Healthcare industry

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 - 21/08/2018

Parkinson's disease: vitamin B3 has a positive effect on nerve cells

Parkinson's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases in the world. There are around 4.1 million sufferers worldwide. It is characterised by motor impairments that result from the death of certain nerve cells in the brain. Researchers at the University of Tübingen have now discovered that vitamin B3 has a positive effect on damaged nerve cells and can boost their energy metabolism.

Expert interview - 08/08/2018

Ludolph: diagnosing and treating neurodegenerative disorders

Ulm has long been a world leader in diagnosing and treating rare neurological disorders, notably amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Huntington's disease (HD). We spoke with Professor Albert C. Ludolph, spokesperson for the Ulm DZNE site, medical director of the Clinic for Neurology at the RKU (University and Rehabilitation Clinics of Ulm) and world-renowned ALS researcher.

Article - 01/02/2018

Combined test systems to advance the development of drugs for treating Alzheimer’s

Which substances are suitable for treating neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's? Due to complex biochemical relationships, testing suitable drug candidates is difficult, especially in the early drug development phase. Many predictive test systems only cover individual aspects. A team from Baden-Württemberg and France is now combining different models to develop a new approach.

Article - 08/08/2017

N2B-patch: circumventing the blood-brain barrier

There are many medications for treating central nervous system diseases. However, only a fraction of the active pharmaceutical ingredients actually reaches the site where they are needed. The reason for this is the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain and thus prevents many drugs used to treat neurological diseases from effectively penetrating the brain. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and…

Article - 26/04/2017

Chaperones disassemble Parkinson’s disease-specific amyloid fibrils

Amyloid fibrils consisting of clumped α-synuclein protein are characteristic of Parkinson's disease. Chaperones, which ensure the correct folding of newly synthesised polypeptides, can inhibit α-synuclein aggregation and, as a consequence, prevent fibrils from forming. Researchers from Heidelberg have shown that a specific combination of human molecular chaperones is able to disassemble fibrils and transform them into non-toxic α-synuclein…

Article - 02/08/2016

Can the ticking Huntington clock be stopped?

An early phase clinical study involving thirty-six Huntington’s disease (HD) patients is currently underway to investigate whether a method called gene silencing can cure the disease. If the gene that causes the disease can be turned off, it would be the first step towards a treatment that not only fights symptoms but actually treats the causes of HD, hence providing a cure.

Article - 27/06/2016

A nasal spray for treating neurodegenerative diseases

Neuroscientists from Heidelberg have created the scientific foundations for a nasal spray that can stabilise the dendrites of nerve cells, thus reducing nerve damage and brain function losses following a stroke. Prof. Dr. Hilmar Bading and his team received the 2016 German BioRegions Innovation Prize for their invention and have set up a company called FundaMental Pharma to further accelerate the development of a marketable medicinal product.

Article - 17/05/2016

Innovative biochip for discovering drugs for treating neuronal conditions

Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and epilepsy are three prominent examples of neuronal conditions (disorders affecting the nerve cells) for which drugs for treatment are intensively sought. Paolo Cesare from the NMI in Reutlingen has developed an innovative 3D system for testing drugs that does not require animal testing. In 2015, the MEAFLUIT system was awarded first prize in BioRegio STERN Management GmbH's Science2Start idea competition.

Article - 28/01/2016

Crowdsourcing initiative to tackle Alzheimer’s

The BioMed X Innovation Center and the biopharmaceutical company AbbVie Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG have used crowdsourcing to set up a team of scientists from renowned international institutions to investigate new options for treating Alzheimer’s disease. The team are looking for targets in the metabolism of tau proteins and its pathological modifications that can be used to develop drugs to treat Alzheimer’s disease.

Article - 07/12/2015

Microglial cells – the health police of Alzheimer’s

It starts with memory loss and disorientation. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia and is characterised by the loss of neurons and synapses in the brain resulting from the aggregation of beta amyloid protein fragments into fibrils and plaques. Prof. Dr. Knut Biber and his team from the Division of Molecular Psychiatry at Freiburg University Medical Center have analysed these plaques in an in vivo-like cell culture system. They…

Article - 19/11/2015

Immune cells are reprogrammed in Alzheimer’s brains

Scientists from the Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research at the University of Tübingen are pursuing an innovative treatment approach for Alzheimer’s disease using immune cells to eliminate the protein deposits that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Dr. Jonas Neher and his team tested whether exchanging brain-specific immune cells with fresh, more active cells has a positive effect on the disease.

Article - 29/10/2015

Personalised Parkinson’s therapy using intelligent brain stimulation

For many decades, deep brain stimulation has been used for treating neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. However, the mechanisms of the procedure, which involves implanting stimulation probes into low lying brain areas, are still not clear. Prof. Alireza Gharabaghi, Dr. Daniel Weiss and their teams of researchers at the University of Tübingen have now been able to demonstrate a direct relationship between deep brain…

Article - 29/06/2015

The transition from acute to chronic pain

Prof. Dr. Rohini Kuner and fellow scientists from Heidelberg have shown that a protein that inhibits an enzyme produced by immune cells protects nerve cells from chronic hypersensitivity to neuropathic pain. Kuner is also the spokesperson of a new collaborative research centre in Heidelberg that is receiving funding from the German Research Foundation totalling over 12 million euros. The centre is seeking to find the reasons why acute pain…

Article - 22/06/2015

Through the nose directly into the brain: Biberach researchers are working on a novel way to apply pharmaceuticals

The blood-brain barrier prevents most drugs, and large biologics in particular, from entering the brain. This physiological barrier impairs the study of central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis as well as the development of drugs. However, there is a hidden side entrance to the brain, which means that there is a way to circumvent this barrier.

Press release - 01/04/2015

Migrating immune cells promote nerve cell demise in the brain

The slow death of dopamine-producing nerve cells in a certain region of the brain is the principal cause underlying Parkinson's disease. In mice, it is possible to simulate the symptoms of this disease using a substance that selectively kills dopamine-producing neurons. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now shown for the first time in mouse experiments that after this treatment, cells of the peripheral immune…

Article - 03/11/2014

Dementia and the prion principle

Prions are misfolded proteins that are associated with diseases such as BSE, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and scrapie. What makes prions particularly dangerous is their ability to induce properly folded proteins to convert into misfolded prion forms. This principle seems to be more widespread than previously thought. Dr. Mathias Jucker from the University of Tübingen and his American colleague Lary Walker from Emory University have put forward a…

Article - 16/06/2014

In vitro models for Parkinson’s research

The death of dopamine-producing neurons leads to Parkinson’s disease, but the cause of this selective cell degeneration is unknown. Dr. Stefan Schildknecht from the University of Konstanz is therefore developing human cell culture models to investigate the early molecular processes in the development of Parkinson’s disease. The models can also be used to develop new approaches for the treatment of Parkinson’s.

Article - 22/07/2013

Marcus Fändrich strengthens protein biochemistry at Ulm University

After quite a long vacancy the directors post of the Institute for Pharmaceutical Biotechnology at the University of Ulm has finally been filled. Marcus Fändrich and his team moved into the laboratories and offices of the new life sciences building on the Oberer Eselsberg Ulm University campus in November 2012. Fändrich fills a gap in the Ulm Bioregions biopharmaceutical education activities as he will not only be teaching biochemistry…

Article - 24/06/2013

Cloned human beings are not to be feared

An international team of scientists led by Dr. Shoukhrat Mitalipov at the Oregon Health & Science University, USA, succeeded for the first time ever in cloning human embryonic stem cells by somatic cell nuclear transfer. This breakthrough raises questions about the potentials and dangers of creating human stem cells by cloning. Prof. Dr. Marcel Leist from the University of Konstanz, who uses human embryonic stem cells for his research, gives…

Article - 25/03/2013

Ralf Baumeister – tinkering, constructing and switching off genes

The focus of Ralf Baumeisters research a small nematode that is known as Caenorhabditis elegans is a rather simple organism. Nevertheless the worm can be used to study complicated behaviour including associated learning. This is how Prof. Dr. Ralf Baumeister from the Institute of Biology III at the University of Freiburg describes the animal that he works with on a daily basis. The worm has now got very little left to hide. And the genetic…

Article - 18/03/2013

Protein depositions in the brain promote the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Being aware of ones own physical degradation as intellect and cognition remain completely intact this is what the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis ALS also known as Lou Gehrigs disease means to sufferers. The disease is currently not curable as far too little is known as yet about its causes. However basic research is making progress and providing increasing insights into the causes of ALS. Dr. Günter Fritz and his colleagues from the…

Article - 26/11/2012

Membrane proteins in the mitochondria do more than just generate cellular energy

The proteins in the membranes of the mitochondria are complex machines in the nanoworld that mediate the oxygen-coupled generation of energy in cells. Their role in this process is not yet understood in detail. However, the proteins’ intractability has not discouraged Prof. Dr. Carola Hunte’s research group at the University of Freiburg. The group is using state-of-the-art methods to look deep into the proteins’ active centres and decipher the…

Merck Serono, a division of Merck, Darmstadt, Germany, announced on 10th Oktober 2012 during the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) congress in Lyon, France, that the company has initiated a new global research award to improve understanding of multiple sclerosis for the ultimate benefit of patients.

Article - 15/10/2012

Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar and the link between the nervous and vascular systems

Dr. Carmen Ruiz de Almodóvar from the Heidelberg University Biochemistry Centre has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant to study the molecular similarities between the nervous and vascular systems. The researcher showed that angiogenic factors such as VEGF also control the growth of neuronal cells and may be responsible for disorders in the development of nervous systems.