Healthcare industry

Sharks can sense a few drops of blood in water. In fact they are able to smell blood in dilutions of as little as one to 10 billion. Is it just sharks or piranhas that have such an acute sense of smell? The answer is no - all fish have a highly developed sense of smell.

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.

Press release - 03/10/2011

Astonishing discovery: iron-overloading of macrophages is the cause of venous leg ulcers

Around three to five per cent of people in industrial nations suffer from chronic venous leg ulcers. Elderly people are particularly prone to developing these chronic wounds. A dermatologist from Ulm has now discovered the reason why chronic venous leg ulcers fail to heal even after months or years. The scientific community is astonished by the new findings.

Article - 07/03/2011

Thomas Brunner: steroid synthesis in the intestine

A research team led by Prof. Dr. Thomas Brunner at the University of Konstanz has found out that intestinal epithelial cells are able to synthesise anti-inflammatory steroids glucocorticoids following immunological stress which makes a considerable contribution to the maintenance of local immune homoeostasis. Brunner plans to use his findings to develop a therapeutic approach for the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Article - 23/11/2015

Double-secured immune protection against plant attackers

Plants have sophisticated defence mechanisms to help them fight off all kinds of pathogens. A group of researchers led by Dr. Gabriel Schaaf at the University of Tübingen’s ZMBP has now discovered that plants’ immune response is more similar to the innate immune system of humans and animals than previously thought.

Article - 29/05/2012

Intestinal bacteria and human gut types

The type of bacteria that colonize the human gut does not just influence our digestion and well-being. Metagenome sequencing has provided an international consortium involving scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory at the University Hospital of Heidelberg with evidence that certain individuals have different gut types with different types of bacteria. Such individuals not only differ in their predisposition to disease, but also…

Article - 27/09/2010

Harald Langer combines cardiology with immunology

The Volkswagen Foundation has taken the decision to finance a “Lichtenberg Professorship” at the University of Tübingen for a period of up to eight years. The new chair, cardiologist Dr. Harald Langer, uses molecular and cell biology methods to investigate how the immune system affects the development of arteriosclerosis in order to come up with innovative therapeutic strategies.

Press release - 30/11/2011

Researchers are challenging a common model of immunology

Up to now, scientists have assumed that mast cells, a certain type of immune cells, play a central role in the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Current studies conducted at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now provided evidence to refute this assumption. Now it is only the mast cells’ central function in allergies that remains undisputed.

Article - 28/02/2011

Development of food allergies

Allergic reactions to certain types of food can, in extreme cases, lead to life-threatening anaphylactic shock. People with peanut allergies are particularly at risk. Allergic reactions can also gradually develop into chronic intolerances such as coeliac disease, for example. The causes of food allergies nearly always originate in early childhood.

Article - 20/12/2010

Michael Reth – Immunobiological discoveries that meet resistance

Dr Michael Reth professor at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and the University of Freiburg and some of his colleagues have recently uncovered the mechanism that foreign substances use to activate B cells of the immune system. The researchers were using synthetic biology methods long before this particular branch of science existed in its present form. Their results require a paradigm change and a revision of the reference books.

Article - 18/03/2011

Allergen research – present and future

An allergy is a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. It is an exaggerated immune reaction to external stimuli such as pollen and is associated with symptoms that range in degree from uncomfortable (hay fever, asthma) to life-threatening (anaphylactic shock). Dr. Thomas Bethke, Medical Director of Nycomed Germany, explains in the following interview how a drug manufacturer approaches the research and development of anti-allergy…

The Comprehensive Infectious Diseases Centre at the University of Ulm was recently presented to the public. The centre is responsible for coordinating the cooperation between specialists in the diagnosis and therapy of complex infectious diseases.

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

Cancer immunotherapy - 06/09/2018

The immunogenicity of tumours and the development of new cancer medicines

Microsatellite-unstable cancers are characterised by a large number of mutations within short repetitive DNA sequence regions, and can form novel peptides that the human immune system recognises as neoantigens. These cancers represent a starting point for the development of vaccines to prevent them appearing at an early stage of development. Microsatellite instability is particularly frequent in colon and cervical cancers.

Press release - 12/10/2011

Dioxin-like Chemical Messenger Makes Brain Tumors More Aggressive

Scientists from German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University have discovered a new dioxin receptor-coupled metabolic pathway which weakens the immune system and promotes the growth of malignant gliomas. Glioma is the most frequent and most malignant brain tumor in adults. In Germany, about 4,500 people are newly diagnosed with glioma every year.

Press release - 21/05/2010

The road to individualized tumour vaccines

What are the typical cancer cell characteristics that our immune system is directed against? Using a new biochemical method, scientists from the Neurosurgery Department of the Heidelberg University Hospital and the German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) are now able to answer this question for each individual patient. The method is expected to help identify new target structures for individualized tumour vaccines.

Macrophages interacting with cytomegaloviruses - 22/02/2022

Cytomegaloviruses subvert macrophage identity

Cytomegaloviruses are basically harmless. However, if they occur along with other pathogens, they can trigger serious diseases. They can manipulate our immune system and encourage resident defence cells to migrate. Researchers at the Centre for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI) at the Freiburg University Medical Centre have discovered which mechanisms underlie the behavioural changes in macrophages that make it easier for other pathogens to attack.

Article - 11/06/2010

Recycling of bacterial cell wall constituents

Bacterial cells are focused on growth and proliferation. These processes are initiated by cellular enzymes that break up the cell wall material murein introduce new material and degrade material that is no longer needed. And all this in large amounts about 50 per cent of murein are degraded and newly formed turnover per cell generation. Dr. Christoph Mayer and his team from the University of Constance have shown that the cells carry out effective…

Article - 12/06/2010

Correcting enzyme defects using stem cells

Bone marrow transplantation was originally developed for the treatment of leukaemias and other malignant diseases of the haemotopoietic system. Thanks to increasing technological process it has been possible to considerably expand the treatment spectrum over the last few years. Dr. Ingo Müller paediatrician at the University Hospital in Tübingen now uses bone marrow transplantation for the therapy of genetic metabolic diseases with highly…

Article - 02/07/2012

Together against liver failure

Medicines that are usually effective in treating diseases can sometimes be associated with severe adverse effects. This can occur when the liver which normally metabolizes drugs and renders them harmless becomes overburdened and even collapses completely. Prof. Dr. Jens Timmer from the University of Freiburg and Prof. Dr. Ursula Klingmüller from the German Cancer Research Center DKFZ in Heidelberg have joined forces in a huge European research…

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have developed antibodies that have two antigen-binding sites and can couple cancer cells with effector cells of the immune system. In laboratory tests, these bridging antibodies, together with an enhancer antibody, were able to specifically mobilize the body's own immune defenses and destroy breast cancer cells.

Christiane Opitz, scientist at the German Cancer Research Center, is being awarded this year's Ita Askonas Prize of the European Federation of Immunological Societies. Opitz has discovered how tumor cells use certain metabolites to protect themselves against the immune system. Her research findings may provide important clues for the development of new therapeutic concepts.

Mosses for pharmaceutical production - 16/09/2020

Factor H as a therapeutic option for viral diseases - including COVID-19

The search for drug candidates for COVID-19 diseases is well underway. Factor H, which is part of the innate immune system, might also be a future therapeutic option. The Freiburg-based biotech company eleva has developed a technology for producing this human protein in moss cells. The active ingredient, which might also have a regulatory effect in other diseases, is currently undergoing preclinical testing.

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center and Heidelberg University Hospital have for the first time been able to delay the development of hereditary colorectal cancer with a protective vaccination. Mice with a hereditary predisposition to colorectal cancer survived significantly longer after vaccination than unvaccinated animals. Combining the vaccination with an anti-inflammatory drug increased the protective effect.

Peptide-based COVID-19 vaccine - 21/04/2022

CoVac-1: T-cell activator against COVID-19

Current vaccines against COVID-19 aim at forming neutralising antibodies that prevent the virus from penetrating the host cells. Since people with impaired B-cell immune responses – which can also occur in cancer or autoimmune diseases – are not able to do this, researchers at the University of Tübingen have developed the peptide-based T-cell activator CoVac-1, which promises broad and long-term immunity.