Healthcare industry

Article - 14/12/2016

Transcranial brain stimulation to counteract chronic tiredness

You may well be familiar with the ”leaden” feeling associated with lack of sleep. However, chronic tiredness lasting many months might be a sign of a serious disease. Dr. Lukas Frase, together with Prof. Dr. Christoph Nissen’s team at the Freiburg University Medical Center’s Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, has come up with a method to help patients with abnormally high sleep needs. The method uses weak electrostimulation and has the…

The latest articles, press releases and dossiers on basic research in Baden-Württemberg

Article - 01/12/2014

Stem cell research for preventing radiation-induced developmental damage

Although ionizing radiation is known to cause cell damage and genetic modifications, its effects on embryonic development are still poorly understood. This is why Prof. Dr. Suzanne Kadereit from the Albstadt-Sigmaringen University of Applied Sciences is involved in a cooperative project that uses human embryonic stem cells for studying the effects of ionizing radiation on prenatal brain development. She heads up the only university of applied…

Dossier - 01/07/2013

Electrophysiology – from cardiac pacemakers to drug discovery

Electrochemical reactions are involved in many processes in the human organism. Electrophysiology is the study of the central processes of electrical and chemical interaction and communication between neurons and muscle cells, including the transmission and processing of signals in the nerves and the subsequent contraction of the muscles. For example, electrophysiology studies examine the rhythm which which our heart pumps blood through the…

Press release - 29/11/2012

Neural interaction in periods of silence

While in deep dreamless sleep our hippocampus sends messages to our cortex and changes its plasticity possibly transferring recently acquired knowledge to long-term memory. But how exactly is this done? Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics have now developed a novel multimodal methodology called neural event-triggered functional magnetic resonance imaging NET-fMRI and presented the very first results obtained using…

Article - 24/09/2012

MTS: Shock wave technology for the therapy of diabetic foot ulcer

Almost 15 percent of an estimated seven million diabetes mellitus patients in Germany suffer from diabetic foot syndrome DFS. It is associated with damage to the foot nerves and blood vessels as well as the presence of chronic wounds which in thousands of cases every year precede lower leg amputations. The Konstanz-based company MTS Medical has developed a shock wave therapy system that has the potential to considerably reduce the number of…

Article - 10/09/2012

"BrainLinks-BrainTools" – how an intention becomes reality

An accident victim is no longer able to pick up a tea cup because the nerves between the brain and the arm are severed. Researchers from the faculties of biology medicine and technology at the University of Freiburg are able to translate pure thought into the movement of a cursor on a computer screen. The researchers are part of the BrainLinks-BrainTools consortium.

Jakob von Engelhardt leads a new Junior Research Group, “Synaptic Communication and Neurodegeneration”, established by the German Center for NeurodegenerativeDiseases (DZNE) at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) with the aim of combining the competencies of the two institutes. Research topics of the group include the cellular foundations of learning and memory as well as the molecular causes of neurodegenerative diseases.

Article - 19/03/2012

Calcium channels – about channel proteins and why we forget things

The controlled transport of calcium across cell membranes is crucial for many biological processes including the transfer of information into the brain kidney function and the rhythmic activity of the heart muscle. A team led by Prof. Dr. Norbert Klugbauer at the University of Freiburg is focused on elucidating the function of calcium channels the proteins that regulate them and the effects on learning and memory. The researchers are…

Article - 05/03/2012

Processing of olfactory cues in the brain

The question as to how the brain produces useful information from the electrical stimuli coming from the sensory organs is a key issue in the neurosciences. Researchers from Heidelberg are investigating how mice discriminate odours and have shown that complex behaviour emerges from the properties of cells and molecules. Using highly specific genetic manipulations for their experiments, the researchers have been able to show that inhibitory…

Article - 09/01/2012

Parkinson’s disease – a fatal cycle of falling and rising activity in the basal ganglia

As the disease progresses Parkinsons patients find it increasingly difficult to voluntarily control body movements. The disease is associated with oscillations of electrical activity in specific brain areas known as basal ganglia. Dr. Arvind Kumar and his colleagues at the Bernstein Center Freiburg have used neuronal network simulations to develop a model to explain these rhythmic oscillations.

Article - 04/10/2011

Matias Simons: planar cell polarity and wound healing with electrical signals

The planar cell polarity is crucial for example in the development of ordered organ structures. One of the issues being investigated by researchers led by Prof. Dr. Matias Simons from the University of Freiburg is how the perfectly ordered patterns on the surface of Drosophila wings develop.

Article - 19/09/2011

Uwe Ludewig and the future of agricultural crops

Prof. Dr. Uwe Ludewig has been head of the Department of Nutritional Crop Physiology at the University of Hohenheim for around a year now. Physicist by training and specialist in electrophysiology, Prof. Ludewig now works mainly on transport processes in plants. He plans to use molecular relationships to enhance the potential of agricultural crops, reduce the use of fertilisers and make agricultural plants fit for climate change.

Article - 15/08/2011

Electrogenic transport of ammonium across the cell membrane

Humans bacteria and plants possess ammonium transport proteins that transport nitrogen into cells. Crystallographic investigations have led to the elucidation of the complex structure of numerous ammonium transporters. However little is known about the complex signalling cascades and the function of the transport proteins. Dr. Andrade and her team are taking a very close look at these transport molecules.

Press release - 27/06/2011

NMI TT GmbH – creating value from research

NMI TT GmbH is a subsidiary of the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen with which it works closely. Developments by the renowned NMI are commercialised by NMI TT GmbH and the profit flows back into the NMI’s research activities – thus leading to a value creation cycle that benefits research and development as well as the economy.

Press release - 17/06/2011

Lehner GmbH: Text message from houseplant: "Please water me!"

Lehner GmbH Sensor-Systeme has developed a completely new system for monitoring plants. Electrodes attached directly to a plant can detect and report water shortages or pest infestation early on, thus optimizing pesticide use and avoiding unnecessary watering. Lehner GmbH Sensor-Systeme, a medium-sized company from Kirchheim unter Teck, scored a victory with this innovation in the 2011 CyberOne business plan competition.

Article - 16/05/2011

Oliver Röhrle and the biomechanics of the musculo-skeletal system

Dr. Oliver Röhrle contributes to the excellent standards in the field of biomechanics at the University of Stuttgart. He has held one of the popular junior professorships in the Simulation Technology (SimTech) cluster of excellence since 2008 and has recently received a research prize for his work on the biomechanics of the musculo-skeletal system.

Article - 18/04/2011

Granule cells – how do neurons “speak”?

Dr. Jakob Wolfart junior professor at the Neurocentre at the Freiburg University Medical Centre and his team are investigating how the behaviour of neurons changes upon the onset of electrical chaos in the hippocampus. Changes in the flow of electrical charge at the cell membranes provide information about disease mechanisms as well as details about the normal functions of neurons and hence the syntax of the electrochemical language which neurons…

Press release - 28/11/2010

Cardiac catheter surgery for children and young adults without X-ray radiation

Heart specialists and electrophysiologists from Tübingen University Hospital have succeeded for the first time in Germany in treating cardiac arrhythmia without the need for X-ray radiation. This was done through the selection of a new method to control the contact force between the catheter and the blood vessel and cardiac walls. The intervention was successfully carried out on a 16-year-old girl and is regarded as a very attractive alternative…

Press release - 02/08/2010

NMI – 25 years of success

The NMI in Reutlingen is one of the most prestigious research institutes in Germany, “a beacon of applied research” as the Minister of Economic Affairs recently called the institute. This success is no accident: for 25 years now, the institute with its interdisciplinary team has been working efficiently and actively towards this achievement. Moreover, it greatly succeeded in bridging science and industry.

Article - 15/03/2010

Plant ECG – when plants sound the alarm

Although plants do not have a nervous system, they are nevertheless able to transmit and process electrical signals in the organism. The signals are generated in relation to catching prey and fending off enemies as well as in the production and release of fragrances that the plants use to communicate with each other. Lehner GmbH, based in Kirchheim, develops sensor systems for use in plant cultivation that are able to detect specific electrical…

Article - 28/09/2009

Electrified regulated protein transport

Physiologists have for a long time regarded the communication between cells as a purely “external” process. However, research carried out by Dr. Nikolaj Klöcker and his team at the Freiburg University Medical Centre now shows that the cells do not exclusively regulate their electrical properties directly at the cell membrane. They also found a range of molecular switches in neurons and epithelial cells that are able to control the cells’…

Article - 17/03/2009

Stefan Rotter – linking theory and experimentation in neurology

Neurobiology and mathematics are two different worlds with two completely different languages. However the two disciplines have come together in research into the brain. While neurologists hope to unveil the brains secrets through measurements mathematicians are using formulas and theoretical models to describe brain functions. Stefan Rotter from the Bernstein Centre for Computational Neuroscience BCCN in Freiburg speaks the language of both…

Cannabis intoxication is certainly not the original purpose of the cannabinoid receptors in the human brain. Nowadays there are known body substances which dock to the receptor molecules of nerve cells in a similar way to cannabis. A group of researchers led by pharmacologist Prof. Dr. med. Bela Szabo at the University of Freiburg is investigating the role of this molecular system in the human brain.

Press release - 15/10/2008

Hans-Jürgen Apell - insights into active ion transport

Biophysicist Prof. Hans-Jürgen Apell carries out basic research at the University of Constance in order to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the transport of ions through membranes and to come up with important findings for new therapeutic concepts. His major field of research focuses on structure-function relationships of P-type ATPases enzymes which cleave ATP adenosine triphosphate and transport ions thereby resulting in muscle…