Healthcare industry

Jakob von Engelhardt leads a new Junior Research Group, “Synaptic Communication and Neurodegeneration”, established by the German Center for NeurodegenerativeDiseases (DZNE) at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) with the aim of combining the competencies of the two institutes. Research topics of the group include the cellular foundations of learning and memory as well as the molecular causes of neurodegenerative diseases.

Article - 19/03/2012

When the “second brain” fails – therapeutic options from the field of regenerative medicine

Researchers from the Center for Regenerative Biology and Medicine ZRM in Tübingen are focused on the enteric nervous system of the gastrointestinal tract with the aim of developing cell-based therapies for the treatment of bowel diseases. The researchers are working with local partners in a BMBF-funded project that is seeking to develop therapies for Hirschsprung’s disease.

Article - 19/03/2012

Calcium channels – about channel proteins and why we forget things

The controlled transport of calcium across cell membranes is crucial for many biological processes including the transfer of information into the brain kidney function and the rhythmic activity of the heart muscle. A team led by Prof. Dr. Norbert Klugbauer at the University of Freiburg is focused on elucidating the function of calcium channels the proteins that regulate them and the effects on learning and memory. The researchers are…

Dossier - 12/03/2012

Regenerative medicine makes use of patients’ own resources

Regenerative medicine offers new therapeutic options for many diseases in which organ function or structure are damaged or lost. The majority of regenerative therapies involve cell-based methods that are often combined with innovative biomaterials. Regenerative therapies combine know-how from the biosciences with state-of-the-art medical technology and also benefit from progress in the engineering and material sciences.

Article - 05/03/2012

Processing of olfactory cues in the brain

The question as to how the brain produces useful information from the electrical stimuli coming from the sensory organs is a key issue in the neurosciences. Researchers from Heidelberg are investigating how mice discriminate odours and have shown that complex behaviour emerges from the properties of cells and molecules. Using highly specific genetic manipulations for their experiments, the researchers have been able to show that inhibitory…

Article - 13/02/2012

Almut Köhler – cadherin-mediated cell adhesion and dispersion

Cadherins ensure that cells within tissues are bound together. However this is only one side of the coin. Dr. Almut Köhler from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT and her group of researchers are investigating a cadherin type that is even able to actively promote cell migration in developing frog brains and tumour tissue.

Article - 13/02/2012

A strange combination: green tea extract and light for treating Alzheimer’s

Andrei Sommer from the University of Ulm and colleagues from Ulm, Heidelberg and Berlin have succeeded in reducing amyloid beta deposits in human neuroblastoma cells by up to 60 per cent in vitro. The researchers found that the apparently strange combination of green tea and red light has the potential to lead to the development of new therapies for Alzheimer’s. There are currently no treatments available that stop or reverse the progression of…

Dossier - 23/01/2012

The neurosciences

Robots that move like ants, brain electrodes that alleviate symptoms of Parkinson’s, arm prostheses that can be controlled with pure thought power – over the last few years enormous progress has been made in the neurosciences and there has been an increasing shift from pure basic to applied research. There is a great deal of creativity in applied research in Baden-Württemberg. Nevertheless, basic research in the southwest of Germany has never…

Article - 16/01/2012

Manfred Jung: drug discovery and the epigenetic code

Prof. Dr. Manfred Jungs team at the University of Freiburg are chemical epigeneticists whose research involves the development of methods that enable them to identify and optimise new therapeutic drugs which are able to alter the epigenetic code of cancer and other cell types. The team use a perfidious worm for their research.

Article - 09/01/2012

Parkinson’s disease – a fatal cycle of falling and rising activity in the basal ganglia

As the disease progresses Parkinsons patients find it increasingly difficult to voluntarily control body movements. The disease is associated with oscillations of electrical activity in specific brain areas known as basal ganglia. Dr. Arvind Kumar and his colleagues at the Bernstein Center Freiburg have used neuronal network simulations to develop a model to explain these rhythmic oscillations.

Press release - 14/12/2011

Towards a Therapy to Healing Stroke

The thalamus is the central translator in the brain: Specialized nerve cells (neurons) receive information from the sensory organs, process it, and transmit it deep into the brain. Researchers from the Institute of Toxicology and Genetics (ITG) of KIT have now identified the genetic factors Lhx2 and Lhx9 responsible for the development of these neurons. Their results contribute to understanding the development of the thalamus. In the long term,…

Article - 26/10/2011

Simple nerve cells regulate swimming depth of marine plankton

Scientists of the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen Germany have identified some signaling substances in the nervous system of larvae of the marine annelid Platynereis regulating the swimming depth. These substances influence the ciliary beating and thus hold the larvae in the preferred water depth. The scientists discovered a very simple circuitry of nerve cells underlying this regulation reflecting an early evolutionary…

Press release - 25/10/2011

How Touch and Movement Contribute to the Development of the Brain

Neuroscientist at the Excellence Cluster CIN at the University of Tübingen together with French colleagues uncovered in an animal model the neuronal processes that underlay the development of sensory maps in the developing brain.

Article - 24/10/2011

Review: Bernstein Conference 2011 – stories from the neurosciences

The German National Bernstein Network for Computational Neuroscience (NNCN), a unique network of researchers working in the still young field of computational neuroscience, held this year’s annual meeting in Freiburg, a city in the south of Germany that is home to six German Bernstein Centers. Now in its 7th year, this year’s Bernstein Conference on Computational Neuroscience also addressed applied aspects of neurotechnology.

Article - 17/10/2011

Aristides Arrenberg uses light to investigate the working memory

Dr. Aristides Arrenberg from the University of Freiburg did his doctorate in the USA where he further developed a method that can be used to silence or activate specific zebrafish nerve cells at will. The method is based on light stimuli that trigger cellular switches. In addition the researchers have recently published an article on research into how eye movements are stored in the hindbrain. Standard network models used for so-called integrator…

Article - 26/09/2011

A close look at individual membrane receptors

The majority of research groups around the world working on membrane receptors are concentrating on the interactions between the receptors and the signalling molecules in the interior of cells and each individual receptor tends to be seen as a black box. The independent research group led by junior professor Dr. Maximilian Ulbrich of the BIOSS excellence cluster at the University of Freiburg has developed a high-resolution real-time method for…

Article - 12/09/2011

Claudia Stürmer: the growth and regeneration of nerve fibres

Axons are the long, slender projections of nerve cells whose growth is governed by the intrinsic properties of neurons as well as by growth-promoting and growth-inhibiting molecules present in the neurons’ environment. In fish, the injured axons of the central nervous systems are able to regenerate. This is not the case in mammals, and therefore humans. A group of researchers led by Prof. Dr. Claudia Stürmer at the University of Konstanz is…

Article - 05/09/2011

Jost Leemhuis – Reelin signalling and psychiatric diseases

The brain has a surprisingly well-ordered architecture. The layered structure of the mature cerebral cortex is formed during development. The neurons of these horizontal layers are important for the interplay of electrochemical impulses that enable us to think feel and remember. This layered structure depends on a molecule known as Reelin and other proteins that regulate the migration of neurons and their positioning in the developing brain. Dr.…

Press release - 29/07/2011

The brain’s connectome – from branch to branch

The human brain is the most complex of all organs, containing billions of neurons with their corresponding projections, all woven together in a highly complex, three-dimensional web. To date, mapping this vast network posed a practically insurmountable challenge to scientists. Now, however, a research team from the Heidelberg-based Max Planck Institute for Medical Research has developed a method for tackling the mammoth task. Using two new…

Article - 12/07/2011

Deeper insight into the activity of the cortex

Visual and tactile objects in our surroundings are translated into a perception by complex interactions of neurons in the cortex. The principles underlying spatial and temporal organization of neuronal activity during decision-making and object perception are not well understood yet. Jason Kerr from Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, in collaboration with Winfried Denk from the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research…

Article - 30/05/2011

CorTec GmbH – a bridge between ideas and action

Brain machine interfaces that are able to read a paralysed patients desired movement from his or her brain and convert it into actual movement might be available in a few years time if everything goes to plan. CorTec GmbH a spin-off company of the University of Freiburg has a technology platform that is able to measure and interpret a persons brain activity and drive muscles or artificial prostheses.

Article - 23/05/2011

Alzheimer’s disease puzzle remains unsolved despite new findings and theories

105 years after the first description of the Alzheimers disease by the German neuropsychiatrist Alois Alzheimer the disease still remains a mystery. Around 25000 researchers worldwide are focusing on Alzheimers and are coming up with a broad range of theories and hypotheses on its pathogenesis and potential therapies.

Press release - 23/05/2011

Interactive exhibition on health opened on Mainau Island

Can neurons grow together again? Is the immune system able to combat cancer? Can a chip help blind people regain their sight? As part of the “Science in Dialogue” (Wissenschaft im Dialog) initiative, the “Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings” foundation has organised an exhibition on health-related topics that will be open to visitors until 4th September 2011. BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg is in pavilion 11 presenting three exciting research topics from…

Article - 18/04/2011

Granule cells – how do neurons “speak”?

Dr. Jakob Wolfart junior professor at the Neurocentre at the Freiburg University Medical Centre and his team are investigating how the behaviour of neurons changes upon the onset of electrical chaos in the hippocampus. Changes in the flow of electrical charge at the cell membranes provide information about disease mechanisms as well as details about the normal functions of neurons and hence the syntax of the electrochemical language which neurons…

Article - 07/02/2011

Jens Kremkow – does the neural network work like a gate?

Billions of nerve cells in our brain communicate with each other and lead to phenomena such as thought feeling and memory would be better. What fundamental information-processing principles govern the chaos of electrical impulses? Dr. Jens Kremkow from the Bernstein Center in Freiburg creates computer models of neural processes. Kremkow and his team carried out many complex simulations from which they were able to develop simple models of the…