Healthcare industry

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…

Article - 25/03/2013

Epigenetics for personalised cancer care for women

Every year in the EU, 45,300 women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and 330,000 with breast cancer. Ovarian cancer has a mortality rate of around 64% and breast cancer around 27%*. The EU-funded research project EpiFemCare aims at improving cancer detection and subsequent patient care. The research project aims to develop blood tests based on epigenetic DNA modifications, i.e. the methylation of the base cytosine, for the identification of…

Article - 07/02/2017

Designer proteins as beacons of hope for pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications

Proteins are the basic building blocks of cells. They tend to be biologically active in combination with many other proteins rather than as isolated entities. Such protein complexes play a key role in many vital processes in our bodies. An international team of researchers, including Professor Stefan Bräse and his team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), has developed an innovative platform called MultiBacTAG that can be used to…

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…

Article - 15/04/2009

Anke Becker: looking closely at biological systems

Not that long ago it took six months or more to sequence a single gene. Nowadays modern genomics means that it takes less than a week to sequence an entire microorganism. This development means that scientists are more interested than ever in looking into biological systems as a whole. Professor Dr. Anke Becker from the University of Freiburg is investigating how groups of genes and molecules interact with each other. She is particularly…

Article - 07/02/2011

The discovery of the individual as business model

The move towards personalised medicine has made considerable progress, in particular in the field of oncology, where it is leading to the close integration of diagnostics and therapy as well as to the development of profitable new business models, some of which have controversial exclusive legal claims.

Press release - 12/11/2012

immatics appoints Peter Chambré as Chairman

immatics biotechnologies GmbH, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing advanced therapeutic vaccines that are active against cancer, today announced the appointment of Peter Chambré as Chairman of the Board with immediate effect. Peter Chambré has had extensive senior management experience in the biopharmaceutical sector and now holds several Chairman positions in the life sciences industry. He will replace Thomas Widmann, who has…

Dossier - 30/08/2010

Disease prevention through better diagnostics

“Classical treatment approaches are not the only way to ensure good health, rehabilitation and care. In fact, it is envisaged that more effective prevention will contribute to halting the development of diseases and maintaining good health. Prevention is designed to prevent health risks and diseases, make them less likely and delay their onset.” (Declaration of the German government; Official Records of Parliament 17/845, 26th February 2010)

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.

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 - 02/05/2011

Production of high-density peptide arrays

Frank Breitling and Alexander Nesterov-Müller from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT are working on the development of a second-generation peptide laser printer and a peptide chip printer based on computer chips. This development will enable the low-cost production of high-density peptide arrays consisting of up to one million peptides as well as opening up completely new areas of application.

Article - 29/05/2018

ITAS – Assessing the impact of life science technologies

The Karlsruhe Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS) is one of the largest and most renowned institutions in Germany involved in evaluating scientific and technological developments. The institute assesses the impacts and possible effects of new methods from a wide range of scientific fields - including the life sciences.

The leaders of the two countries research policy groups met in the French capital to discuss strategies on how to cope with challenges that are faced by both countries in the field of research. Several Agreements signed at the end of the Forum are the basis of strategic partnerships.

Although the biomolecule DNS has provided many explanations and hopeful projections opinions are divided over the question of DNA being the carrier of genetic information. There is a huge need for clarification. Biologists clinicians psychologists lawyers and bioethicists discussed in Tübingen.

Article - 22/08/2011

Jörg Overhage investigates how bacteria react to stress

Bacteria have been around for a very long time and they will probably still be around in the future. They are able to adapt to any factor that is potentially fatal to cells heat hunger radiation toxic chemicals or immune attacks. However tolerance to stress is not only characteristic of individual bacteria bacteria join forces whenever inhospitable conditions arise. A team of researchers led by Dr. Jörg Overhage at the Karlsruhe Institute of…

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.

Article - 04/02/2013

DKFZ-HIPO – the Heidelberg Center for Personalised Oncology

The German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the National Center for Tumour Diseases (NCT) have jointly initiated the Heidelberg Center for Personalised Oncology (HIPO) which provides cancer patients with high-throughput genetic and molecular analyses. In anticipation of the upcoming World Cancer Day on 4th February 2013, the potential of high-throughput genetic and molecular analyses in improving cancer therapy was presented at a workshop held…

Press release - 28/02/2011

Heidelberg "start-up" wins the German Industry’s Innovation Award 2010

PEPperPRINT GmbH has won the 2010 German Industry’s Innovation Award in the category “Start-Up Companies”. The Heidelberg-based biotechnology company was awarded the prize by the German Minister of Education and Research, Dr. Annette Schavan, at a German industry festive event recently held in the Frankfurt Congress Centre.

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.

Tübingen-based Hölle & Hüttner AG is taking over the entire share capital of Cologne-based INTAVIS Bioanalytical Instruments AG retroactively as of 1 January 2008. Both companies specialise in the development and marketing of systems for the automation of biochemical and molecular biological processes.

Certain wavelengths of light encode vital information about the plants environment. Dr. Andreas Hiltbrunner an his team from the University of Freiburg has recently shown how phytochrome A transmits this information into the cell.

Claus Schwechheimer at the Centre for Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Tübingen has succeeded in identifying a protein function in plants which if it is understood might lead to important progress in human cancer research.

CureVac AG, a leading clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of pioneering mRNA therapeutics, and Arcturus Therapeutics Ltd. (NASDAQ:ARCT), an RNA medicines company, today announced they have entered into a broad strategic collaboration to jointly discover, develop and commercialize novel messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics.

Dossier - 01/02/2008

Glycobiotechnology - sugar research is picking up speed

Alongside DNA and proteins sugar structures play an important role in cellular transport and communication processes. They are also part of the molecular control and regulation machinery making them of particular interest to biotechnologists. The pharmaceutical industry as well as the food sector and material sciences have realised the potential of sugar structures.

Press release - 04/11/2011

Alternate ending – living on without telomerase

Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have discovered an alternative mechanism for the extension of the telomere repeat sequence by DNA repair enzymes.