Healthcare industry

Smallest 3D printed miniature endoscope in the world detects cholesterol plaques and thrombs inside human and mouse arteries.

Innovations in the field of endoscopy - 08/06/2020

Gastroscopies with pill cameras

A pill camera to examine the gastrointestinal tract that can be swallowed without major difficulty, controlled intuitively from the outside and deliver images in real time - why would any doctor or patient say no? To non-experts, it sounds more like science fiction but such a device is actually already in development: since 2019, Tübingen-based Ovesco Endoscopy AG and three partners have been working together on this in a project called nuEndo.

Article - 10/10/2018

BABYBE GmbH: Premature babies in contact with mum around the clock

It used to be believed that premature babies needed as much rest as possible. However, studies have since shown that this is not the case at all. According to these studies, the brains of premature babies need to be stimulated 24 hours a day, ideally close to the mother, to ensure healthy development. The Stuttgart-based start-up BABYBE GmbH has developed a special gel mattress that enables babies to perceive their mother’s heartbeat and voice…

Imaging Methods - 03/11/2016

Using sugar to detect brain tumours

An international team of researchers is developing an MRI-based method for the early detection of human brain tumours. The method is called CEST-MRI and it detects elevated glucose concentrations in humour tissues, quantitatively and at high spatial resolution. It does not expose patients to radiation, is non-invasive and relatively inexpensive.

Article - 13/01/2016

New approach for treating depression

Depression is the most common mental health condition; it must be taken seriously and requires treatment. Exactly how and where therapies work is still unclear. Prof. Dr. Dietrich van Calker and Prof. Dr. Knut Biber from Freiburg University Medical Center have been looking into mechanisms of action and have discovered a molecule that appears to be implicated in numerous neuropsychiatric disorders and the effect of various anti-depression…

Article - 27/10/2014

Takeda GmbH in Singen – pharmaceutical development and production under one roof

From stomach protection agents to drugs for the treatment of respiratory distress in preterm infants – Singen-based Takeda GmbH plays an important role as a competence centre for drugs in liquid and semi-solid dosage form within the Japanese pharmaceutical company’s global network. Besides the production of around 68 million packages per year, the company’s production site in Singen also focuses on drug development. The company’s CMC Centre…

Article - 08/04/2013

Top position for German placebo research

Placebo research at Tübingen University is part of a German network that is a world leader in the field. One of the research priorities relates to the perception of pain and the underlying neurobiological mechanisms.

Article - 10/09/2012

Jan Wehkamp to investigate the causes of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases

It takes a great deal of courage to question a common scientific doctrine especially for scientists at the very beginning of their careers. But around ten years ago Dr. Jan Wehkamp did not shy away from doing just that and as a result he and his scientific partner Professor Dr. Eduard Stange came up with a new explanation for the pathogenesis of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases.

Article - 19/12/2011

Wolfgang Rottbauer discovers zebrafish for use in cardiology

Zebrafish is a popular model organism for many researchers around the world. Life scientists such as evolutionary biologists, neurobiologists and toxicologists frequently use the small vertebrate for their investigations. Wolfgang Rottbauer has discovered and established the zebrafish as a model organism for cardiovascular disease research. He has also made a name for himself in this field. However, Rottbauer recalls that his efforts were…

Article - 20/11/2011

Can probiotic lactic acid bacteria protect the intestines against pathogens?

Nutrition scientists from the Max Rubner-Institut MRI in Karlsruhe are investigating how human pathogens and probiotic bacterial strains interact with each other in the human gastrointestinal tract. Are probiotic bacteria in yoghurt or in pickled vegetables for example able to reduce the health risk posed by pathogenic bacteria?

Press release - 08/06/2011

NanoDex Inc.

NanoDex is an RD venture company located in Ebina Kanagawa Prefecture JAPAN. The core technology of NanoDex is the synthesis and application of folate-modified cyclodextrins ND1 as artificial cancer antibodies.

Article - 11/12/2010

Opportunities, benefits and risks are not so different from each other

Adverse drug reactions that compromise the safety of drugs do not necessarily mean that the development of a pharmaceutically active agent is immediately stopped. The case of a pharmaceutical agent initially developed by Tübingen-based c-a-i-r biosciences GmbH shows how an undesired event can actually lead to new opportunities. The original agent is now being further developed on a different basis from the original plans.

Dossier - 15/11/2010

Evidence-based medicine – between magic formula and a doctor's strait jacket

Evidence-based medicine revolves around the principle that doctors only use medications and therapies whose efficacy and usefulness has been reliably proven in scientific studies. The idea behind evidence-based medicine is to improve the quality of medical treatment as well as enable the more rational usage of limited resources in the healthcare sector. However many critics believe that evidence-based medicine has methodological limits in…

Article - 30/08/2010

How cancer-causing bacteria reached the South Seas in outrigger canoes

The bacterium Helicobacter pylori causes gastric ulcers and gastric cancer. The prehistoric great migrations of human populations, including the expansion of the Austronesians across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, can be reconstructed in precise detail from the genetic makeup of different Helicobacter strains.

Article - 01/08/2010

Manfred Kist – 25 years of fascination for a stomach bacterium

Helicobacter pylori is a genus of bacteria that inhabits the human stomach. The bacteria can cause duodenal and gastric ulcers and are also linked to the development of gastric cancer. Prof. Dr. Manfred Kist from the Freiburg University Medical Centre has spent around 25 years of his scientific career on investigating H. pylori a bent rod-shaped bacterium.

Article - 15/03/2010

Cornelia Ulrich: Cancer prevention through food and sports

The appointment of Cornelia Ulrich as professor and head of the Departments of Preventive Oncology at the National Centre for Tumour Diseases and the German Cancer Research Centre shows that Heidelberg is expanding its research priorities in the prevention and early diagnosis of cancer. Ulrichs main focus has been on the folic acid metablism C1 compounds and inflammation.

Dossier - 15/03/2010

Vaccine development

As the recent discussion on the pros and cons of swine flu vaccinations has shown vaccinations are not very popular in Germany. However people tend to forget that no other medical development has helped people to the same extent as immunisation with vaccines has done. Examples include the discovery of the cow pox vaccination by Edward Jenner in 1796 and all the programmes that have been set up by the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation…

Article - 03/12/2009

Matthias Giese: DNA vaccine to combat worldwide honeybee deaths

Varroa mites attach to the body of bees and weaken them by sucking hemolymph infecting them with viruses that are believed to be the cause of the mass death of European honeybee colonies. Matthias Giese of the Heidelberg-based Institute for Molecular Vaccines developed a DNA vaccine that might just lead to a breakthrough in the quest to get rid of the Varroa parasites. Giese tells us about his project in the following interview.

Article - 20/04/2009

Biomarkers for the identification of metastases

Prof. Dr. Heike Allgayer a surgeon and molecular biologist from Heidelberg is investigating the molecular processes of the formation of tumour metastases. A major objective of her research is to find specific biomarkers that enable the early identification of metastases and to monitor the outcome of therapy. She has already received numerous prizes for her achievements.

Article - 06/04/2009

Frank Allgöwer: an engineer with wild ideas

At the age of 19 Frank Allgöwer did not have the faintest idea that he would one day be head of the Department of Technical Cybernetics at the University of Stuttgart. There was no way he could have known this as the high-school graduate had never even heard of the subject. Neither could he have known that the methods developed in this department would one day be used to control robotic arms as well as to analyse biological processes. These days…

Although there is very little difference between the biotechnological methods used in the dairy industry and those used in other industries nevertheless biotechnology operates differently here. Why can certain goals sometimes be reached more effectively without academic research?

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.

Article - 29/11/2008

The worm in humans

Caenorhabditis elegans has a lifespan of 20 days. The worm is as small as a comma and consists of only 959 cells. Caenorhabditis elegans is very different from Homo sapiens who might at least in Germany live for as long as 79 years or more. Nevertheless the tiny worm is the most important model organism for researchers into ageing who use it to study the development of age-related diseases and the ageing process itself.

Karen Grave-Hermann and Dr. Robert Hermann founded cr.applications in 2003. The two specialists who have wide-ranging experience in drug development talked to Michael Statnik about current trends in their field and about the development of the German biotech sector.

Press release - 15/10/2008

Hans-Jürgen Apell - insights into active ion transport

Biophysicist Prof. Hans-Jürgen Apell carries out basic research at the University of Constance in order to elucidate the molecular mechanisms involved in the transport of ions through membranes and to come up with important findings for new therapeutic concepts. His major field of research focuses on structure-function relationships of P-type ATPases enzymes which cleave ATP adenosine triphosphate and transport ions thereby resulting in muscle…