Baden-Württemberg AI Alliance - 08/04/2025

Achieving widespread use of AI

Artificial intelligence presents both opportunities and risks. The Baden-Württemberg AI Alliance is dedicated to fostering collaboration among AI stakeholders to ensure that AI solutions deliver tangible benefits to citizens and businesses across the state. The alliance will also place greater emphasis on advancing AI applications within the healthcare sector.

Germany's most important award for young scientists honors the development of immunotherapies against malignant brain tumors.

Researchers from the universities in Konstanz and Vienna discover a new class of antibiotic that selectively targets Neisseria gonorrhoeae, the bacterium that causes gonorrhoea. These substances trigger a self-destruction program, which also operates in multi-resistant variants of the pathogen. The novel findings are published in the current issue of Nature Microbiology.

The weight of expectant mothers could play a role in the development of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in daughters – but not in sons. This has been shown by researchers at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ).

University of Tübingen research team shortens the search for attackers that can wipe out multiresistant pathogens – with the aim of treating infections without antibiotics

Microorganisms produce nutrients in bioreactors - 12/03/2025

CO2 and H2 as starting materials for proteins and vitamins

Agricultural land needed to sustain the world's growing population is becoming increasingly scarce. To help address this challenge, researchers from the Environmental Biotechnology Group at the University of Tübingen have developed an innovative and sustainable power-to-vitamin technology. This breakthrough enables protein- and vitamin-rich foods to be produced with the help of microorganisms in a bioreactor using carbon dioxide and…

Researchers have developed a new method that enables a more precise analysis of individual tumor cells circulating in the blood. This allows not only the previously possible genomic investigation of such tumor cells, but also the focused analysis of single-cell signaling pathways at the functional protein level. The combined analysis of the mutated genome and signaling proteins opens up new avenues for more targeted treatment methods.

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 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.

Targeted molecular interventions in the replication cycle and the immune recognition of viruses are intended to prevent viral entry into cells and virus replication. Scientists work on new approaches to combating highly dangerous viral diseases such as yellow fever or Lassa fever. The European Union is supporting the project over a period of five years to the tune of just under eight million euros.

Pancreatic cancer is fueled by connections to the nervous system. This is reported by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the Heidelberg Institute for Stem Cell Technology and Experimental Medicine (HI-STEM)*. The team discovered that the tumor reprograms the neurons for its own benefit.

A guardian molecule ensures that liver cells do not lose their identity. The discovery is of great importance for cancer medicine because a change of identity of cells has come into focus as a fundamental principle of carcinogenesis for several years. The research team was able to show that the newly discovered guardian is so powerful that it can slow down highly potent cancer drivers and cause malignant liver tumors to regress in mice.