Dossier - 26/03/2012

Nanobiotechnology

What is nanobiotechnology what is the difference between nanotechnology and nanobiotechnology and where and what nanobiotechnological research is being carried out in Germany and more particularly in Baden-Württemberg and which applications is it aimed at?

Article - 01/07/2019

Microswimmers for guided drug delivery

Medicines should act as quickly as possible and ideally only at the site of disease. However, this may be difficult when the medicines are taken up via the digestive tract or the blood system. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart have now developed a biohybrid microrobot consisting of red blood cells and bacteria that can be loaded with active ingredients.

As cancer progresses, the tumor cells continually change, ultimately resulting in a tumor consisting of a large number of different cell clones with different characteristics. This is referred to as "tumor heterogeneity". In many cases, the cancer cells become resistant to the treatments available.

More than 65,000 men fall ill with prostate cancer each year in Germany. Twelve thousand of them develop a treatment-resistant form which eventually ends in death. Now, a team of researchers from the Medical Faculty at the University of Freiburg has developed an active substance that might in future represent a new treatment option.

University of Tübingen research team observes biochemical process in living cells – indications of new approach to preventing heart attacks and strokes

Tübingen achieves remarkable success and has good chance of maintaining its University of Excellence title – Top research in three areas to be sustained from other sources of support.

EMBL scientists pave the way for reducing the harmful side effects antibiotics have on gut bacteria. Antibiotics help us to treat bacterial infections and save millions of lives each year. But they can also harm the helpful microbes residing in our gut, weakening one of our body’s first lines of defence against pathogens and compromising the multiple beneficial effects our microbiota has for our health.

A new method allows stem cells and cancer stem cells to be studied at the single cell level and the resulting cell clones to be traced directly. Studying thousands of individual cells in parallel, the researchers combined the analysis of the genomic cancer mutations with the associated expression profiles.

Heidelberg University is to acquire a research building to develop innovative engineering science strategies and technologies on the basis of life-inspired molecular systems. The German Science and Humanities Council has now expressed its backing for the idea with an outstanding rating. This recommendation is the crucial precondition for a new building on the university campus Im Neuenheimer Feld.

Researchers at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg have gained significant new insights into metabolic processes in the kidney. The scientists from the Institute of Genetic Epidemiology at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg measured tiny molecules, so-called metabolites, which occur in blood and urine and reflect our metabolism, in samples from more than 5,000 study participants.

Stem cell research - 14/03/2024

Using organoids to gain a better clinical understanding of pancreatic cancer

Prof. Dr. Alexander Kleger carries out translational research at Ulm University Hospital to gain a better understanding of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and develop individualised treatments. He and his team are using organoid models and stem cell-based systems and have succeeded in simultaneously cultivating all three main cell types of the pancreas from pluripotent stem cells.

CureVac N.V. (Nasdaq: CVAC) (“CureVac”), a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (“mRNA”), today announced a significant strategic restructuring to focus its resources on high-value mRNA projects in oncology and other select areas of substantial unmet medical need.

Synthetic immunology is the topic of an article in the “Perspectives” section of the journal “Nature Nanotechnology”. Herein, Heidelberg researchers describe a so-called bottom-up approach that uses the toolbox of nanotechnology and synthetic biology to construct systems from molecular building blocks and specifically equip them with immune functions.

The Bayer Foundation's Early Excellence in Science Award 2024 in the category of Data Science goes to Ivana Winkler of the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ). Winkler's work uncovered the unexpected effect of female reproductive capacity: the constantly recurring remodeling of the organs of the female reproductive tract during the sexual cycle leads to fibrosis and chronic inflammation over the years.

A recent study by the Hector Institute for Translational Brain Research at the CIMH provides the first cellular insights into how psilocin promotes the growth and networking of human nerve cells.

The skeletal muscles of men and women process glucose and fats in different ways. A study provides the first comprehensive molecular analysis of these differences. The results possibly give an explanation why metabolic diseases such as diabetes manifest differently in women and men – and why they respond differently to physical activity.

About five percent of lung adenocarcinomas, one of the most common forms of lung cancer, are driven by a faulty fusion of two genes, EML4 and ALK. This fusion results in different variants, and until now, clinicians have treated all patients with these fusions the same way. However, new research led by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Stanford University shows that not all fusion variants behave alike.

Tumors are not a comfortable place to live: oxygen deficiency, nutrient scarcity, and the accumulation of sometimes harmful metabolic products constantly stress cancer cells. A research team from the DKFZ and the IMP in Vienna has now discovered that the acidic pH value in tumor tissue is a decisive factor in how pancreatic cancer cells adapt their energy metabolism in order to survive under these adverse conditions.

Physician and cancer researcher Mirco Julian Friedrich from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), the stem cell research institute HI-STEM*, and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) has received two awards for two independent research projects: his novel approach to preventing liver metastases and his research on T cells, which he modifies to better protect them from attacks by natural killer cells.

The reservoir of blood stem cells shrinks with age. It becomes increasingly dominated by stem cells that produce immune cells associated with chronic inflammation. Almost all of the 60-year-olds studied show this change. The new discovery could help explain the chronic inflammation that occurs with age and makes us more susceptible to disease. It could also help identify early warning signs of unhealthy aging processes.

Article - 14/01/2021

Newly discovered RNA as growth driver in liver cancer

Non-coding RNA (ncRNAs) molecules that do not encode proteins have many different functions, and some are associated with certain diseases. Prof. Dr. Sven Diederichs from the German Consortium for Translational Cancer Research and the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg has been conducting research into these molecules at the Freiburg University Medical Centre and discovered a ncRNA that regulates cell proliferation in cancer cells.

Gene regulation as a starting point for cancer therapies - 02/12/2021

New investigation method for deciphering complex epigenetic networks

The development and maintenance of uncontrolled cell division in tumours is often due to the unbalanced, complex interplay of regulatory epigenetic networks. Researchers at the Institute of Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry in Stuttgart have developed a new screening system to identify essential components that can serve as targets for anticancer drugs.

Today, genome editing is almost as easy as programming software. However, the generation of viral vectors as initial material is still associated with many expensive and error-prone handling procedures. Viruses are generated via complex biological processes that have to be optimised virus-specifically in order to produce high-quality therapeutics. A new method is needed that simplifies and optimises these processes.

Antibodies can improve the rehabilitation of people with acute spinal cord injury. Researchers at 13 clinics in Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Spain have investigated this with promising results. For the first time, it was possible to identify patient groups that displayed a clinically relevant treatment effect. A follow-up study will start in December 2024.

The working group around Dr. Philipp Rathert at the Institute for Biochemistry and Technical Biochemistry investigates the regulation of epigenetic networks of certain cancers and ways of treating them. The working group published its new findings in April.