Healthcare industry

Dossier - 18/10/2010

New machines for the life sciences

Hardware and software applications have become an integral part of the everyday life of life sciences researchers, developers and service providers. It is impossible to imagine life science applications without effective hardware and software applications – from computer-assisted drug screening to the automatic production of biosensors for rapid, mobile, purse-size bacterial test devices. Trends such as automation and miniaturisation lead to ever…

Dossier - 25/03/2013

Biotechnology goes automated

Processes that previously required pipetting analysis and production to be carried out manually are increasingly now controlled by automated systems. However this has not necessarily involved a complete reinvention of the wheel instead automation systems used in the plant construction and mechanical engineering sectors are being adapted and optimised for application in the life sciences.

Despite having an X and a Y chromosome carriers of SOX9 gene mutations are nevertheless at risk of developing female sex characteristics. Prof. Dr. Gerd Scherer at the University of Freiburg is investigating how SOX9 controls a persons gender.

Press release - 10/06/2009

6.56 million euros for first full-body PET-MRI prototype

The Joint Science Conference in Bonn has announced that the University of Tübingen will receive 6.56 million euros for the purchase of an entirely new multimodal full-body tomography system for the diagnosis of cancer. The new full-body PET-MRI combines positron emission tomography PET with magnetic resonance imaging MRI in one device.

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.

Simone Fulda 40 is an extremely inquisitive person who has managed to turn her passion into a profession. In 2007 the petite woman from Cologne was appointed professor of paediatric research at the University of Ulm University Childrens Hospital where she is working on the relationship between apoptosis and cancer and the development of new methods for cancer treatment.

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.

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.

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…

The working group around Dr. Philipp Rathert at the Institute for Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry investigates the regulation of epigenetic networks of certain cancers and ways of treating them. The working group published its new findings in April.

5G-OR is one of the 4 winning projects jointly selected by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action in Germany and the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Relaunch in France for the call “Technical developments and application ecosystems for 5G private networks”. The joint Franco-German 5G-OR project takes up the challenge in the healthcare domain.

Article - 08/08/2016

First achromatopsia gene therapy clinical trial in Germany is going well

Around 3000 people suffer from achromatopsia in Germany. Achromatopsia is an inherited visual disorder characterised by the absence of full colour vision. The disease is caused by a genetic defect that makes the retina's cone photoreceptors, needed for daylight and colour vision, non-functional. There is currently no cure for achromatopsia. Scientists from Tübingen University Hospital and their colleagues from Munich and New York have now…

As cancer progresses, the tumor cells continually change, ultimately resulting in a tumor consisting of a large number of different cell clones with different characteristics. This is referred to as "tumor heterogeneity". In many cases, the cancer cells become resistant to the treatments available.

Robot arm for greater accuracy - 08/06/2022

guidoo: robotic assistance for fast and precise biopsies

Needle-based procedures through the skin, such as biopsies of internal organs, not only require a great deal of skill and experience, but they also take time. Fraunhofer IPA Mannheim, together with BEC GmbH from Pfullingen, is developing a robotic surgical assistance system that supports the correct positioning and angulation of a needle with the help of a guide sleeve. This significantly speeds up the procedure while maintaining precision.

Press release - 21/05/2010

The fingerprints of molecules

Prof. Heiko Möller is head of the NMR Core Facility a centre at the University of Constance that focuses on magnetic resonance spectroscopy where fingerprints of molecules are taken. The highly sensitive analysis instruments are used by his group of researchers for research projects on subjects ranging from severed visual nerves cancer protection and the rapid identification of anthrax bacteria.

Press release - 15/03/2009

Jürgen Wolfrum – crossing the frontiers of science

The frontiers between scientific disciplines have always interested Prof. Jürgen Wolfrum a physicist who has been awarded many international prizes. Wolfrum is a pioneer in applied laser spectroscopy which he uses successfully in a variety of fields. For example in the automotive industry he uses laser spectroscopy to investigate elementary chemical reactions and combustion processes.

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.

Article - 10/06/2009

Colleagues who became customers

Should they work with a long-standing cooperation partner or should they set up another company that was the decision faced by the staff of the Discovery-IT department of Nycomed formerly ALTANA Pharma in the spring of 2007.

Article - 04/05/2009

Perikles Simon – more than just hunting down the dope cheats

Whether it be the Olympic Games world championships or the Tour de France whenever a big sports event is coming up Dr. Dr. Perikles Simon from the University Hospital of Tübingen is a sought-after interviewee for the media. Simon has developed a test which may eventually help detect the latest performance-enhancing method gene doping.

Article - 01/06/2017

Biotechnology – key technology of the 21st century

According to a study published by the German National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech) on 5th April, biotechnology is a key technology of the 21st century and has huge innovation potential. What are the trends within the industry and what are the challenges we face?

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.

In the not-too-distant future, food analysts hope they will be able do more than just detect mycotoxin traces and determine the concentration of individual nutrients such as vitamin C. Their ambition is in fact much broader: “We would like to understand the nutritional and physiological effect of food,” said Prof. Sabine Kulling from the Max Rubner Institute in Karlsruhe. As with other life sciences areas, metabolomics is seen as a key technology…

Personalised medicine - 16/09/2021

Pharmacogenomics enables individualised drug prescription

Every person is unique, and their reaction to medications can be just as individual. For this reason, unexpected side effects occur time and again with common drugs, sometimes with life-threatening consequences. At the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute for Clinical Pharmacology (IKP) in Stuttgart, the influence of hereditary factors on these harmful reactions is being investigated in order to enable individualised therapies.

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.…

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,…