Article - 27/08/2019 Bacterial flora of the gut: how useful is its analysis? Microorganisms in the human gut have been linked to obesity, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, cancer and mental disorders. Stool analyses of intestinal flora can be ordered on the Internet from 130 euros upwards, and some also come with recommendations on what to eat for healthy gut bacteria growth. BIOPRO talked with Prof. Dr. Nisar Malek from the University of Tübingen about how useful such microbiome analyses really are.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/bacterial-flora-gut-how-useful-is-its-analysis
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.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/new-pathogens-in-beef-and-cows-milk-contributing-to-the-risk-of-cancer
Article - 29/01/2019 Targeted RNA editing with the body’s own enzyme activity Completely new possibilities for research and gene therapy became available following the development of the CRISPR/Cas method for targeted modification of the genome. However, treatment with molecular scissors is not without risk as potential errors are stored in the genome forever. Scientists from Tübingen have developed an alternative method in which the intervention takes place at the RNA level using the body's own enzymes and is thus…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/targeted-rna-editing-with-the-bodys-own-enzyme-activity
Press release - 10/12/2018 High distinction for stem cell researcher Andreas Trumpp This year's State Research Prize of Baden-Württemberg awarded for outstanding achievements in applied research goes to Andreas Trumpp from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM). Theresia Bauer, State Minister of Science, Research and the Arts, presented the award, which carries a monetary prize of €100.000, at a festive ceremony on December 10, 2018.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/high-distinction-for-stem-cell-researcher-andreas-trumpp
Press release - 29/11/2018 Hattrick in Freiburg 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…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/hattrick-in-freiburg
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. https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/resistance-immunity-and-malaria-vaccination
Article - 21/02/2018 HepaRegeniX – a start-up is taking it up a step! HepaRegeniX, a biotech company founded in 2016, specialises in developing drugs that restore the regenerative capacity of diseased livers. The three founders of the biotech start-up, Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, Prof. Dr. Stefan Laufer and Dr. Wolfgang Albrecht, anticipate starting clinical testing of the first drug candidate in 2019.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/heparegenix-a-start-up-is-taking-it-up-a-step
Article - 20/02/2018 New strategies against malaria Malaria, which is a mosquito-borne disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, is still one of the worst infectious human diseases. The parasites have developed resistance against previously effective drugs and new strategies to combat malaria are urgently needed.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/new-strategies-against-malaria
Article - 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.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/new-research-consortium-to-develop-new-liver-cancer-treatments
Press release - 05/09/2017 Cell marking opens up a window into the body A new and particularly reliable method for marking cells can simplify research into diseases such as myocardial infarction, diabetes or Alzheimer's and reduce the use of test animals: Scientists from the University of Tübingen have developed a method by which they can target specific cell types in mice and monitor their behavior using positron emission tomography (PET). PET-based cell tracking allows scientists to observe complex life…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/cell-marking-opens-up-a-window-into-the-body
Press release - 05/01/2017 Phenex receives 100 M USD Milestone Payment from Gilead Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG (Phenex) today announced that the company has received a 100 M USD milestone payment from Gilead Sciences, Inc. of Foster City, CA, U.S.A., for its program with GS-9674 targeting nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH).https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/phenex-receives-100-m-usd-milestone-payment-from-gilead
Press release - 05/01/2017 HepaRegeniX GmbH Raises €9 million in a Series A Financing to Develop Kinase Inhibitors for the Treatment of Acute and Chronic Liver Diseases HepaRegeniX GmbH, a new Biotech company developing innovative treatments for liver diseases, announced today the completion of a €9 million Series A financing. The round was led by Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund GmbH (BIVF) and Novo Seeds, and complemented by the High-Tech Gruenderfonds and coparion.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/heparegenix-gmbh-raises-9-million-in-a-series-a-financing-to-develop-kinase-inhibitors-for-the-treatment-of-acute-and-chronic-li
Article - 21/12/2016 For all types of tests: Signatope’s biomarker assays Signatope is a new biotech company that has been offering innovative biomarker assays for application in drug discovery since August 2016. The company’s assays can be used in all phases of drug development to detect potential adverse drug effects on the kidneys, liver and other organs in any species whatsoever using minute amounts of sample.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/for-all-types-of-tests-signatopes-biomarker-assays
Article - 12/09/2016 New target for the therapy of hepatocellular carcinoma discovered Hepatocellular carcinoma is the second most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide. If the tumour is at an advanced stage, doctors have few treatment options. Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Lars Zender from the University of Tübingen have now identified one of the cancer's Achilles' heels, namely, the interaction between C-MYC and AURKA proteins, which can be destabilised with a drug, thus killing cancer cells. https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/new-target-for-the-therapy-of-hepatocellular-carcinoma-discovered
Article - 05/09/2016 Apogenix: immuno-oncological protein drugs for the treatment of malignant diseases Apogenix AG, a biopharmaceutical company from Heidelberg that specialises in immuno-oncology, develops protein drugs that target central signalling pathways involved in regulating the growth, migration and apoptosis of malfunctioning cells and thus offer novel treatment options for cancer and other malignant diseases.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/apogenix-immunonkologische-proteinwirkstoffe-gegen-maligne-erkrankungen
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…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/ad-o-lytics-a-new-biotech-start-up-from-ulm
Article - 18/08/2016 Chronic viral infections of the liver Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are two of the most common infectious diseases in the world. They often take a chronic course and carry a high risk of progressing to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A new transregional collaborative research centre involving scientists from Heidelberg and Freiburg is looking into how hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, which have different symptoms and treatments, are able to evade the immune system and allow…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/chronic-viral-infections-of-the-liver
Article - 25/07/2016 300MICRONS: 3D cell culture solutions tailored to customer needs What happens in tissues and organs and how do they react to pharmaceutical substances? Three-dimensional cell cultures can reproduce reality far better than a single-cell layer can. With good reason. Reality is far from two-dimensional. A company called 300MICRONS GmbH develops films with tiny indentations that provide optimal conditions for cells to grow into 3D cell aggregates.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/300microns-3d-cell-culture-solutions-tailored-to-customer-needs
Article - 30/06/2016 Why fasting is good for health A protein in the nucleus of liver cells is produced in greater quantities when we go hungry; it limits fatty acid uptake and adjusts the metabolism in the liver. However in people with metabolic disorders, the abnormal expression of this protein (GADD45β), which was previously only known to be involved in the regulation of cell division and DNA repair, leads to a dysregulated fat and sugar metabolism. Scientists from the DKFZ and Helmholtz…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/why-fasting-is-good-for-health
Article - 20/06/2016 Activation of the innate immune system against metastatic colorectal cancer Researchers from Heidelberg have shown that instead of fighting cancer cells, macrophages of the innate immune system promote the growth of metastases in people with metastatic colorectal cancer. They have also shown that a signal inhibitor used to treat HIV infections reactivates macrophages so that they gain the ability to destroy cancer cells. A clinical phase I study has confirmed the antitumoral effects of this drug.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/activation-of-the-innate-immune-system-against-metastatic-colorectal-cancer
Article - 02/05/2016 Hepatitis C: a new starting point for vaccine development With approximately 150,000 infected people in Germany, hepatitis C is a common disease for which therapies, but no vaccine, are available. Dr. Tobias Böttler from the Freiburg University Medical Center and his team are exploring the body’s immune response to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and have found valuable information that could be used for vaccine development.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/hepatitis-c-a-new-starting-point-for-vaccine-development
Article - 08/02/2016 MalVa GmbH – a protein cocktail that could potentially produce a high protection malaria vaccine MalVa GmbH was founded as a spin-off company of Heidelberg University Hospital around five years ago and its aim is to develop an effective and safe inactivated vaccine against malaria. MalVa GmbH’s innovative strategy to combat this infectious disease involves a cocktail of several parasite antigens. https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/malva-gmbh-a-protein-cocktail-that-could-potentially-produce-a-high-protection-malaria-vaccine
Press release - 17/12/2015 Phenex AG reaches milestone in collaboration with Janssen Phenex Pharmaceuticals AG (Phenex) today announced the achievement of a milestone in the collaboration with Janssen Biotech, Inc. (Janssen), which triggers a 6 M US$ payment by Janssen. In late 2012, Phenex and Janssen entered into a research collaboration on RORgt with a view to develop new therapeutic approaches for chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/press-release/phenex-ag-reaches-milestone-in-collaboration-with-janssen
Article - 19/10/2015 SMARTY – a new way to treat and care for chronically ill children Chronic and complex diseases in children are often a heavy burden on their families. Parents naturally want their children to have the latest treatment, and children are usually treated by several specialists. This makes it rather difficult, or, at the very least, involves considerable effort to keep everyone up to date. Dr. Joachim Riethmüller from the University Children’s Hospital in Tübingen and his team of doctors are using telemedicine in…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/smarty-a-new-way-to-treat-and-care-for-chronically-ill-children
Article - 27/07/2015 Looking for the Achilles’ heel of the tumour Although medicines that inhibit the growth of cancer cells are available, the prognosis for patients with solid tumours is generally still rather poor. The reason for this is that tumour cells develop resistance to therapy during treatment, and the tumour can continue to grow. However, tumours are vulnerable – if only more robust medicines were available. Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, senior physician and head of the Division of Translational…https://www.gesundheitsindustrie-bw.de/en/article/news/looking-for-the-achilles-heel-of-the-tumour