Healthcare industry

Article - 28/06/2010

ATG:biosynthetics GmbH – Modular molecular systems of the future

ATGbiosynthetics GmbH based in Merzhausen close to Freiburg produces biological systems that can combine gene constituents following a construction kit principle. The company provides the pharmaceutical industry and basic researchers with products that have specifically chosen properties.

The increasing number of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics is becoming a great problem in the treatment of infected wounds. The Hohenstein Institutes are developing novel wound dressings that use bacteriophages to combat even the most virulent pathogens.

Article - 02/02/2015

Rentschler Biotechnologie invests in new production plant

The Laupheim-based contract manufacturer Rentschler Biotechnologie GmbH is greatly expanding its production capacities. The company is investing €24 million in the construction of two 3,000 litre stainless steel bioreactors, which should be operational in early 2017 and will more than double the production capacities for cell culture-derived proteins. Rentschler also announced recently that it was adding a new 2,000 litre single-use bioreactor…

Article - 10/03/2021

Faster to single cells using miniature grinder

Tissue cells are needed for medical diagnostics, cell therapies and tissue engineering, among other things. A novel tissue grinder gently and automatically dissociates cells from tissue. In November 2020, the newly founded biotech company Fast Forward Discoveries GmbH (FFX) delivered its first tissue grinders to customers.

Article - 07/04/2009

Hendrik Küpper – at the service of plants and humans

Prof. Hendrik Küpper had his first experience as a scientist in 1992 when together with his brother and a friend he participated in the German governments Jugend forscht contest. The students came first in biology in the national competition and first in both the Young Europeans Environmental Research Contest and the European Community Contest for Young Scientists. Back then Küpper was already interested in the interaction between heavy metals…

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.

Article - 08/11/2010

Molecular biology assisted by information theory

What do the Internet and mobile communication have in common with the division of yeast cells and viruses? Quite a lot, says Martin Bossert, professor at the Institute of Telecommunication Technology and Applied Information Theory in Ulm. The 55-year-old engineer coordinates an interdisciplinary priority programme of the German Research Foundation (DFG, SPP 1395 Information and Communication Theory in Molecular Biology) that applies information…

Article - 22/02/2010

Treasure trove of data from Ulm helps in the understanding of community-acquired pneumonia

CAP community-acquired pneumonia is a common type of pneumonia that mainly affects young and old people. In Germany around 800000 people contract CAP every year and almost one third has to be admitted to hospital exceeding the number of admissions due to cardiac infarction or stroke. The CAPNETZ competence network which up until recently was funded by the German government is gradually shedding light on a hitherto little known disease.

Article - 19/10/2015

New compound that may kill hospital germs is close to clinical testing

Bacteria's increasing resistance to antibiotics is a very serious medical issue. An infection with pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria can be life-threatening for hospital patients because MRSA has become resistant to the most commonly used antibiotics. Although reserve antibiotics are available in cases where others have lost their ability to control or kill bacterial growth effectively, they do not…

Article - 15/02/2016

Bacteria – a treasure box for genetic engineers

Bacteria have developed a versatile defence system to protect themselves against viral infections. One of these defence tools, known as CRISPR/Cas9 system, is currently hogging the headlines as it promises to revolutionise the way genetic material can be modified. Prof. Rolf Backofen from the Institute of Bioinformatics at the University of Freiburg has managed to classify the defence system of all bacterial species sequenced to date. This will…

Dossier - 30/07/2009

Downstream processing: bottleneck purification process

The fermentation processes that are used by biopharmaceutical manufacturers have shown to lead to increasing quantities of therapeutic proteins. However this increase in turn leads to capacity bottlenecks in the subsequent purification process known as downstream processing and is associated with high costs. Downstream processing comprises up to 80 per cent of the entire production costs. Producers are increasingly recognising the present need…

Article - 14/04/2016

Rapid and unambiguous detection of infection in a miniature laboratory

In cooperation with industrial partners, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart have spent many years developing innovative diagnostic tools for use in infection biology. Among these are microsystems that combine complete test procedures on a “lab-on-a-chip” (LOC) and enable simultaneous analysis of several thousand parameters relatively quickly and with little effort. The scientists…

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…

Researcher profile - 13/06/2016

Matthias Willmann wants to get the big picture – tracking down infectious agents

While fighting and curing bacterial infections in sick patients is one part of the picture, epidemiological investigation of the spread of pathogens is another. Dr. Matthias Willmann also assesses the impact of these factors on the healthcare system as a whole and draws conclusions that might boost early detection of pathogens and prevention of infections.

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

Dossier - 29/03/2009

Options for the food industry

Biotechnology has since found its way into the food industry and in fact into the entire value creation chain from raw material production to food processing to the sale of the final product. There are many ways in which biotechnology can contribute to better food products. These include the use of enzymes and microorganisms as well as in the production of food supplements and to improve analytic tests.