Healthcare industry

Article - 15/12/2014

From HIV structure to new AIDS therapies

The building blocks of the viral protein capsid are rearranged as HI viruses mature into infectious AIDS-causing agents. Researchers from Heidelberg have made these structural changes visible on the molecular level. The findings could potentially be used for developing much-needed new AIDS therapeutics.

Article - 13/10/2014

Personalised cancer therapy based on microRNA analysis

microRNAs are not just required for the regulation of gene expression, their expression signatures also allow conclusions to be drawn on the type and progression of cancer. Sensovation AG is therefore working with partners from industry and clinical research to develop an automated microRNA analysis platform that can detect and evaluate microRNA signatures faster than has previously been possible. The system is designed to make it easier to…

Article - 15/09/2014

Gene therapies for pulmonary disease are close to final development

Gene therapy currently offers the only chance of curing genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and beta thalassaemia. Gene therapy is the replacement or correction of a mutated gene with DNA that encodes a functional gene. Intensive research has been going on in this field for many years however only a handful gene therapies are available at this point in time. Dr. Michael Kormann junior professor at the Childrens Hospital at the University of…

Article - 04/08/2014

Europe’s first gene therapy

Scientists from the National Center for Tumour Diseases (NCT) have shown that adeno-associated viruses (AAV) do not pose a cancer risk. This conclusion is based on the analysis of several million patient cells treated with AAV and the finding that the viruses do not integrate into the patient genome. AAV is the first-ever gene therapy for clinical use in the Western world. AAV vectors could also potentially be used as prototypes for the treatment…

Article - 28/07/2014

Successes and setbacks of clinical gene therapy

The use of retroviral haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy to treat hereditary immunodeficiencies has achieved great success in resolving the actual symptoms of the disease, but many of the patients that underwent therapy developed leukaemia later. Effective gene therapies involving gene shuttles that do not cause cancer are therefore required. The good news is that such therapies already exist.

Article - 14/07/2014

Enhancers promote the activation of cancer-causing genes

Scientists from the EMBL and the DKFZ in Heidelberg have made an important discovery about a highly aggressive childhood brain tumour: the oncogenes are activated as a result of comprehensive DNA rearrangements that had moved them into the vicinity of DNA sequences called enhancers. This activation mechanism might play a role in many types of tumours and therefore has the potential for being used in the targeted development of new, more effective…

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…

Article - 30/06/2014

Targeting epigenetic DNA modifications for the diagnosis of cancer

Epigenetic DNA modifications have been shown to play a role in carcinogenesis and are therefore a promising target for the early detection of cancer. Dr. Daniel Summerer and his research group at the University of Konstanz have developed a method that enables the direct and site-specific identification of epigenetic changes. The method represents a new approach in the field of epigenetic analysis as well as a major step towards simpler cancer…

Dossier - 16/06/2014

Biotechnology as a tool for the production of food

Biotechnology opens up numerous opportunities for the food industry. The targeted use of biotechnological methods can, amongst other things, help reduce the quantity and number of unhealthy ingredients in foods as well as degrade allergenic substances. Genomic research and targeted breeding also greatly facilitate progress in agriculture. Food biotechnology therefore contributes significantly to saving resources, optimising harvest yields and…

Dossier - 02/06/2014

Bioanalysis – techniques for the characterization of biological material

Science constantly provides researchers with new challenges biologists and bioanalysts have to deal with and which come from sources as varied as the ever increasing number of resistant pathogenic bacterial strains or the famine conditions in Third-World countries. In the search for scientific truths bioanalysis is the development optimization and application of the entire range of analytical methods available. However we need to keep in mind…

Press release - 27/05/2014

DKFZ and NCT: individualized cancer medicine

Comprehensive genome analyses of cancer cells have shown that each tumor and cancer patient are unique and need to be treated individually. To pave the way, by 2015 the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg aims to offer cancer patients at the NCT analyses of their individual cancer genomes to be used as the basis for personalized recommendations for treatment. This initiative from the DKFZ and NCT has been made possible by generous…

Press release - 26/05/2014

50 years of research for life without cancer

The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg turns 50 this year. Conducting research on the basic biological mechanisms of cancer, the DKFZ has been instrumental in our current understanding of the development and growth of cancer and has advanced the development of enhanced methods for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Article - 28/04/2014

Sciomics: antibody microarrays and their broad range of applications

Sciomics GmbH is a start-up biotech from Heidelberg with a special focus on protein microarrays. Sciomics produces complex, high-density antibody microarrays for cancer-relevant proteins and offers services for medical research, diagnostics and the industry, including biomarker screening, the verification of biomarker candidates, the analysis and localization of drug targets and their signalling pathways as well as the characterization of…

Article - 31/03/2014

TherapySelect – Identifying Susceptibility to Cancer Therapy

TherapySelect Dr. Frank Kischkel is an innovative biotechnology company based in Heidelberg, Germany, with a special focus on the development, validation and application of diagnostic tests for cancer patients. The company’s proprietary CTR-Test® uses patients’ cancer cells to determine the tumor’s susceptibility to treatment with cytostatic drugs. This knowledge helps identify ineffective drugs prior to treatment as well as reduce adverse drug…

Article - 24/03/2014

DNA – from Watson and Crick to modern molecular biology

Watson and Crick deciphered the structure of DNA around 60 years ago and thus provided the key to understanding how genetic information is passed on. Since this discovery, which laid the foundation for molecular biology, new insights and developments have significantly changed many research areas and have also found their way into our everyday lives. DNA sequencing, genetic fingerprinting or personalised medicine – Watson and Crick’s heritage is…

Article - 17/03/2014

Hox gene found to influence germline stem cell niche

Prof. Dr. Ingrid Lohmann and her team at the Centre for Organismal Studies COS at the University of Heidelberg are studying the effect of Hox proteins on the early development of Drosophila using genomic genetic molecular and biochemical methods along with complex computer analyses and simulations. They have cast light on a basic regulatory mechanism of stem cell differentiation. They were able to show that the Hox transcription factor Abd-B is…

Dossier - 10/03/2014

Cancer therapy and cancer diagnostics

Thanks to improved diagnostics and therapy, today’s cancer patients can live considerably longer than patients several years ago. Nevertheless, some cancers, especially the strongly metastatic ones, are difficult to treat. Therapies targeting immune cells or cancer stem cells could potentially improve the current situation. The early detection and classification of tumours is crucial for the successful treatment of the disease, and molecular…

Article - 17/02/2014

Personalised tumour diagnostics with high-throughput sequencing

CeGaT GmbH Center for Genomics and Transcriptomics in Tübingen is one of the first organisations that have managed to combine human genetic diagnostics with high-throughput sequencing for the diagnosis of specific tumour variants. CeGat researchers have developed diagnostic panels that they use to study more than 550 tumour-relevant genes simultaneously. The identification of genetic changes provides a more detailed diagnosis of tumours and helps…

Article - 20/01/2014

Microarray copier – for copying DNA, RNA and protein arrays

Dr. Günter Roth from the Centre for Biological Systems Analysis at the University of Freiburg is working on the development of a microarray copier that can almost at the push of a button copy arrays of any type of molecule DNA RNA and proteins from next-generation sequencing chips onto standard slides thereby combining the world of microarrays with the sequencing world. The approach has a huge application potential for the production of…

Article - 16/01/2014

Kerstin Otte and her specific interest in tiny RNA molecules

Molecular biologist Kerstin Otte is guided and inspired by content. This interest-based principle has brought Kerstin Otte to the Upper Swabian city of Biberach where she has found her professional niche. She has been professor of general molecular and cell biology at the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at Biberach University of Applied Sciences since 2006. She is currently specifically focussed on a class of small RNA molecules that…

Article - 16/12/2013

An RNA switch for protein mutations

RNA is a family of biological molecules with multiple roles, including the transmission of information and the catalysis of chemical reactions in a similar way to enzyme action. Ribozymes (ribonucleic acid enzymes) of this kind function for example within the ribosome where they link amino acids during protein synthesis. Professor Jörg Hartig from the University of Konstanz has developed a new ribozyme-based method that enables him to control the…

Dossier - 02/12/2013

RNA interference: confidence is returning

The 15-year history of RNA interference is not short on dramatic effects. It begins with the unexpected discovery and publication of the process of post-transcriptional gene silencing in 1998 for which the two Americans Andrew Fire and Craig Mello were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine just eight years after their discovery. In 2001 Thomas Tuschl succeeded in switching off genes in human cells with small synthetic pieces of RNA…

Article - 25/11/2013

Elisa May: a sharp, microscopic look at DNA damage

DNA damage is part of our everyday life. Every day, tens of thousands of DNA single-strand breaks occur in every cell, but we have a variety of sophisticated genome maintenance mechanisms to protect ourselves against such problems. However, serious diseases can result in cases where the cellular repair system fails. Amongst other things, there is a close relationship between the failure of DNA repair mechanisms and the development of cancer.…

Article - 18/11/2013

Insilico Biotechnology AG: strategic orientation secures corporate growth

Insilico Biotechnology AG from Stuttgart designs and optimises biotechnological processes for the chemical pharmaceutical and food industries. The company makes predictions on the behaviour of cells and organisms. This knowledge can be used to reduce the time required for the development or optimisation of biotechnological processes involving the production of drugs. The company owns a worldwide unique systems biology platform that integrates…

Dossier - 04/11/2013

Biotechnology – driver of innovation in the pharmaceutical industry

The biotech industry is the innovative driver for a pharmaceutical industry that, due to the shift from blockbluster products to personalised medicine, now depends on new concepts. The production of new drugs using genetic engineering relies on knowledge gained from genomics, proteomics and systems biology and creates new treatment strategies that combine therapy and diagnostics (i.e. companion diagnostics) to provide a specific individualised…