Healthcare industry

Article - 16/03/2015

Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt - searching for novel antibiotics in bacteria

Microbial metabolic products can be used in the fight against dangerous pathogens such as multidrug-resistant bacteria. Since summer 2014, microbiologist Prof. Dr. Heike Brötz-Oesterhelt has been investigating the mechanisms of action of bacterial substances at the University of Tübingen with the aim of paving the way for new antibiotics. Interesting candidates have already been identified.

Article - 16/03/2015

The critical balance between liver fibrosis and liver regeneration

When the liver has been damaged, a receptor protein of the hepatic stellate cells called endosialin controls the balance between liver repair and scar formation. A team of researchers from Heidelberg and Mannheim has shown that endosialin is a positive regulator of fibrogenesis and a negative regulator of hepatocyte proliferation. Endosialin therefore seems to be a promising therapeutic drug target in non-neoplastic settings.

Dossier - 09/03/2015

Advances in the study and treatment of liver diseases

Liver diseases are often underestimated despite being quite common and potentially having serious and even life-threatening consequences, especially in chronic cases. The most common causes of liver diseases are hepatitis viruses, excessive alcohol consumption, and obesity; congenital or autoimmune liver diseases are quite rare. Thanks to advances in medical research, diseases such as hepatitis B and C can be treated effectively. Fewer advances…

Article - 09/03/2015

Malaria: when an antimalarial drug is no longer fit for purpose

Malaria can be treated with atovaquone a drug that inhibits a particular enzyme in Plasmodia. However the parasites are becoming increasingly resistant to the drug. Carola Hunte and Dominic Birth from the Institute for Biochemistry at the University of Freiburg have shown how atovaquone binds to the protein and what happens at the molecular level in resistant plasmodia. Their research provides an impetus for structure-based drug design aimed at…

Article - 09/03/2015

Treating cancer by activating the immune system

Vaccines that prevent infection with cancer-causing viruses are already available. Moreover, the development of therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of a number of other cancers is well under way. These vaccines not only prevent the development of cancer, but also treat early stages of cancer. Antigen-armed antibodies have long been used in vaccines against infectious diseases, and can now also be used for treating cancer.