Healthcare industry

Noroviruses often might be the causative agents of Nausea vomiting diarrhoea fever. The Chemical and Veterinary Investigation Office in Stuttgart has now developed a method that enables the detection of these viruses on food.

Article - 13/05/2008

The bachelor's degree as seen by companies: jump start or pole position?

The number of bachelors degree graduates in Germany is still low and companies do not yet have much experience of the new degrees. However one thing has already become clear A bachelors degree is not sufficient for all professional fields. Those hoping for a future in research must continue their university education beyond the initial six semesters.

In an independent market study by Ceresana Research the latest data facts and trends of the antioxidant market are analysed and presented. Data concerning the antioxidant market are subdivided by region based on value and quantity.

In their 9th German Biotechnology Report the industry experts from Ernst Young paint an essentially confident picture of the German biotech industry. However despite the general optimism the picture has a few negative points no company will go public in 2008.

The Ravensburg-based company Vetter Pharma-Fertigung GmbH & Co. KG is one of the leaders in biopharmaceutical contract manufacturing. We spoke with Max Horn, who has been with the company since 1981 and was appointed Managing Director in 2002.

Article - 04/05/2008

Better qualifications pay off

At the beginning of October 2008 the MBA course on Medical Devices and Healthcare Management will commence at the INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS SCHOOL TUTTLINGEN IBST. This masters course an extra-occupational two-year distance-learning course with attendance phases.

Immatics biotechnologies GmbH announced the start of a Phase III trial of its IMA910 cancer vaccine in patients with advanced colorectal cancer. The study will enroll about 70 patients in 8 European countries. The vaccine is developed to slow or halt tumor progression.

From the winter term 20082009 Ulm University will offer a new bachelor course in mathematical biometry. The course which is unique in Germany provides basic knowledge in applied mathematics computer science and the life sciences.

Professor Peter Öhlschläger established his major scientific interests very early on. During his degree thesis at the German Cancer Research Centre DKFZ in Heidelberg the immunologist succeeded in combining his two major interests namely virology and cancer. Öhlschläger is now junior professor at the University of Constance and mainly deals with the development of therapeutic cancer vaccines.

The company Rentschler from Laupheim in the south of Germany is nowadays one of the biggest biopharmaceutical contract manufacturers in Europe. This has not always been the case. A look at the companys history shows why the company which is nowadays run by the third family generation has become what it is today.

Since autumn 2007 Constance has been one of Germanys Elite Universities. UNI-ZEITUNG spoke with Prof. Dr. Andreas Marx spokesperson for the Department of Chemistry and head of the winning Chemical Biology graduate school about the practical consequences.

Scientists from Mannheim Heidelberg an Freiburg working together in the cooperative research area Vascular Biology have developed a method that can be used to create a human vascular system in mice which stays functional even after several months.

People with know-how must bear responsibility said the microbiologist Dr. Kilian Hennes who lectures bioprocess engineering at Constance University of Applied Sciences HTWG. Teaching is one of the major challenges for the experienced scientist and practitioner in particular because his discipline is seen as somewhat exotic by future process engineers and requires a different way of looking at things. But this is what makes his job truly…

Baden-Württemberg universities have adapted their healthcare training and education to different requirements and a number of different specialised courses are on offer.

Professor Roland Schuele from the University Womens Hospital in Freiburg originally studied biochemistry. Nowadays Schuele is researching the development of prostate cancer. During his scientific career he has learnt that research cannot be steered in a particular direction. It develops and we follow it said Schuele who has been able to gain astonishing insights into the molecular processes in tumour cells.

Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center have discovered a key molecule that is responsible for the immature structure of blood vessels in malignant tumors. If this molecule is switched off in mice vessels normalize so that immune cells are better able to get to the tumor tissue.

Boehringer Ingelheim enjoyed continued success in 2007 and its growth is outpacing the pharmaceuticals market for the eighth year in a row. The companys turnover rose by 8.8 in local currency to almost EUR 11 billion.

In the second article in the series on the platforms successful cooperations BioValley presents an encouraging approach for improving the quality of life of severely ill cancer patients and the successful establishment of an industrial biochip platform.

The first European Conference for Clinical Nanomedicine is to be held soon in Basel. BIOPRO has therefore discussed this promising area of application with Beat Löffler and Dr. Patrick Hunziker the founders of the European Foundation for Clinical Nanomedicine.

The medical online learning programme by the Tübingen-based E-learning publisher INMEDEA GmbH simulates procedures and situations in different departments of a hospital with their respective typical patient groups.

Working with colleagues from the Harvard Medical School in Boston USA researchers from Freiburg University have discovered a previously unknown role of insulin in ageing and lifespan. Insulin inhibits a master stress regulator protein known as SKN-1.

Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and their colleagues from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines succeeded in accelerating rice plant breeding by using artificial small RNA molecules.

The paper by Lohmueller et al. 2008 shows that there is proportionally more deleterious genetic variation in European than in African populations. This revelation enables conclusions to be made on the group that emigrated from Africa several thousand years ago.

Article - 16/03/2008

New indication for lead compound of Apogenix

Isolated tumour cells use to invade healthy brain tissue during the development and growth of glioblastoma multiforme GBM. This mechanism involves the CD95CD95L death system. These results supports the therapeutic potential of Apogenix APG101 for the treatment of glioblastomas.

The directors of the Tübingen Max Planck Institute MPI for Developmental Biology are pleased to have a Leibniz prizewinner in their ranks for the second year running. Dr. Elisa Izaurralde and her colleague Dr. Elena Conti have both been awarded the 2008 prize for their outstanding work in the field of RNA research.