Vaccine development - 02/06/2020

CureVac as a pioneer of mRNA technology - what is behind the novel COVID-19 vaccine?

All eyes are on vaccines against the coronavirus. The Tübingen-based company CureVac is doing pioneering work in this field, and intends to initiate clinical testing of its lead vaccine candidate in June. At the same time, Curevac is manufacturing the material for this vaccine candidate. But that’s not all: the novel mRNA technology also has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer and metabolic diseases. What makes the method so…

Material research - 25/05/2020

Reaching up into weightlessness – a start-up that enables commercial research experiments in space

Yuri, a start-up company founded in 2019 in the Lake Constance area, is aiming high. The company’s mission is to enable microgravity research into the development of materials, new medicines and vaccines, including research opportunities on the International Space Station (ISS). Yuri’s tailor-made solutions are faster and more affordable than previous space research missions.

Prime Vector Technologies GmbH (PVT), a start-up company based in Tübingen in southern Germany, uses a modular brick system to develop vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases. The PVT team is currently working flat out to develop a COVID-19 vaccine.

Novel coronavirus outbreak - a status report on recent developments - 04/03/2020

Waiting for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine

Researchers around the world are working frantically on the development of a vaccine against the new coronavirus. A project by the Tübingen-based biotechnology company CureVac, funded by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), uses the company’s technology platform for mRNA-based vaccines to accelerate vaccine development, thus contributing to the future prevention of the disease.

Article - 04/02/2020

Medicine from the blue blood of marine snails

A “living pharmacy” crawls on the ocean floor off the coastline that stretches from Southern California to Mexico: biosyn Arzneimittel GmbH, a pharmaceutical company based in the city of Fellbach in southern Germany, produces a drug to treat bladder cancer, using the haemolymph, a vertebrate fluid equivalent to blood, of Megathura crenulata, commonly known as a giant keyhole limpet.

Article - 18/11/2019

Researchers successfully rejuvenate the immune system in animal models

It is well known that stem cells age. Even the human immune system loses its power with age. Since all immune cells are derived from blood-forming stem cells, it is quite natural to associate the weakening of the immune system (immune senescence) with the ageing of blood-forming stem cells. Stem cell researchers and immunologists from the University of Ulm have now demonstrated the important role that blood-forming cells play in the ageing of the…

Expert interview on NTDs – part 3 - 24/09/2019

Neglected tropical diseases – Franz-Werner Haas: the role of technology and pharmaceutical companies

Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) are poverty-related infectious diseases that suffer from scant attention in terms of research or control. NTDs exist in the shadow of the "big three": malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. They affect many people living in poverty in the emerging and developing countries of the tropics and subtropics. Active control can only be achieved when people with NTDs are treated effectively and given information…

Article - 11/06/2019

New pathogens in beef and cow's milk contributing to the risk of cancer

A team of researchers led by Nobel laureate Prof. Dr. med. Dr. h.c. mult. Harald zur Hausen has discovered a new type of infectious agent in dairy and meat products produced from European cattle that increases the risk for colon and breast cancer. These so-called Bovine Meat and Milk Factors (BMMFs) are small DNA molecules that are similar in sequence to both bacterial plasmids and certain viruses.

Expert interview on NTDs – part 1 - 11/04/2019

Neglected tropical diseases – Carsten Köhler: impulses from Baden-Württemberg

More than one billion people worldwide suffer from neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). NTDs are mostly poverty-related infectious diseases that prevail in tropical countries due to lack of research and measures to detect, prevent and control them. Dr. Dr. Carsten Köhler reports on the political, economic and scientific contributions Germany and Baden-Württemberg can make to successfully change this situation.

Article - 18/03/2019

EHR and PHR: digital records in the German healthcare system

EHRs, i.e. electronic health records (German: Patientenakte, ePA), are hailed as the key to increasing the quality of care. The Appointment Service and Supply Act (TSVG), adopted on 14th March 2019, requires the German statutory health insurance funds to provide policyholders with electronic health records from 1st January 2021 onwards.

Article - 05/03/2019

Vaccination against oncogenic Epstein-Barr viruses

Almost all humans are infected with Epstein-Barr viruses (EBV), which are linked to the development of benign diseases such as infectious mononucleosis as well as several cancers. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center have developed a new strategy for creating a vaccine that targets different EBV virus life phases and has the potential to provide effective protection against EBV infection.

Dossier - 13/04/2015

Boosting the immune system can improve cancer prevention and treatment

The activation of the body’s immune system to fight cancer is not only a promising therapeutic concept, but is already used in medical practice. The first immunotherapies have been approved and many more are either in the experimental stages or already undergoing clinical testing. Vaccines to prevent certain types of cancer are already being used successfully around the world.

Dossier - 31/03/2014

Peptides diverse molecules of life

Peptides exist in all organisms, wherever there are cells. The range of their physiological functions is huge. Biologically active peptides can act as hormones, neurotransmitters, growth factors as well as toxins and antibiotics. This is what makes them highly interesting drug leads. They are used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases, cancer and other diseases. Peptides are gaining in importance as candidates for drugs.

Dossier - 01/04/2013

Retroviruses from infectious agent to therapeutic assistant

Viruses are infectious particles that use the machinery and metabolism of a host cell to replicate. The family of retroviruses is particularly known for its most notorious representative i. e. the human immunodeficiency virus HIV. However retroviruses are not only of interest for researchers looking for effective cures for viral infections their characteristic properties also make them promising laboratory and gene therapy tools.

Dossier - 30/04/2012

Human infectious diseases new threats

The serious EHEC outbreak in Germany in 2011, the 2009 swine flu pandemic, the bird flu pandemic in 2005 and 2006 and the SARS outbreak in China in 2003, all of which have fuelled the fear of devastating epidemics for many people in Germany, have fortunately all been contained – at least up until now. However, experts warn of new dangerous pathogens that are spreading as a result of globalization and global climate warming.