Healthcare industry

Press release - 02/09/2008

Elke Guenther: inspired by basic research and application-oriented

The biologist Prof. Dr. Elke Guenther is head of the Department of Electrophysiology at the NMI where her work involves safety pharmacology the development of biosensors and the characterisation of ion channels in the cell membranes in a broad range of different organ systems.

The medical importance of vitamin D calciferol is most likely even higher than suggested by recently published studies. A study which also involves the endocrinologist Bernhard Böhm from Ulm has attracted enormous attention as it suggests that vitamin D deficiency increases mortality.

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen organised its biannual MEA conference from 8 to 11 July 2008. More than 200 developers and microelectrode array users from 18 countries came together in Reutlingen to present their latest developments and results.

The world is full of questions and is sometimes difficult to understand for children. In the lectures delivered at Tübingens Childrens University scientists explain science and mathematics history or business management in a simple way and in relation to everyday life.

Dossier - 03/07/2008

Molecular imaging - a close look inside the human body

Molecular imaging recognises the functional state of cells and molecules. It visualises biological processes on the cellular and molecular level and is thus able to detect pathological alterations a long time before disease symptoms become apparent. Molecular imaging offers new possibilities for improving diagnosis and enabling more targeted therapies than has previously been possible. Many experts regard molecular imaging as a paradigm shift in…

Cancer cells are dangerous foodies. They metabolise far greater amounts of sugar than healthy cells. Nuclear medicine experts make use of cancer cells craving for sugar since the advent of modern positron emission tomography PET. This has led to an improvement in the quality of cancer treatment.

The new drug screening and safety pharmacology laboratory at NMI Technologie Transfer GmbH NMI TT GmbH in Reutlingen with its standardised and special test systems complies fully with the requirements of safety pharmacology tests.

The German Research Foundation will continue to fund the Transregional Collaborative Research Centre Inflammatory Cardiomyopathy - Molecular Pathogenesis and Therapy for another four years with a total of 10 million euros. The Department of Cardiology of the University Hospital of Tübingen will also become part of the SFB.

The NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen is a role model for how research findings can be turned into financially sustainable products and services. Prof. Hugo Hämmerle has been a key figure in this success story for over 20 years. In February 2008 he took over as Managing Director of the institute.

In conjunction with reference laboratories of the World Health Organization WHO medtech company Curetis AG is developing new technologies and products that identify the pathogens of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and their resistance. The solutions are impressive.

Almost half of the veins transplanted to restore blood flow in the heart become clogged again within ten years after surgery. Gene therapy pre-treatment of the vein fragments that prevents the muscle cells from entering the vascular wall might decrease the risk of this happening.

Article - 13/04/2008

Selective internal radiotherapy

Since early 2008 the Institute of Clinical Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Mannheim University Hospital has been offering a new therapy for the treatment of liver cancers selective internal radiotherapy SIRT.

A consortium of two universities two applied research institutes and a research-based pharmaceutical company is looking for innovative cellular models of the human heart with the aim of developing better methods for drug testing.

The basic classification of bilateral animals is based on the comparison of their embryonic development and was confirmed in modern molecular phylogeny by the analysis of the relationship of the genes involved. Conserved groups of genes are responsible for the formation of the body axes.

Haemochromatosis is not as has been previously assumed a disease of the small intestine but a disease of the liver. Scientists from Heidelberg have shown in the animal model that the disease is caused by a mutated gene influencing hepcidin production.

The University of Tübingen opened its new laboratory for Preclinical Imaging and Imaging Technology of the Werner Siemens Foundation. The professorship is the only one in Europe combining preclinical imaging and the development of new imaging technologies.

A new specialist outpatient clinic at the University Hospital of Ulm is treating haemochromatosis sufferers and is investigating the causes of this disease. Haemochromatosis which as the effect of poisoning the body is one of the most frequent hereditary diseases.

For 93 of Europeans preserving biodiversity is a moral obligation affecting current generations as stewards of nature. European citizens are also aware that their well-being and quality of life depend on biodiversity.

Gender-specific differences are currently not only a subject of debate for experts but have also raised broad media interest. However there are very few specific investigations that are able to provide a clear answer said Prof. Volker Kühlkamp chief physician in the Department of CardiologyElectrophysiology at the Lake Constance Heart Centre in ConstanceKreuzlingen and specialist in cardiac arrhythmia.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Nycomeds ALVESCO ciclesonide Inhalation Aerosol in the United States for the maintenance treatment of asthma and as prophylactic therapy in adult and adolescent patients aged 12 years and older.

The method is elegant and cardiologists love it heart catheter examination. The number of catheter examinations carried out has continuously increased over the last few years. In 2005 in Germany an impressive number of 772000 heart catheter examinations were carried out.

About 500000 people in Germany suffer from dilatative cardiomyopathy DCM. Viral infections are the major cause of this myocardial disease. Its molecular and cellular mechanisms are being investigated in a transregional SFB project at the University of Tübingen.