Healthcare industry

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…

Press release - 17/08/2009

Death Receptor Regulates Brain Regeneration

The so-called death receptor is well known among experts – it induces programmed cell death. In brain stem cells, however, this molecule has an entirely different function, as shown by scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in an article published in CELL Stem Cell. Here, signals to the death receptor cause the formation of new nerve cells (neurons). When the researchers switched off the receptor…

Cannabis intoxication is certainly not the original purpose of the cannabinoid receptors in the human brain. Nowadays there are known body substances which dock to the receptor molecules of nerve cells in a similar way to cannabis. A group of researchers led by pharmacologist Prof. Dr. med. Bela Szabo at the University of Freiburg is investigating the role of this molecular system in the human brain.

Article - 17/12/2012

rent-a-lab – the bioassay specialist

rent-a-lab has been offering services to detect and determine the quantity of biomolecules for around ten years. The company is mainly focused on studies related to the binding of biomolecules to GTP-binding protein-coupled receptors, a field that has attracted a great deal of attention following the award of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012 for the identification of this important class of receptors.

Scientists of the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Centre have clarified the functional principles of an important receptor for bacterial infections: immune cells recognise bacterial and viral pathogens with a receptor known as toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9), which mediates biochemical reaction chains in order to fend off intruders. This discovery made by the Heidelberg researchers paves the way to develop new anti-infective…

Press release - 23/04/2010

Previously unknown protein subunits of GABAB receptors identified

Neurobiologists from the Universities of Freiburg and Basel have published a report on previously unknown subunits of GABAB receptors of the central nervous system in the renowned scientific journal Nature. GABAB receptors are transmembrane proteins in nerve cells that are of crucial importance for brain function as well as playing a vital role in therapy and pharmaceutics.

Article - 29/11/2010

CYP2D6 and the oestrogen receptor

The medicinal adjuvant therapy of breast cancer is a good example of how important it is being aware that different patients metabolise drugs differently. This knowledge plays a key role in the prescription of effective drugs at the correct dose and in preventing adverse reactions and interactions with concomitant drugs.

Article - 25/06/2012

Cannabidiol for the treatment of schizophrenic psychoses

A hemp compound has been shown to increase the effect of the endogenous cannabinoid anandamide in the human brain, thus reducing the delusions associated with psychotic diseases. Studies carried out by Prof. Markus Leweke from the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim involving patients with acute schizophrenic attacks show that the plant compound is better tolerated than currently approved antipsychotic drugs.

Article - 23/06/2016

The body’s immune system loosens artificial joints

Hip and knee endoprostheses are not nearly as long-lasting as their natural counterparts. Dr. Ulrike Dapunt from the University Hospital Heidelberg’s Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology has now discovered that it is not the bacterial activity or secretions that lead to the degradation of bone during chronic inflammation, but rather local host defence mechanisms.

Professor Dr. Günther Schützs work on the cell- and development-specific gene regulation using nuclear receptors has led amongst other things to new insights into the steroid hormone-dependent early development and differentiation of the nervous system the molecular mechanisms of learning and the development and regulation of drug addiction. Schütz has now been appointed Helmholtz professor which will enable him to continue his work beyond…

Article - 03/03/2014

Taking a drug taxi across the blood-brain barrier

The central nervous system CNS which integrates the information it receives from all parts of the body is perhaps the most sensitive organ we have. As toxic compounds are able to disturb brain function enormously the brain is separated from circulating blood by a highly selective permeability barrier known as the blood-brain barrier. However the downside of this protection is that 98 percent of all drugs targeting the CNS cannot pass the barrier.…

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.

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.

Dossier - 29/10/2008

Signal transduction - exciting research with huge potential for the future

Signal transduction is one of the most innovative fields of research in the life sciences. Although the scientists are far from being able to understand and decipher everything the signal researchers nevertheless have a good deal of knowledge about the transduction of signals and the different signalling pathways.

Article - 17/11/2014

About synapses and learning

You can’t teach an old dog new tricks – the old proverb is not totally true. It is now known that the modulation of synaptic functions, including the formation of new neurons, still takes place in old age, although to a lesser extent than in childhood. The human brain stores memories in the form of neural activity patterns. Structural plasticity appears to be the basis for all learning processes. Physician Thomas Hainmüller and Prof. Dr. Marlene…

Malignant brain tumours do not often respond to promising new drugs. Researchers from Heidelberg have now uncovered a mechanism and a tumour marker that are linked to the development of this resistance. A “death receptor” might possibly indicate the chances of success of chemotherapy at the same time as providing new approaches for developing a new therapy for the successful treatment of brain tumours.

Rhodopsin mediates between the visual world and our brain. Biophysicists at Freiburg have used infrared spectroscopy to gain detailed insights into the rhodopsin centre to find out how the molecular side chains of the proteins have to interact in order for the brain to understand the visual environment.

Press release - 22/04/2010

How nerve cells discriminate olfactory clues

Whether different odours can be quickly discriminated depends on whether certain synapses in the brain are able to inhibit neuronal information processing. Scientists led by Professor Dr. Thomas Kuner at the Institute of Anatomy and Cell Biology at the Heidelberg Medical Faculty and Dr. Andreas Schäfer at the Max Planck Institute of Medical Research have shown that mice lacking a certain receptor in the olfactory bulb are able to discriminate…

Press release - 04/02/2010

Signalling pathway in cancer cells needs acid: new targets for tailor-made therapies?

The Wnt signalling pathway plays an important role in embryonic development, in stem cells and also in diseases such as cancer. Some of the individual steps of this signalling pathway are not yet known in detail including in particular the mechanism by which the Wnt protein activates the Wnt receptor during binding. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now made a substantial contribution…

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.

Article - 03/09/2009

The lipid metabolism and the immune system

What has the lipid metabolism of the human body got to do with inflammation? Scientists in Dr. Petra May’s group at the Centre for Neuroscience at the University of Freiburg recently found that molecules which normally regulate the availability of cholesterol and other water-insoluble substances, also interact with the signalling networks of the immune system. According to their findings, a receptor which mediates the uptake of certain…

Article - 20/12/2010

Michael Reth – Immunobiological discoveries that meet resistance

Dr Michael Reth professor at the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and the University of Freiburg and some of his colleagues have recently uncovered the mechanism that foreign substances use to activate B cells of the immune system. The researchers were using synthetic biology methods long before this particular branch of science existed in its present form. Their results require a paradigm change and a revision of the reference books.

Article - 04/02/2013

G protein-coupled receptors and their importance for research and development

Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz were awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their groundbreaking discoveries of the inner workings of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). These transmembrane receptors play a key role in the processing of odours and the recognition of hormones. The work of the two American scientists has had an impact on many researchers around the world. In the following interview, Professor Dr. Daniel Legler, head of…

Following any major blood loss, large amounts of the hormone EPO flood the haematopoietic system in the bone marrow. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Centre (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) in Heidelberg and the University of Freiburg have published an article in Science that reveals how a rapid turnover of EPO receptor molecules on haematopoietic cells ensures that the cells maintain their state of readiness. The body can thus…

In two out of three breast tumors, extraordinarily high levels of the estrogen receptor ERá are found. Scientists of the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now uncovered a mechanism which causes this overproduction. This result might contribute to developing new strategies for fighting the most frequent type of cancer affecting women.