The recently established ITCC-P4 gGmbH provides academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies with a comprehensive repertoire of modern laboratory models of pediatric tumors. The aim is to systematically test new treatment options for children and adolescents with cancer and to contribute data to regulatory approval processes in order to make the development of new cancer therapies for children and adolescents more attractive.

Optogenetic cell analysis - 15/05/2023

opto biolabs: how frustration and inventiveness led to the establishment of a company

When she found she had no suitable illumination devices for her doctoral thesis, Dr. Kathrin Brenker simply created her own customised adapters and founded a company called opto biolabs. Now, Brenker and company co-founder Luis Köbele sell two different types of devices. The main goal is to equip laboratories with illumination technologies that allow optogenetics methods to be used to accelerate development of optogenetic therapeutics.

Researchers at the University of Konstanz publish image analysis software that automatically detects and classifies defects of animal development. Thanks to artificial intelligence, "EmbryoNet" outperforms human experts in terms of speed, accuracy and sensitivity.

Initial Phase 1 part started with multivalent modified mRNA influenza vaccine candidates. Candidates developed in collaboration with GSK within broad infectious disease vaccine program encode for antigens covering four WHO-recommended flu strains.

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive and deadly form of breast cancer with limited treatment options. Tumor growth and relapse of TNBC are driven by breast cancer stem cells, and improved therapies that can eliminate those hardy cells are urgently needed. Researchers from the University of Frieburg discovered that coordinated differentiation and changes in the metabolism of breast cancer stem cells make them invisible for…

Konstanz researchers discover the function of a previously unexplored protein: In three characteristic steps, "C12orf29" links the ends of RNA strands. Proteins that perform this kind of RNA ligation were previously unknown in humans. The results of the study suggest that it is important for RNA repair during cellular stress.

How can camera images be used during minimally invasive surgeries to assess whether the operated organ is sufficiently perfused with blood? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Städtisches Klinikum Karlsruhe have now succeeded in automatic monitoring of ischemia during a kidney surgery using only the optical properties of the tissue and not relying on injection of contrast agent.

Bacteria of the species Pseudomonas aeruginosa are antibiotic-resistant hospital germs that can enter blood, lungs and other tissues through wounds and cause life-threatening infections. In a joint project, researchers from the Universities of Freiburg and Strasbourg in France have discovered a mechanism that likely contributes to the severity of P. aeruginosa infections.

Patients have 30 percent fewer serious side effects when medication doses are tailored to their genetic profile. This is what an international research consortium has found out, including the Dr. Margarete Fischer-Bosch Institute of Clinical Pharmacology at the Bosch Health Campus. With an individual DNA medication pass, as used in the study, treatments can be made more effective and safer in the future.

Cancer immunotherapies often fail because the immune cells are paralysed by immunosuppressive conditions in the tumor. Scientists from Heidelberg, Mannheim and Tel Aviv have now shown on tissue samples from patients as well as on tumor models in mice that the functionality of the immune defence depends decisively on certain helper cells.

Heidelberg scientists succeed in boosting the efficiency of CRISPR/Cas9 and related methods and modifying initially inaccessible DNA sequences.

With the "Česká Hlava" awards, the Czech government has been honoring the country's most brilliant minds every year since 2002 and recognizing exceptional achievements in research, development and innovation. Martina Benešová-Schäfer of the German Cancer Research Center was among the six laureates honored in 2022 at Charles University in Prague.

Acute Graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) is a life-threatening complication after leukemia treatment with allogeneic stem cell transplantation i.e. the transplantation of cells from another person. GvHD occurs when the transplanted immune cells are overly active and damage the receiving patient's healthy tissue. Researchers found that an endogenous molecule can mitigate this misdirected immune response.

The hospital pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa requires the sugar-binding proteins LecA and LecB to form biofilms as well as to attach to and penetrate host cells. These so-called lectins are therefore suitable targets for active substances to combat Pseudomonas infections. Researchers from Saarbrücken and Freiburg have now produced potent inhibitors for LecA and LecB that are more stable and soluble than previous drug candidates.

Researchers at the University of Freiburg Medical School led by Prof. Dr. Johannes Letzkus and the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research have discovered that a little-studied area of the brain, the "zone of uncertainty" or "zona incerta," communicates with the neocortex in unconventional ways to rapidly control memory formation.

Using new microscopic methods in combination with machine learning-based image analysis, researchers from Freiburg have discovered new structures on the surface of living B cells that affect the distribution and possibly the function of their antigen receptors. The researchers' study has been published in The EMBO Journal.

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced positive preliminary data from ongoing Phase 1 clinical programs in COVID-19 and seasonal flu, assessing both modified and unmodified mRNA technology. The tested vaccine candidates are being developed in collaboration with GSK.

Mitochondria are considered to be the power plants of cells and are essential for human metabolism. Dysfunction in 40 percent of mitochondrial proteins are associated with human diseases, which is why mitochondria also play an important role in medical research. A previously unexplained process in the complex mitochondria was the formation of their barrel pores.

In our bones, specialized cells called osteoblasts are responsible for building up bone substance. A team of researchers led by scientists from the DKFZ-Hector Cancer Institute at the University Medical Center Mannheim* and the University Medical Center Hamburg Eppendorf has now identified an enzyme that controls the activity of osteoblasts.

Heidelberg scientists decode the genetic foundations of rapid testicle evolution in mammals and humans. Evolutionary pressure across male mammals to guarantee the procreation of their own offspring led to a rapid evolution of the testicle.

Inhibition of a protein complex in cells of the immune system prevents rejection of transplanted organs – this has been shown in a study by immunologists from the University of Konstanz, the Biotechnology Institute Thurgau (BITg) and Chongqing Cancer University Hospital.

Neurodegenerative diseases - 12/12/2022

Blood-based biomarkers allow the early prediction of Alzheimer's risks

Most dementia diseases develop insidiously and are only detected at an advanced stage. Researchers at the University of Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now identified the glial fibre acidic protein (GFAP) in the blood as a promising biomarker that can be used to determine an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease up to 17 years before diagnosis.

During infections, the hematopoietic system switches from normal to emergency mode. This improves the defense against the pathogens. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) have now found an epigenetic switch in blood stem cells and progenitor cells of mice that can trigger the switch from one mode to the other.

The newborn's immune system is suddenly confronted with microorganisms, food and numerous environmental influences at birth. How do the baby's immune cells prepare for this moment during pregnancy and birth? How do external influences shape the immune system immediately after birth? And what influence does an event like a premature birth have?

The Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prüfung (BAM) is developing a more sustainable process to produce active pharmaceutical ingredients in a major EU project: The pilot project is intended to demonstrate the advantages of mechanochemistry for more environmentally friendly and CO2-neutral pharmaceutical production.

Researchers of the University of Freiburg introduce biosensor for the nucleic acid amplification-free detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

DZNE researchers discover link between the protein medin and Alzheimer's disease. The protein medin is deposited in the blood vessels of the brains of Alzheimer's patients along with the protein amyloid-β. DZNE Researchers have discovered this so-called co-aggregation. They have now published their observation in the renowned journal Nature.

Using animal-free methods to assess the hazard potential of chemicals to the nervous system of unborn children? An international research team including toxicologists from Konstanz and Düsseldorf has developed a testing battery based on human cells that has the potential to replace traditional methods for assessing developmental neurotoxicity.

Researchers have created a tool that maps how breast cancer grows in previously unseen detail, and highlights how the cells around the tumour may be the key to controlling the spread of disease. The new technology can trace which populations of breast cancer cells are responsible for the spread of the disease, and for the first time highlights how the location of cancer cells could be as important as mutations in tumor growth The new study is…

The health of nerve cells is closely linked to the auxiliary cells that surround them, the so-called glial cells. It still remains largely unknown what role glial cells play in age-related diseases.

During the growth and development of living organisms, different types of cells must come into contact with each other in order to form tissues and organs together. A small team working with Prof. Dr. Anne Classen of the Excellence Cluster CIBSS of the University of Freiburg has discovered that complex changes in form, or morphogenesis, during development are driven exclusively via the affinity of cells to each other.

Toxicologists from the University of Konstanz have found that the protein p53 continuously protects our cells from tumorigenesis by coordinating important metabolic processes that stabilize their genomes.

Why do metastases often only appear after the original tumor has been surgically removed? Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Mannheim Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University have now published an explanation for this phenomenon. They were able to identify a messenger substance of the cancer cells that locally promotes the growth of the primary tumor.

Researchers of the University of Freiburg have discovered a previously unknown function of septins in defending cells against dangerous hospital pathogens.

Apogenix, a biopharmaceutical company developing next generation immunotherapeutics, announced today that asunercept showed statistically significant benefits for hospitalized COVID-19 patients in the ASUNCTIS trial. The open-label multi-center phase II trial investigated efficacy and safety of asunercept in 435 patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 disease.

Researchers from Freiburg and Harvard publish the three-dimensional structure of the B cell antigen receptor, shedding new light on its composition.

Dossier - 12/10/2022

The health sector must become greener

Worldwide, the health sector is struggling with the consequences of global warming, but fatally is itself responsible for a significant proportion of greenhouse gas emissions. Studies show that hospitals and rehabilitation clinics in particular have great potential for reducing these emissions and, like the manufacturing industry, need to fundamentally revise established processes.

In the brain of adult mammals neural stem cells ensure that new nerve cells, i.e. neurons, are constantly formed. This process, known as adult neurogenesis, helps mice maintain their sense of smell. A research team led by Dr Francesca Ciccolini at the Interdisciplinary Center for Neurosciences (IZN) of Heidelberg University recently discovered a second stem cell population in the mouse brain.

Although just cute little creatures at first glance, the microscopic geckos and octopuses fabricated by 3D laser printing in the molecular engineering labs at Heidelberg University could open up new opportunities in fields such as microrobotics or biomedicine. The printed microstructures are made from novel materials – known as smart polymers – whose size and mechanical properties can be tuned on demand and with high precision.

Screening trials for the early detection of rare diseases often fail due to insufficient predictive power of the results. For the rare HPV-related cancer of the pharynx, scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) now relied on the combined detection of antibodies against two different viral proteins in a proof-of concept trial.

Cancer cells often grow in environments that are low in nutrients, and they cope with this challenge by switching their metabolism to using proteins as alternative "food". Building on genetic screens, an international team of scientists could identify the protein LYSET as part of a pathway that allows cancer cells to make this switch. Their findings are now published in the journal Science.

Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with an estimated 1.4 million deaths and ten million people infected annually. Resistant and multidrug-resistant (MDR) variants of the tuberculosis pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis pose a major threat to tuberculosis control and global health.

Changes known as epigenetic modifications play an important role in cancer development, among other things. Being able to analyze them quickly and reliably could, for example, contribute significantly to the further development of personalized therapy.

CureVac N.V., a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on mRNA, today announced the start of a Phase 1 study of the modified COVID-19 mRNA vaccine candidate CV0501, administered as a booster dose to previous COVID-19 vaccination. Developed in collaboration with GSK, CV0501 is based on CureVac’s second-generation mRNA backbone and is designed to specifically protect against the Omicron variant.

University of Tübingen team discovers how malformations of the blood vessels can occur in mice – yielding information with possible ramifications for retinal disease.

Mitochondria are the power plants of cells, and they contain their own genetic material and RNA molecules. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now discovered that certain modifications in mitochondrial RNA boost the invasive spread of cancer cells by supporting protein synthesis in mitochondria.

Does COVID-19 vaccination increase the risk of cancer patients undergoing therapy with immune checkpoint inhibitors to suffer a dangerous immune complication known as a "cytokine release syndrome"? A team of Heidelberg physicians and scientists has now shown in a clinical study: Increased serum levels of the characteristic cytokines occur frequently in cancer patients, but clinically relevant cases of the dreaded syndrome were not…

Assay to support the diagnosis of autoimmune diseases - 22/06/2022

Tracking down pathogenic immune complexes

Soluble complexes of antibodies and their target structures circulating in the blood can trigger serious systemic inflammations. Dr. Philipp Kolb and Haizhang Chen from the Institute of Virology at the Freiburg University Medical Centre have developed a sensitive, cell-based test system for detecting these immune complexes. The system can be used to diagnose systemic autoimmune diseases, and also severe cases of COVID-19.

Scientists from the 2. Physics Institute at the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research were now able to take the next step towards synthetic cells: They introduced functional DNA-based cytoskeletons into cell-sized compartments and showed functionality. The results were recently published in Nature Chemistry.

Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other neurodegenerative diseases are associated with inflammatory processes in the brain. German researchers have succeeded in identifying a group of proteins in the liquor that could provide information about such inflammatory processes. As so-called biomarkers, the proteins could help to better understand disease processes in the future and to test the effect of potential drugs against brain inflammation.

The nuclease Cas13b associated with the CRISPR gene scissors, which is an enzyme that degrades nucleic acids, has the potential to be used in the future in hereditary diseases to switch off unwanted genes. In the fight against infections, this nuclease is also being researched as an antiviral agent, as Cas13b can specifically intervene in the genetic material of viruses and render them harmless.

Microrobots have the potential to revolutionize medicine. Researchers at the Max Planck ETH Centre for Learning Systems have now developed an imaging technique that for the first time recognises cell-sized microrobots individually and at high resolution in a living organism. This is an important step towards precise control of the robots and their clinical translation.

While broad-spectrum antibiotics can offer protection against a wide variety of bacteria, there are currently no analogous clinically available broad-spectrum antiviral agents that can act on several different viruses. An international research team has now shown that polystyrene sulfonate (PSS), a negatively charged polymer, has the potential to be used in the prevention of viral infections – not only in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 and cold…

Certain childhood tumors have an extreme need for amino acids. Scientists at the Hopp Children's Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the University of Heidelberg, and HI-STEM* gGmbH have now discovered the molecular mechanisms underlying this and how the cancer cells could be turned off.

Metastatic breast cancer cells abuse macrophages, a type of immune cell, to promote the settlement of cancer metastases in the lungs. The reprogrammed macrophages stimulate blood vessel cells to secrete a cocktail of metastasis-promoting proteins that are part of the so-called metastatic niche.

The Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is funding a new Emmy Noether junior research group at the DKFZ for six years with a total of around 2 million euros. The scientists and doctors, who are part of the Clinical Cooperation Unit for Pediatric Leukemia at the KiTZ, are using a new procedure to investigate how cancer cells manipulate the formation of proteins to become resistant to cancer drugs.

COVIC-19 clinical trial - 07/04/2022

Convalescent plasma for COVID-19 therapy: clinical trial should bring clarity

Does it help to treat COVID-19 sufferers with antibodies from people who have recovered from the disease? It seems an obvious idea and has been tested thousands of times. However, there is not yet enough evidence to prove the clinical efficacy of treating COVID-19 patients with convalescent plasma. The transfusion physician Prof. Dr. Hubert Schrezenmeier from Ulm is planning to carry out a follow-up clinical trial to find the missing evidence.

On March 23, 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted approval to the first targeted radioligand therapy against metastatic prostate cancer based on a joint patent of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Heidelberg. The agent significantly improves the chances of survival for those affected.

CureVac N.V. a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced that the first participant was dosed in a Phase 1 study of COVID-19 second-generation mRNA vaccine candidate, CV2CoV, developed in collaboration with GSK.

Junior Professor Dr Daniela Duarte Campos has been awarded a substantial grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). She and her junior research group are investigating bioprinting for tissue and organ engineering at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University and at the “3D Matter Made to Order” Cluster of Excellence, a collaboration between Ruperto Carola and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Laboratory studies of lung tissue usually require the removal of large amounts of human or animal tissue. Now scientists from the University of Freiburg’s Faculty of Medicine have succeeded in collaboration with American researchers in generating tiny quantities of lung tissue, so-called organoids, from just a few body cells in the lab.

In order to develop approaches for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's dementia in clinical trials, it would be helpful to be able to identify people with a particularly high risk of developing the disease. But which biomarkers can indicate an increased likelihood of disease early on in symptom-free people who actually develop Alzheimer's later?

More and more data from various European countries prove: Vaccination against human papillomavirus not only prevents precancerous lesions, but also reliably protects against cervical cancer. On the occasion of the International HPV Awareness Day on March 4, Nobel laureate Harald zur Hausen hopes that many more parents will recognize this unique opportunity to protect their children from preventable cancers by vaccinating against HPV.

Macrophages interacting with cytomegaloviruses - 22/02/2022

Cytomegaloviruses subvert macrophage identity

Cytomegaloviruses are basically harmless. However, if they occur along with other pathogens, they can trigger serious diseases. They can manipulate our immune system and encourage resident defence cells to migrate. Researchers at the Centre for Chronic Immunodeficiency (CCI) at the Freiburg University Medical Centre have discovered which mechanisms underlie the behavioural changes in macrophages that make it easier for other pathogens to attack.

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced that it has dosed the first participant in a Phase 1 study of its seasonal influenza second-generation mRNA vaccine candidate, CVSQIV, developed in collaboration with GSK.

The European Research Council is funding a large-scale proof-of-concept study on a new genome sequencing method called “Haplotagging”. Haplotagging is a new method for sequencing our genome with superior quality and faster speed, developed by group leader Frank Chan and his team at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory at the Max Planck Campus, Tübingen, Germany.

Researchers use epigenetic factors to investigate the role of stress in the development of tumor diseases. Experts believe that stress plays a major role in the development of tumors. One occupational group, for example, that experiences extreme stress over a short period of time is astronauts.

Drugs consist of molecules developed in the drug laboratory that bind to their target, usually a protein, and thus exert their effect. The actual duration of binding of a drug molecule to its target protein varies depending on the drug. The lifetime of the drug-target complex can play a critical role in the efficacy of a drug, as a long residence time at the target can be crucial for the drug's action in some cases.

The incidence of colorectal cancers in young adults is increasing. At the same time, the proportion of overweight and obese young people is also on the rise. Whether there is a connection between these two observations, however, was not known until now. Scientists at the DKFZ have now shown that the risk of early colorectal cancer is significantly increased in overweight young people compared to normal-weight peers.

Genetic alterations that promote the development and spread of tumors are difficult to identify. This is especially true for mutations in the non-protein-coding regions of the genome, which include all important regulatory sequences. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now published an algorithm that detects cancer drivers in both the protein-coding and non-coding regions of the genome.

Researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD), the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and at the National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT) Heidelberg have demonstrated for the first time that there is a link between the development of colorectal cancer in individuals with Lynch syndrome and the composition of immune cells in the colorectal mucosa.

Today, the EU Parliament adopted the EU Regulation on Health Technology Assessment (HTA), which includes not only new medicines (including gene and cell therapies), but also medical devices.

A new interdisciplinary research project aims to uncover information that can help decode hereditary colon cancer with the aid of mathematical models. Mathematicians and tumour biologists of Heidelberg University, the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies, Heidelberg University Hospital, and the German Cancer Research Center are collaborating on the project.

The development of immunotherapies against blood cancer could be more successful if T cells are activated moderately rather than excessively. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have now been able to show this in mice: If the researchers blocked a cytokine that slows down the immune system, the T cells became exhausted and failed in the fight against leukemia.

At Tübingen University Hospital, a preclinical study led by Dr. Clemens Hinterleitner and Prof. Dr. Lars Zender, Medical Director of Medical Oncology and Pneumology, led to extremely promising results. The research group was able to develop a new methodology that makes it possible to better predict the likelihood of success of immunotherapies for lung cancer.