Healthcare industry

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.

Infections pose an increasing risk to hospitalized patients. In collaboration with a number of partners, the Fraunhofer IGB has developed a new therapeutic approach as part of the InnateFun project. Their strategy is to improve cells’ ability to defend themselves against harmful microorganisms by acting on their immune receptors. The researchers’ work on this therapeutic approach has reached the animal model stage.

Dr. André Martins from the Department of Radiology at the Tübingen University Hospitals is one of this year's recipients of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation's Sofja Kovalevskaja Award.

Innovative Therapies - 20/08/2020

Labor Dr. Merk is fully committed to viral therapies

Labor Dr. Merk & Kollegen is reorienting its business towards viral therapeutics. With this change of strategy, the company, which has decades of expertise in virology, wants to position itself in a timely fashion in the growing new market for advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP). In gene and virotherapies (oncolytic viruses), tumour vaccines and CAR-T cell therapies, viruses are essential as vectors, killers of tumour cells or…

Review article (new edition) - 08/07/2020

Immunology – at the forefront of medical progress

Immunology is constantly changing with the emergence of new technologies and areas of application, and has branched out in many directions. Immunological approaches are central to everything – be it the development of innovative active substances and vaccinations against cancer, the search for new therapies against neurodegenerative diseases or autoimmune diseases, or combatting well-known infectious diseases or new virus epidemics.

Vaccine development - 02/06/2020

CureVac as a pioneer of mRNA technology – what is behind the novel COVID-19 vaccine?

All eyes are on vaccines against the coronavirus. The Tübingen-based company CureVac is doing pioneering work in this field, and intends to initiate clinical testing of its lead vaccine candidate in June. At the same time, Curevac is manufacturing the material for this vaccine candidate. But that’s not all: the novel mRNA technology also has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer and metabolic diseases. What makes the method so…

Five new companies from the Stuttgart/Tübingen region in southwestern Germany have joined the Cyber Valley Start-Up Network. The innovative technologies and products of AmbiGate, Cytolytics, Mojin Robotics, plus10 and Tactai aim to achieve ground-breaking improvements in the fields of public health, manufacturing, and customer service. These start-ups join ten other companies that are already part of the Cyber Valley Start-Up Network.

Since May 11, 2020, CeGaT offers a CE certified corona antibody test. This test determines whether a person has antibodies against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. People who have antibodies are assumed to have undergone a coronavirus infection and are highly likely to be immune.

Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB - 24/04/2020

A rapid pyrogen test: the human immune system as model

Every year, around 11 million people die of sepsis (blood poisoning) caused by microorganisms or microbial residues, known as pyrogens, entering the bloodstream. The smallest amounts can trigger fever. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have developed a pyrogen test that does not require a laboratory and is not tested on animals. It is expected to be placed on the market soon.

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.

Scientists from Heidelberg and Mannheim launch research and development task force

Daniel Menichella, CEO of biopharmaceutical company CureVac, was today invited to the White House to discuss strategies and opportunities for the rapid development and production of a coronavirus vaccine with U.S. President Donald Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, members of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and high-ranking representatives of pharmaceutical and biotech companies working on the outbreak’s response.

Article - 11/06/2019

New pathogens in beef and cow's milk contributing to the risk of cancer

A team of researchers led by Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. mult. Harald zur Hausen has discovered a new type of infectious agent in dairy and meat products produced from European cattle that increases the risk for colon and breast cancer. These so-called Bovine Meat and Milk Factors (BMMFs) are small DNA molecules that are similar in sequence to both bacterial plasmids and certain viruses.

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 - 30/10/2018

Eucor – bringing the European Campus to life

Enrolling at one university and being able to use the services of a total of five universities is unique in the European Research Area. A model project called Eucor - The European Campus offers students and young scientists this opportunity at universities in the Germany-France-Switzerland border triangle, which simultaneously acts as a borderless academic area for the sciences.

Expert interview - 17/10/2018

Biologicals are becoming increasingly important to Boehringer Ingelheim

Biopharmaceuticals are playing an increasingly important role in Boehringer Ingelheim’s development pipeline. Visible evidence of this is the company’s Biologicals Development Centre (BDC) that is currently being constructed in Boehringer Ingelheim’s Biberach plant and will bring the company’s process development under one roof by early 2020. Walter Pytlik from BIOPRO talked with Dr. Ing. Ralf Schumacher about the new centre.

Affimed will receive $96 million upfront and committed funding and is eligible for up to an additional $5.0 billion including milestone payments, and royalties on sales.

Article - 25/04/2018

Resistance, immunity and malaria vaccination

People who have survived a malaria infection often develop immunity to the disease. International malaria research is aimed at exploiting a person's natural immunity in order to treat malaria effectively and avoid resistance to previously effective drugs. These new approaches also raise hopes that one day countries at high risk of malaria may be able to eradicate the devastating disease.

Transregional research cooperation - 11/10/2017

New research consortium to develop new liver cancer treatments

The causes, signs and symptoms of liver cancer are extremely complex. Investigating them requires the collaboration of many experts across university and regional boundaries. A new transregional research group is now studying the complex overall mechanisms at the cellular, genetic and molecular level in order to develop new concepts and drugs for treating liver and bile duct cancers.

Article - 04/07/2017

Ruxolitinib – successful graft-versus-host disease treatment

Graft-versus-host disease is a serious complication in leukaemia patients who have been given a blood stem cell transplant from a genetically different person. Prof. Dr. Nikolas von Bubnoff and Prof. Dr. Robert Zeiser from the Department of Haematology, Oncology and Stem Cell Transplantation at Freiburg University Medical Centre initiated a Germany-wide study to show that an active substance called ruxolitinib has a promising therapeutic effect.…

TolerogenixX GmbH has developed a patented and clinically tested cell therapy technique for individualised immunosuppression in transplant patients. The technique enables the targeted disabling of undesired reactions caused by the immune system’s defences. As a seed stage investor, High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) will finance this innovative technique and the preparations for Phase II of the clinical trial, which begins in spring 2018. Further…

Article - 18/05/2017

ImmuStick – novel rapid test for identifying disease pathogens

In some situations such as in the food and pharmaceutical industries or hospitals, a test to identify disease pathogens can be vital. At present, such tests are relatively time-consuming and can take hours or even days to produce results, depending on the pathogen. Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart are currently developing a rapid test called ImmuStick which is as easy to use…

Article - 22/08/2016

Ad-O-Lytics – a new biotech start-up from Ulm

A few years ago, Florian Kreppel developed a therapeutic approach that combined genetic vaccines with molecular address labels. It worked quite well, but the resulting product did not have the anticipated immunising properties and was put on the backburner. Now Kreppel's group of researchers is nearing completion of another project. The researchers plan to use a patented virotherapeutic platform technology for cancer treatment to establish a…

Article - 18/08/2016

Moonlighting proteins can make bacteria pathogenic

The mechanism underlying the export of biomolecules from cells remains unknown. Prof. Dr. Friedrich Götz and his team at the Institute of Microbial Genetics at the University of Tübingen have found out that staphylococci can turn into dangerous pathogens by excreting normally harmless enzymes. The researchers believe that the enigmatic excretion of such enzymes is due to a completely new mechanism and are thus planning to carry out further…

Article - 23/06/2016

The body’s immune system loosens artificial joints

Hip and knee endoprostheses are not nearly as long-lasting as their natural counterparts. Dr. Ulrike Dapunt from the University Hospital Heidelberg’s Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology has now discovered that it is not the bacterial activity or secretions that lead to the degradation of bone during chronic inflammation, but rather local host defence mechanisms.