Healthcare industry

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.

Dr. Stefan Schiller and Dr. Matthias Huber from the University of Freiburg’s livMatS Cluster of Excellence have succeeded in developing a muscle solely on the basis of natural proteins. The autonomous contractions of the material, which the researchers presented in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems, can be controlled with the help of pH and temperature changes.

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.

microRNA as a prognostic biomarker - 13/01/2022

Heart attack diagnosis: fast and unambiguous thanks to artificial intelligence

People that arrive in emergency rooms with chest pain require swift action in order to rule out a heart attack or to initiate vital life-saving therapy. However, despite many advances, current tests are not yet optimal: they either take hours or produce false-positive results. Researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital are now using AI in an approach that takes microRNAs from a blood sample to specifically diagnose ‘acute coronary syndrome’.

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.