In living cells, a vast number of transient events occur simultaneously. The recording of these activities is a prerequisite for a molecular understanding of life. Scientists at the MPI for Medical Research in Heidelberg and their collaboration partners have created a novel technology that allows cellular events to be recorded through chemical labeling with fluorescent dyes for later analysis, opening up new ways to study cellular physiology.

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…

Viral cancer therapy - 26/10/2022

Therapeutic viruses against tumours and metastases

Viruses can overcome cell barriers and transfer information to their host cells. They know how to make their host cell’s infrastructure work for them. This makes them excellent biotechnological tools, which a research group from the Fraunhofer IGB in Stuttgart is using to its advantage. The team is developing a therapeutic virus that not only recognises and fights tumours, but also has the potential to reach metastases.

This month marks the launch of an outstanding project integrating artificial intelligence (AI) and neuromedicine – the Hertie Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Brain Health (Hertie AI). Founded on February 1 at the Medical Faculty of the University of Tübingen, it will be the first institute in Germany to research the prevention and early diagnosis of diseases of the nervous system using artificial intelligence methods.

Antibodies can improve the rehabilitation of people with acute spinal cord injury. Researchers at 13 clinics in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Spain have investigated this with promising results. For the first time, it was possible to identify patient groups that displayed a clinically relevant treatment effect. A follow-up study will start in December 2024.

ValidaTe enables characterization of efficacy and safety of T-cell drug candidates in days rather than months. The breakthrough speed and unprecedented density of data processed can give partner companies a competitive advantage. New high-throughput microarray technology for label-free characterization of drug candidate interactions can significantly accelerate development in immune-oncology.

Heidelberg Technology Park - 05/05/2020

Start-up support for life sciences companies

How can scientists turn their know-how into marketable products and services and thereby provide society with real added value? In addition to solid financing, start-up companies need a suitable infrastructure and a dense network of partners for exchanging expertise to help them get off to a good start when it comes to setting up a business. The Heidelberg Technology Park offers company founders in the life sciences exactly these success factors.

NeuroQ project - 26/07/2023

Quantum sensors for exoskeletons: can quantum physics beat paralysis?

Could people suddenly be able to move again decades after being paralysed? State-of-the-art quantum sensors integrated in exoskeletons could make this possible. Technology being developed as part of the BMBF-funded NeuroQ beacon project by researchers from organisations including the Fraunhofer IAF, the Charité in Berlin and the University of Stuttgart might achieve even more: besides facilitating movement, it could also help cure paralysis.

CureVac N.V. today announced that it has dosed the first patient with its investigational cancer vaccine CVGBM in a Phase 1 study. CVGBM is based on CureVac’s proprietary second-generation mRNA backbone and features a single mRNA, encoding eight epitopes derived from known tumor-associated antigens with demon­strated relevance in glioblastoma. A first data readout is expected in the second half of 2024.

TWYCE GmbH - 10/07/2024

Better immune response against prostate cancer thanks to new bispecific antibodies

TWYCE, a Tübingen-based start-up spun off from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tübingen, is focused on developing a combinatorial therapy using two bispecific antibodies from bench to clinical practice. The founders aim to introduce an effective strategy for combating solid tumours, with initial proof of concept targeted at prostate cancer.

Germany has the most active market, Southern Europe wants more variety, and people in Poland find dairy substitutes too expensive, according to a recent study by the University of Hohenheim.

More than 65,000 men fall ill with prostate cancer each year in Germany. Twelve thousand of them develop a treatment-resistant form which eventually ends in death. Now, a team of researchers from the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg has developed an active substance that might in future represent a new treatment option.

BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg publishes first results of a new WifOR study - 11/09/2024

Industrial healthcare industry in Baden-Württemberg: gross value added of more than 19 billion euros

The industrial healthcare sector (iGW) plays a central role in the economy in Baden-Württemberg. In 2021, the sector generated a direct gross value added of 19.6 billion euros, which corresponds to around a third (32.6%) of the entire regional healthcare industry. Of 96.3%, almost all of the healthcare sectors's exports in the state in 2021 came from the iGW. These are the findings of a new study conducted on behalf of BIOPRO…

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.

Start-up Cerebri GmbH - 05/08/2024

Comprehensive EEG supply thanks to telemedicine

Fewer and fewer patients are getting timely access to electroencephalograms, as the process of measuring brain activity and interpreting the results requires specific expertise. Cerebri GmbH, a newly established Tübingen-based company, aims to address this issue by offering user-friendly EEG caps and providing rapid, location-independent and top-tier diagnostics by experts.

High-resolution microscopy technology bypassing the diffraction limit - 26/10/2023

From micro- to nanoscope

It has long been impossible to distinguish objects closer than 200 nanometres using light microscopes. However, novel devices developed by a company called abberior Instruments GmbH, which use technology developed by Nobel Prize winner Prof. Dr. Stefan Hell and his teams in Heidelberg and Göttingen, are now able to bypass this resolution limit and provide detailed insights into living cells in the lower nanometre range.

Innovations in the field of endoscopy - 08/06/2020

Gastroscopies with pill cameras

A pill camera to examine the gastrointestinal tract that can be swallowed without major difficulty, controlled intuitively from the outside and deliver images in real time - why would any doctor or patient say no? To non-experts, it sounds more like science fiction but such a device is actually already in development: since 2019, Tübingen-based Ovesco Endoscopy AG and three partners have been working together on this in a project called nuEndo.

Workplace of the future - 10/08/2021

Intelligent body support system for surgery staff

Operating room staff often spend hours in strenuous postures, which has a significant impact on concentration and quality of work. While operating room equipment is increasingly networked, state-of-the-art medical technology, conditions for operating room staff trail way behind. The start-up company Hellstern medical offers an effective solution for serious pain, fatigue and incorrect interventions.

Vicinity Bio: Optimisation of cancer diagnostics - 27/11/2024

Comprehensive histological diagnostics through high-dimensional imaging and artificial intelligence

Microscopic examination of tissue samples is essential, particularly in tumour diagnostics. The Tübingen-based company Vicinity Bio leverages cutting-edge imaging technologies combined with machine learning to generate comprehensive datasets of individual cells from tissue sections. This approach not only helps identify more targeted therapies but also enhances our understanding of cellular functions and processes within tissues and tumours.

Working with a new Emmy Noether Group, Dr. Pascal Schlosser is investigating how machine learning can aid in understanding the complex relationships between genes, proteins, and diseases.

Collagen has been used in ophthalmology since the 1990s, particularly in the treatment of corneal defects. However, why and how this technique works was only known in theory. Researchers at the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute in Reutlingen led by Lu Fan have found the necessary evidence and can now reliably explain how this technique works.

Microfluidics in medical technology - 24/03/2021

Ultra-compact: valves with shape memory actuators

Karlsruhe-based company memetis shows that this is possible. Intelligent components for controlling fluids open up huge potential in the medical technology and biotechnology sectors - from vaccine development and cell line analysis to drug research and point-of-care solutions.

Dr Simon Binder has been awarded a five-year, 1.5 million euro grant from the Carl Zeiss Foundation for his research into novel neuroimplants. Binder will establish the early career research group ‘Biohybrid Neuroimplants based on Soft Hydrogel Electrodes’ at the University of Freiburg. It is affiliated with the research institutions BrainLinks-BrainTools.