Making existing cancer therapy more efficient while significantly reducing the side effects on healthy tissue - this is the aim of a project at Aalen University. It is being funded with one million euros from the Carl Zeiss Foundation. The biophysicist and his team are developing innovative nanoparticles made of gold. The particles use radiotherapy and chemotherapy simultaneously and kill the cancer cells in a targeted manner.

A quantum sensor that can register nerve impulses without contact opens up new possibilities in prosthetics. Researchers at Fraunhofer IPA are developing together with the industrial partner Q.ANT the prototype of one Prosthetic arm that is controlled by neural commands like healthy limbs.

Personalized medicine with individually tailored therapies is becoming more a reality in cancer. This requires a look into the genetic material of tumors, a molecular diagnostic tumor profile. A research group from the German Network for Personalized Medicine (DNPM) has recorded the quality standards according to which genome analyses are carried out in Germany. The data is a prerequisite for integrating gene sequencing into routine care.

Start-up Cerebri GmbH - 05/08/2024

Comprehensive EEG supply thanks to telemedicine

Fewer and fewer patients are getting timely access to electroencephalograms, as the process of measuring brain activity and interpreting the results requires specific expertise. Cerebri GmbH, a newly established Tübingen-based company, aims to address this issue by offering user-friendly EEG caps and providing rapid, location-independent and top-tier diagnostics by experts.

Max Planck scientists will present a low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner in Lindau. Two researchers from the MPI for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen, Germany, will present a model of a new low-field MRI system. It combines hyperpolarization with imaging techniques that can be run at low magnetic field strengths. The quality of the MRI images can be enhanced with the help of artificial intelligence.

BioRegio STERN Management GmbH is a partner in the new RehAllianCE project, which is being funded by the EU as part of the Interreg CENTRAL EUROPE program. The focus is on the use of new technologies in rehabilitation to improve patient care. The aim is to increase the innovation capacities of SMEs so that aids such as rehabilitation robots, exoskeletons etc. can be used more quickly.

Since 2019, the Research Training Group (RTG) "Intraoperative Multisensoric Tissue Differentiation in Oncology," a collaboration between the University of Stuttgart and the University of Tübingen, has been advancing research in medical technology. With the help of new sensor methods, the researchers want to help make surgical procedures on cancer patients safer and more effective.

On May 17, 2024, aesco solutions, a leading group for production and development services (CDMO) for medical device companies, and D11Z. Ventures GmbH & Co. KG (formerly Zukunftsfonds Heilbronn) announce the closing of the acquisition of seleon GmbH.

In the medicine of the future, tiny robots will navigate independently through tissue and medical instruments will indicate their position inside the body during surgery. Both require doctors to be able to localize and control the devices precisely and in real time. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have now described a signaling method based on an oscillating magnet that can significantly improve such medical applications.

How well do the algorithms used in the AI-supported analysis of medical images perform their tasks? This depends to a large extent on the metrics used to evaluate their performance. An international consortium led by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center and the National Center for Tumor Diseases has compiled the knowledge available worldwide on the specific strengths, weaknesses and limitations of the various validation metrics.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has announced the first pivotal decisions for the "Clusters of Excellence" funding line as part of the Excellence Strategy of the German federal and state governments. The University of Stuttgart has been given the green light for two new cluster initiatives.

Waste recycling in the healthcare sector - 30/01/2024

Sustainability in medical technology: a particular challenge

Quality and safety of medical care are top priorities in the healthcare sector. However, this is often at the expense of climate protection, as not only are energy and raw material consumption very high, but so is the amount of waste generated due to the large number of disposable products. Sustainable product design and improved recycling strategies are therefore required to reduce waste and the CO2 footprint.

Health Data Futures project - 11/01/2024

Creating a network of trust

In the three-nation project "Health Data Futures", stakeholders and experts from Germany, France and Switzerland have launched a series of patient-centred innovations. Using various future scenarios, the project partners may be able to come up with even more scenarios.

University of Tübingen neuroscientists discover new functions of head-direction cells suggesting they may contribute to episodic memory formation.

All-enzyme hydrogels in action - 13/12/2023

Biocatalytic foams enable the sustainable synthesis of complex molecules

Conventional chemical synthesis processes consume large amounts of energy and environmentally harmful solvents. Prof. Dr. Christof Niemeyer’s team at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology has generated porous, solid foams from crosslinked enzymes that allow the production of high-quality compounds under significantly more environmentally friendly conditions. The novel biocatalysts are also extremely resistant and have a long shelf life.

The German Cancer Society has certified the Center for Personalized Medicine (ZPM) at Heidelberg University Hospital. At the ZPM Heidelberg, patients with advanced and rare cancers and, in future, people with severe chronic inflammatory diseases will receive a molecular genetic analysis. The detailed information can open up new treatment options for those affected.

The computational design of new proteins for biomedical or other applications involves long computing times on powerful servers. A joint team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen and the University Hospital Tübingen has now developed and tested a new computational method to greatly speed up the necessary energy calculations. Their framework allows for a precise and efficient design of functional proteins.

TÜV SÜD has received approval as a UK Approved Body (UKAB) for medical devices. With this approval, medical device manufacturers can implement UKCA certification for the UK market and CE certification for the European market in a time- and cost-efficient manner with TÜV SÜD.

Germany has the most active market, Southern Europe wants more variety, and people in Poland find dairy substitutes too expensive, according to a recent study by the University of Hohenheim.

Expert interview - 05/07/2023

Every tenth of a degree matters when it comes to mitigating the consequences of global warming: sustainability measures in the laboratory

The life sciences sector consumes huge quantities of energy and resources. This needs to change and we have to think differently. But how and where can sustainability measures be sensibly applied in the laboratory without compromising the quality of research results? Dr. Kerstin Hermuth-Kleinschmidt, owner of NIUB-Nachhaltigkeitsberatung, a company from Freiburg that focuses on sustainability in life sciences, tells BIOPRO how this can be done.

The AutoProNano German/French collaborative project involves developing a process for the automated production of nanoparticles for in vitro and in vivo diagnostics. The project is being launched within the smart analytics cooperation network. This international initiative has been funded by the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM) of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) since May 2020.

Tablet-based diagnostics - 12/04/2023

TuCAN - innovative diagnostic procedure for neuropsychiatric disorders

Neuropsychiatric disorders are often diagnosed late and have a negative impact on quality of life. Diagnosing the disease at an early stage is vital to be able to help those affected by offering them treatment adapted to their specific requirements. This is what the TuCAN project in Tübingen aims to achieve through the early and differential diagnosis of neuropsychiatric disorders.

Effective drugs against viral diseases like COVID-19 are urgently needed now and in the future. The emergence of viral mutants and yet unknown viruses could push vaccines to their limits. The DZIF scientist and bioinformatician Andreas Dräger from the University of Tübingen is working on a computer-based method that can help to accelerate the time-consuming identification and development of antiviral agents. Using a novel analysis technique that…

In the 2022 allocation round for the award of the prestigious Consolidator Grants of the European Research Council, researchers of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have been successful. For their projects in the fields of photovoltaics and medical sensor technology, physicist Ulrich W. Paetzold and chemist Frank Biedermann will receive approximately two million euros over the next five years.

Brain-computer interfaces are able to restore some mobility to paralyzed people by controlling exoskeletons. However, more complex control signals cannot yet be read from the head surface because conventional sensors are not sensitive enough. A collaboration of Fraunhofer IAF, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, University of Stuttgart and other industrial partners has taken up this challenge.