects pathogens

Researchers from the Stuttgart-based Max Planck Institute of Solid State Research have succeeded in detecting tiny traces of DNA using sensors made from carbon nanotubes. The sensors are highly selective for specific DNA sequences and it is envisaged that they will be used for the rapid examination of blood samples.

Press release - 10/03/2011

Novel High-Resolution Methods in Fluorescence Microscopy

Heidelberg scientists have developed a new method by which the physical limits in high-resolution light microscopy can be overcome with the aid of chemical reactions. The scientists replaced light-dependent processes by chemical reactions for light-independent switching of fluorescent probes to mark cellular structures for high-resolution optical microscopy. This method opens up new application vistas for fluorescence microscopy.

Article - 07/03/2011

Thomas Brunner: steroid synthesis in the intestine

A research team led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Brunner at the University of Konstanz has found out that intestinal epithelial cells are able to synthesise anti-inflammatory steroids glucocorticoids following immunological stress which makes a considerable contribution to the maintenance of local immune homoeostasis. Brunner plans to use his findings to develop a therapeutic approach for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Article - 06/03/2011

Heidelberg Translational Lung Research Centre

University and non-university research institutions in Heidelberg that carry out research into lung diseases have established an expert network – the Heidelberg Translational Lung Research Centre – which is part of the new BMBF-funded German Centre for Lung Research. In Heidelberg, research focuses on the development and treatment of cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases and lung cancer.

Press release - 02/03/2011

immatics appoints Dr. Harald Stock to its Board

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a late-stage biopharmaceutical company developing therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, today announced the appointment of Dr. Harald F. Stock to the board of directors, effective February 2011.

Press release - 28/02/2011

Heidelberg "start-up" wins the German Industry’s Innovation Award 2010

PEPperPRINT GmbH has won the 2010 German Industry’s Innovation Award in the category “Start-Up Companies”. The Heidelberg-based biotechnology company was awarded the prize by the German Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan, at a German industry festive event recently held in the Frankfurt Congress Centre.

Article - 26/02/2011

Researchers from Ulm identify congenital genetic defect

Researchers led by the Ulm paediatrician Holger Cario have identified a rare, congenital genetic defect that leads to the dysregulation of the folic acid metabolism, resulting in aenemia, epilepsy and learning difficulties in children. All aspects of the disease can be treated quite successfully with the exception of the cramps associated with the defect.

Article - 07/02/2011

The discovery of the individual as business model

The move towards personalised medicine has made considerable progress, in particular in the field of oncology, where it is leading to the close integration of diagnostics and therapy as well as to the development of profitable new business models, some of which have controversial exclusive legal claims.

Dossier - 07/02/2011

The era of personalised medicine is dawning

A promising future does not easily disappear into thin air. This is certainly the case with the vision of personalised medicine. For many years, biomedical researchers have vaunted the potential benefits of their findings despite the fact that neutral observers do not think that personalised medicine will really take off within the next 15 or 20 years. Moreover personalised medicine is a controversial term. So what is the state of play right now?

Germany will contribute another project to the International Cancer Genome Consortium ICGC. Coordinated by the German Cancer Research Center and the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf physicians and molecular biologists will now start to investigate the genetic causes of early prostate cancer.

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center DKFZ in Heidelberg have now shown that inspection of both sides of the colon also reduces cancer risk in the right part of the colon by more than 50 percent. The overall risk was found to be 77 percent lower. This means that colonoscopy provides very good protection from colon cancer - even though it is not a 100 percent guarantee.

Article - 29/11/2010

CYP2D6 and the oestrogen receptor

The medicinal adjuvant therapy of breast cancer is a good example of how important it is being aware that different patients metabolise drugs differently. This knowledge plays a key role in the prescription of effective drugs at the correct dose and in preventing adverse reactions and interactions with concomitant drugs.

BD Diagnostics, a segment of BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), and Lonza Group Ltd announced today that they have entered into an exclusive licensing and collaboration agreement for Lonza to commercialize its microCompass™ molecular assays on the BD MAX™ System.

Press release - 16/11/2010

Summit conference on regional development in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region

To learn from leading regional developers this was the goal set by the representatives of the Biotechnology Cluster Rhine-Neckar BioRN for the Regional Development Summit. Representatives from business science and politics in the Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region met in the Villa Bosch in Heidelberg on November 11 with experts from the leading international high-tech sites in Leuven Belgium Cambridge UK and Israel.

Press release - 15/11/2010

ASPEX- an advanced Schizosaccharomyces expression system

The ASPEX system Asahi Glass Schizosaccharomyces Expression is a full-scale contract manufacturing service for recombinant proteins with up to the 3000 L scale. It is based on S. pombe an endotoxin-free fission yeast isolated from east African beer. Examples for gene expressions in the ASPEX system are manifold. The dedicated production facility located close to the Research Center is organized under cGMP rules and thus enables supply of…

Article - 13/11/2010

Franz Porzsolt is turning existing beliefs and dogmas on their head

Porzsolt a 64-year-old clinical economist specialist in internal medicine and oncologist enjoys turning accepted truths on their head. Many colleagues regard him as an outspoken critic of others for his tendency to refer to science as theory and clinical settings as practice. Porzsolt criticises evidence-based medicine as it is currently understood and applied.

Article - 05/11/2010

DITABIS: Custom-made analysis systems for research and industry

Outstanding quality, clever product design, flexibility and rapid implementation make Pforzheim-based DITABIS Digital Biomedical Imaging Systems AG a true racing stable for device developments. The company’s key competences include imaging plate technology and fluorescence scanning, procedures that can be used to record high-resolution digital images in a contrast-rich and highly linear way. The innovative imaging systems are predominantly used…