Healthcare industry

Certain childhood tumors have an extreme need for amino acids. Scientists at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Heidelberg, and HI-STEM* gGmbH have now discovered the molecular mechanisms underlying this and how the cancer cells could be turned off.

The European Research Council is funding a large-scale proof-of-concept study on a new genome sequencing method called “Haplotagging”. Haplotagging is a new method for sequencing our genome with superior quality and faster speed, developed by group leader Frank Chan and his team at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory at the Max Planck Campus, Tübingen, Germany.

Researchers use epigenetic factors to investigate the role of stress in the development of tumor diseases. Experts believe that stress plays a major role in the development of tumors. One occupational group, for example, that experiences extreme stress over a short period of time is astronauts.

Genetic alterations that promote the development and spread of tumors are difficult to identify. This is especially true for mutations in the non-protein-coding regions of the genome, which include all important regulatory sequences. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now published an algorithm that detects cancer drivers in both the protein-coding and non-coding regions of the genome.

Cluster of the future - 25/11/2021

nanodiagBW: using nanopores to create completely new diagnostic possibilities

Modern medicine has a wide range of molecular diagnostics at hand. In the next decade, this will increasingly be supplemented by prognostic methods. The BMBF Cluster of the Future finalist, nanodiag BW, is developing prognostic methods to identify epigenetic factors for diseases through a new type of bioanalytics – single molecule analysis in nanopores – which would make it possible to take personalised prevention approaches.

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.

Scientists of the Translational Lung Research Center Heidelberg (TLRC) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have discovered a new link between excessive airway mucus and chronic airway inflammation that is characteristic of cystic fibrosis and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The researchers showed that mucus in the airways reprograms certain cells of the immune system.

An international study with about 3000 patients confirms the validity of a new classification system for meningiomas. It combines tissue characteristics (histology) with molecular analyses and thus improves therapy planning.

Microorganisms can increase their host’s ability to adapt to the environment and reproduce – evolutionary biologists are now studying the underlying molecular mechanisms. A research team headed by Dr. Fabian Staubach and Yun Wang from the Institute of Biology I at the University of Freiburg has now studied the relationship of Gluconobacter bacteria and fruit flies. They have found that specific Gluconobacter variants supply the flies with vitamin…

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.

Vaccine development - 25/05/2021

Vaccines – a beacon of hope in the fight against pandemics

Having long been considered less lucrative for the big pharmaceutical companies, vaccine development is taking off in an unforeseen way in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial support is flooding in and all kinds of vaccine development strategies are being deployed. Among the winners in the competition for effective coronavirus vaccines are vaccines based on RNA technology. The development of much-needed vaccines against many other…

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.

Tumor vaccines can help the body fight cancer. Mutations in the tumor genome often lead to protein changes that are typical of cancer. A vaccine can alert the patients' immune system to these mutated proteins. For the first time, physicians and cancer researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim have now carried out a clinical trial to test a mutation-specific vaccine against malignant brain tumors.

A new method allows stem cells and cancer stem cells to be studied at the single cell level and the resulting cell clones to be traced directly. Studying thousands of individual cells in parallel, the researchers combined the analysis of the genomic cancer mutations with the associated expression profiles.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) are suitable for discovering the genes that underly complex and also rare genetic diseases. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), together with international partners, have studied genotype-phenotype relationships in iPSCs using data from approximately one thousand donors.

So-called silent mutations have no effect on the composition of a protein. They are therefore not considered to promote cancer. However, scientists from the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research (DKTK), partner site Essen, now describe in a case of kidney cancer an overlooked silent mutation with a major impact on prognosis.

Researchers from EMBL and Heidelberg University Hospital combine high-resolution imaging to observe the infection process in cell nuclei, opening the door for new therapeutics.

Article - 14/01/2021

Newly discovered RNA as growth driver in liver cancer

Non-coding RNA (ncRNAs) molecules that do not encode proteins have many different functions, and some are associated with certain diseases. Prof. Dr. Sven Diederichs from the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg has been conducting research into these molecules at the Freiburg University Medical Centre and discovered a ncRNA that regulates cell proliferation in cancer cells.

Infection control - 07/01/2021

Gene accordions as potential markers for pathogenic properties

Bacteria must react to changes in the environment in order to survive. This is partly done by adapting genetic material, for example by multiplying and shortening individual genome segments. The research group led by Dr. Simon Heilbronner from the Interfaculty Institute of Microbiology and Infection Medicine at the University of Tübingen has shown that these so-called gene accordions are frequently found in the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus.

Development of the genomDE genome database - 04/12/2020

Whole genome sequencing for diagnosing rare diseases

Grouped together, rare diseases are by no means a rare phenomenon; however, they are rarely correctly diagnosed and rarely properly treated. In most cases, there is no effective medication available. Rare disease centres staffed by experts have been set up in many German cities to speed up the often long and painful search for the right diagnosis and treatment. Whole genome sequencing is a component of general healthcare, used to identify…

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare blood cancer of early childhood. Previous research activities have shown that JMML patients can be divided into three groups based on certain genetic markers, DNA methylation. Depending on the subgroup, statements can be made about the course of the disease.

Tumors of the pancreas are particularly feared. They are usually discovered late and mortality is high. Until now, no targeted and personalized therapies exist. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine* (HI-STEM) have now succeeded for the first time in defining two differently aggressive molecular subtypes of pancreatic carcinoma.

The entire range of our blood and immune cells are derived from hematopoietic stem cells. Yet which genes influence how they develop into the different cell types? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now developed a new technology to answer this question.

Trenzyme GmbH - 20/05/2020

The SARS-CoV spike protein and its receptor

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus uses a spike protein to bind to the ACE2 receptor on the cell surfaces of lung tissue. Additional cofactors are needed to allow the virus genome to penetrate human cells and multiply. Knowing these relationships can help understand the course of the infection and develop counterstrategies. To this end, the Constance-based company Trenzyme has produced a recombinant spike protein to support coronavirus research.

Prime Vector Technologies GmbH - 09/04/2020

A modular brick system for developing a COVID-19 vaccine

Prime Vector Technologies GmbH (PVT), a start-up company based in Tübingen in southern Germany, uses a modular brick system to develop vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases. The PVT team is currently working flat out to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.