Healthcare industry

Article - 09/10/2019

Epigenomics from the Cyber Valley

Cyber Valley Stuttgart-Tübingen is a European hotspot for artificial intelligence and home to many renowned experts and scientists. They are now joined by Gabriele Schweikert, who heads up the Computational Epigenomics research group in the Cyber Valley’s Division of Computational Biology. Schweikert is interested in exploring epigenetic mechanisms using machine learning methods.

Three researchers at the MPI for Immunobiology and Epigenetics receive millions in funding from the European Research Council. Dominic Grün, Nicola Iovino and Ritwick Sawarkar from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg will each be awareded one of the prestigious Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council. This means that 6 million euros in funding will go to fundamental research in Freiburg over the next…

Two Clusters of Excellence for the University of Freiburg: Biological Signalling Studies and Bioinspired Materials Research. It is a major boost to cutting-edge research in Freiburg: in the current Excellence Strategy competition, scientists at the University of Freiburg have been granted two Clusters of Excellence, CIBSS – Centre for Integrative Biological Signalling Studies, and livMatS – Living, Adaptive and Energy-autonomous Materials…

Press release - 03/04/2018

Double success for Heidelberg stem cell researchers

Two awards at once, both carrying high monetary prizes, go to young researchers from the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Research and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM) at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ): Simon Raffel will receive the 2018 Walter Schulz Prize. Simon Haas will share the 2018 Otto Schmeil Prize with his colleague Lars Velten from EMBL.

Article - 28/03/2018

New method for analysing epigenetic modifications - in the service of medical progress

It is not just genetic factors that influence developmental processes and diseases; it is becoming increasingly evident that epigenetic changes play a major role too. Thanks to a new method developed at the University of Stuttgart, epigenetic processes can now be investigated in living cells.

Article - 01/02/2018

Combined test systems to advance the development of drugs for treating Alzheimer’s

Which substances are suitable for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's? Due to complex biochemical relationships, testing suitable drug candidates is difficult, especially in the early drug development phase. Many predictive test systems only cover individual aspects. A team from Baden-Württemberg and France is now combining different models to develop a new approach.

Article - 11/12/2017

KDM4 – an efficient target for the therapy of triple-negative breast cancer

While breast cancer survival has clearly improved in recent years, women with triple-negative breast cancer have benefitted very little from progress in cancer medicine. Targeted therapies aimed at inhibiting epigenetic regulators might offer a potential new option for the treatment of breast cancer. Prof. Dr. Roland Schüle and Dr. Jochen Maurer have discovered an epigenetic enzyme called KDM4 and come up with a new cell model that significantly…

Transregional research cooperation - 11/10/2017

New research consortium to develop new liver cancer treatments

The causes, signs and symptoms of liver cancer are extremely complex. Investigating them requires the collaboration of many experts across university and regional boundaries. A new transregional research group is now studying the complex overall mechanisms at the cellular, genetic and molecular level in order to develop new concepts and drugs for treating liver and bile duct cancers.

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 - 08/09/2016

A diamond might make sequencing more accurate

DNA sequencing techniques have been developed along the lines of faster, further, cheaper. State-of-the-art methods make it possible to handle large projects in a relatively short period of time. However, the error rate is still very high. Dr. Maria Fyta and her team at the Institute for Computational Physics at the University of Stuttgart have carried out quantum-transport calculations which suggested that specific chemical modifications in the…

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.

Dossier - 18/04/2016

Epigenetics – heritable traits without changing the DNA sequence

Epigenetics, i.e. the inheritance of traits that does not involve a change in the DNA sequence, was once a controversial subject that has since become a central focus of biological research. Epigenetic inheritance is now studied by numerous national and international research programmes. Many cellular regulatory and differentiation processes are controlled by epigenetic mechanisms that take place on different levels, including the DNA, histone,…

Article - 17/12/2015

Inhibition of bromodomain affects stem cell differentiation

DNA methylation and histone modification are epigenetic mechanisms that affect gene transcription. Moreover, protein complexes can regulate gene expression by modifying chromatin structure and function. Dr. Thomas Günther and his team from the Center for Clinical Research at the Freiburg University Medical Center are studying the effect of the inhibitor PFI-3 on the BAF complex. This protein complex modifies chromatin structure and controls the…

Article - 16/11/2015

Centromere regulation and cancer

Dr. Sylvia Erhardt from the ZMBH in Heidelberg is specifically focused on the function of the centromere, the part of the chromosome indispensable for correct segregation of the chromosomes during cell division. Malfunctioning centromeres lead to changes in chromosome number, which is a hallmark of many types of cancer.

Researcher profile - 09/11/2015

Michael Boutros – from the study of social gene networks to the management of the DKFZ

Deregulation of cell signalling pathways is a major driver of cancer. Prof. Dr. Michael Boutros has pioneered the development of new methods for the analysis of genetic interactions in such complex networks. He has been acting Chairman and Scientific Member of the Management Board of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) since September 1st 2015.

Epigenetics - 10/08/2015

Reading domains detect and identify histone modifications

Prof. Dr. Albert Jeltsch from the Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Stuttgart and his team of researchers have now presented an alternative method to detect and identify changes in the post-translational modifications of histones. They envisage that their new method, which uses parts of natural proteins, so-called reading domains, will make such tests cheaper and simpler, and experimental data more reliable.

Article - 26/05/2015

Novel effect of B-Raf inhibitors against bowel cancer discovered

Colorectal carcinoma is the most frequent type of bowel cancer and the second most common tumour disease in men and women in Germany. A particularly aggressive form occurs when a mutation is present in the proto-oncogene BRAF. As part of the Collaborative Research Centre 850 at the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research at the University of Freiburg, Dr. Ricarda Herr and Dr. Tilman Brummer are trying to find out how a mutated BRAF gene…

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

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

Article - 02/03/2015

EU supports biophysicists from Ulm to elucidate the structure of chromatin

Human DNA consists of three billion base pairs, which corresponds to a total length of approximately two metres. DNA must be compressed 200,000-fold in order to fit into the tiny nuclei of mammalian cells. The thread-like complex of DNA and proteins is called chromatin. Although chromatin has been widely studied, relatively little is yet known about the spatial and temporal organisation of chromatin in interphase cells.

Article - 26/01/2015

A biomarker as indicator for the likelihood of developing aggressive prostate cancer

Overexpression of the protein BAZ2A, which leads to alterations in epigenetic patterns, increases the malignant properties of tumour cells, including their mobility and their ability to form metastases. The findings of a team of researchers from Heidelberg, Zurich and Hamburg may have led to the discovery of an urgently needed prognostic biomarker that would make it possible to differentiate aggressive prostate cancer from the less malignant…

Guest article - 19/01/2015

Rich in contrasts – three research months in Shanghai

After graduating, Johannes Zang applied for a Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and the Arts China Scholarship to spend three months in Shanghai before going on to do his PhD. At the Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, he was, amongst other things, involved in elucidating the crystal structures of proteins. He also had time to learn about the city of Shanghai, China and the Chinese…

Article - 15/12/2014

Heart muscle cell 1.0 and 2.0 – two epigenetic programmes in one cell

All the cells in an organism have to adapt to changing requirements as they develop and grow - including muscle cells in the heart. Crucial to this process are the cells’ growth in size and epigenetic factors that play a role in modulating the expression of various genes. The role of epigenetics in cancer development has been the focus of research for quite some time. The question is, what role do epigenetic factors play in the development of the…

Article - 08/09/2014

Thomas Boehm – pushing back the frontiers of knowledge

The comparison of different animal species enables us to understand the crucial principle of immune defence on condition that the right investigative approach is chosen. Prof. Dr. Thomas Boehm director of the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics in Freiburg has been doing just this for many years. Based on insights into fundamental immune system functions Boehms research is aimed at developing new strategies for the diagnosis…

Article - 14/07/2014

Andreas Marx – “Chemical Biology” of DNA polymerases

Whether inside the cell or in molecular biology laboratories, the synthesis of DNA would not be possible without DNA polymerases. The regulation and application of this versatile enzyme family is the subject of research carried out by Prof. Dr. Andreas Marx at the University of Konstanz in Southern Germany. In addition to basic research into naturally occurring DNA polymerases, Marx deals with the development of novel polymerases that can be used…