Healthcare industry

Extends ongoing collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with award of two new grants. CureVac AG, a fully-integrated biopharmaceutical company pioneering the field of mRNA-based drugs, today announced the awarding of two new grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

GENOVAC GmbH has started a research project funded by the German Ministry for Business and Technology BMWi as part of the program PRO INNO II for the Development and validation of antibodies as a novel therapeutic concept to block liver infection by hepatitis C Virus.

Article - 18/08/2016

Chronic viral infections of the liver

Hepatitis B and hepatitis C are two of the most common infectious diseases in the world. They often take a chronic course and carry a high risk of progressing to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. A new transregional collaborative research centre involving scientists from Heidelberg and Freiburg is looking into how hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses, which have different symptoms and treatments, are able to evade the immune system and allow…

The Comprehensive Infectious Diseases Centre at the University of Ulm was recently presented to the public. The centre is responsible for coordinating the cooperation between specialists in the diagnosis and therapy of complex infectious diseases.

Press release - 08/04/2020

“Access checker” remotely measures body temperature in addition to heart and breathing rate

An innovative measurement method is helping to detect people infected with coronavirus from a safe distance. It detects fever, increased pulse rates and fast breathing without endangering the person conducting the testing. Fraunhofer IPA and Fraunhofer IAO are currently testing the procedure at the Robert Bosch Hospital in Stuttgart.

Article - 22/08/2017

Transgenic mice in influenza research – risk assessment and vaccine development

A research team from Freiburg is developing a method for identifying human influenza viruses of animal origin. This could potentially improve measures taken to prevent imminent pandemics. The researchers are working with genetically modified mice. Transgenic mice also play a role in the development of a ’universal’ influenza vaccine.

Inside the fight against COVID-19 - 28/10/2020

A new immunotherapeutic agent for treating severe COVID-19 cases

Apogenix, a Heidelberg-based biopharmaceutical company specialising in innovative immunotherapeutics, has initiated a Phase II clinical trial with asunercept, the company’s lead drug candidate for treating severe cases of COVID-19. The fusion protein blocks the CD95-ligand-mediated death of epithelial cells in the lung and thus prevents damage to the organ.

Press release - 30/03/2010

Mediagnost GmbH - successfull since 25 years

Mediagnost Gesellschaft für Forschung und Herstellung von Diagnostika GmbH in Reutlingen is one of the oldest biotechnology companies in Germany. Mediagnost offers a broad range of services including the production of antibodies proteins and viruses the analysis of samples and the customisation of raw materials. The company celebrated its 25th anniversary on 19th March 2010 with a series of events.

PixelBiotech GmbH - 27/07/2021

Searching for tracks with cytogenetics and AI

The startup Pixelbiotech combines fluorescence techniques with artificial intelligence to detect DNA and RNA in medical samples. HuluFISH is the name of the method, which allows for countless applications - from detecting viral infections, such as COVID-19 or African swine fever virus, to the quality control of gene and immunotherapeutic procedures in cancer medicine.

Article - 08/07/2013

Christine Goffinet: independent and successful AIDS researchers

Christine Goffinet, 36, from the Institute of Molecular Virology at the University of Ulm has already received numerous awards for her research on AIDS. She was recently awarded a scholarship for postdoctoral lecture qualification under the Margarete von Wrangell Habilitation Programme. However, before she became a virologist, Goffinet chose a career path that was quite different from the standard career path seen on many scientific CVs.

Article - 17/10/2011

Papillomaviruses as cancer-causing agents and how they can be fought off

Studies presented at the recent International Papillomavirus Conference in Berlin demonstrate that vaccination can prevent infection with the types of HPV that cause the majority of cervical cancers. New improved vaccines to prevent HPV infections as well as therapeutic vaccines that are effective in people that are already infected are currently being developed. In addition, research has shown that other cancers can also be caused by infective…

Dossier - 05/11/2012

Cancer – basic research, successes and trends

Science is approaching cancer treatment by using new systems biology approaches and setting up large-scale multidisciplinary projects such as the International Cancer Genome Consortium. Progress in genome, epigenome and gene expression analyses of cancer cells, new insights into the regulation and interaction of cells gained in cooperation with stem cell research and virus research contributes to gaining a causal understanding of cancer. This…

Identification of contacts is one of the most important measures to mitigate the spread of the Corona virus. Tracing apps are to help. Technical implementation, however, is associated with the risk of data misuse and the approaches presented so far do not sufficiently protect privacy. Researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and of the FZI Research Center for Information Technology have now proposed an app that enhances privacy.

Article - 03/12/2010

Review: Science meets Business Day 2010 (part I)

Germinating seeds biosensors in the human body deaf people learning to hear again and new approaches to combat the flu virus the lectures held at the Science meets Business Day which concluded this years BioValley Science Week once again highlighted the innovations brought about through the joint efforts of research and industrial players on the Upper Rhine.

Review article (new edition) - 08/07/2020

Immunology – at the forefront of medical progress

Immunology is constantly changing with the emergence of new technologies and areas of application, and has branched out in many directions. Immunological approaches are central to everything – be it the development of innovative active substances and vaccinations against cancer, the search for new therapies against neurodegenerative diseases or autoimmune diseases, or combatting well-known infectious diseases or new virus epidemics.

The next generation of Antiviral Therapies: Led by Stichting Participatie Atriva together with High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Atriva Therapeutics GmbH has received seed financing from Dutch and German private investors to advance Atriva’s antiviral MEK-Inhibitors (Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase inhibitor) against Influenza into the clinical development stage.

Article - 15/03/2010

Innovative navigation system enables gene shuttles to reach their destination

If everything goes to plan the Department of Gene Therapy at the University of Ulm will soon lose a work group to industry. Florian Kreppels team plans to turn a particular technology into hard cash using a method that can do something other gene shuttles are unable to do namely transport their freight to a specific destination.

Trenzyme GmbH - 20/05/2020

The SARS-CoV spike protein and its receptor

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus uses a spike protein to bind to the ACE2 receptor on the cell surfaces of lung tissue. Additional cofactors are needed to allow the virus genome to penetrate human cells and multiply. Knowing these relationships can help understand the course of the infection and develop counterstrategies. To this end, the Constance-based company Trenzyme has produced a recombinant spike protein to support coronavirus research.

CureVac N.V., a global biopharmaceutical company developing a new class of transformative medicines based on messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), today announced the publication of preclinical data demonstrating that their COVID-19 vaccine candidate, CVnCoV, protects against challenge infections with the SARS-CoV-2 Variant of Concern B.1.351 and a strain of the original SARS-CoV-2 B1 lineage (BavPat1) in a transgenic mouse model.

Viral zoonoses - 24/01/2022

Development of inhibitors that help stop viral zoonoses

Emerging viral infections such as COVID-19 or Zika disease pose an increasing threat to humans. At the Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology (IPMB) at Heidelberg University, Prof. Dr. Christian Klein's research group is developing inhibitors against already known viruses in the hope that these can also be used against new virus variants.

Staying healthy as you get older that is probably what many people would wish for. As part of the European research network LifeSpan 130 scientists are now looking into how to make this wish come true. Prof. Dr. Graham Pawelec from the University Hospital of Tübingen UKT is one of the 130 scientists and his principal focus is immunological ageing processes.

In a so-called inactivated or killed vaccine, the virus particles it contains are first rendered inactive by means of the toxic chemical formaldehyde. A better way of achieving this, however, is to irradiate the pathogens with low-energy electrons. Four Fraunhofer Institutes have now developed a new method of vaccine production based on this technique that is not only quicker but also guarantees a higher quality of product.

Article - 24/03/2014

Vaccine against papillomaviruses protects from skin cancer

Papillomaviruses are thought to cause non-melanoma skin cancer in people exposed to UV radiation, especially those who have suppressed immune systems. Researchers from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Charité University Hospital in Berlin have developed a vaccine that protects mice against such skin tumours. The vaccine is even effective in mice that have previously been infected with papillomaviruses and that have suppressed…

Scientists from the Tübingen Competence Center for Machine Learning and physicians from the University Hospital of Tübingen have developed an app that uses anonymous health data to contribute to a better understanding of the novel coronavirus.

CureVac AG, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering mRNA-based drugs for vaccines and therapeutics, confirmed today that internal efforts are focused on the development of a coronavirus vaccine with the goal to reach, help and to protect people and patients worldwide.