Encouraging results from a large international study led by Heidelberg have recently been published in the journal “Lancet”: The genetic material of cancer cells with unknown tissue of origin contains numerous targets for specific drugs that are already available and have been developed to treat other forms of cancer. These suppressed the disease in CUP patients for significantly longer than chemotherapy.

The "Friends of the German Cancer Research Center" association supports the DKFZ and aims to help strengthen its position in international competition. With the DKFZ Innovation Award presented at this year's DKFZ annual reception, the association honored Titus Brinker as a researcher whose highly innovative work builds a bridge from research to practical application with commercialization potential.

HepaRegeniX GmbH, a clinical stage company developing a novel regenerative therapy for the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases, announced the closing of a Series C round led by Vesalius Biocapital IV with participation of existing investors Novo Holdings, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF), and High-Tech Gründerfonds. The new funds of €15 million will be used to advance the clinical development of the clinical candidate HRX-215.

TWYCE GmbH - 10/07/2024

Better immune response against prostate cancer thanks to new bispecific antibodies

TWYCE, a Tübingen-based start-up spun off from the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Tübingen, is focused on developing a combinatorial therapy using two bispecific antibodies from bench to clinical practice. The founders aim to introduce an effective strategy for combating solid tumours, with initial proof of concept targeted at prostate cancer.

Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) have shown that the combination of therapeutic immune cells, known as CAR T cells, and a bispecific antibody could improve the treatment of leukaemia. In the culture dish and in mice, they tested CAR-T cells directed against the B-cell marker CD19 in combination with bispecific antibodies that bind to the B-cell-specific protein CD20.

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.

Baden-Württemberg receives the EU Commission's "Regional Innovation Valley" label - 01/07/2024

Customised healthcare for all: BIOPRO is a partner in the EU project PRECISEU

The EU research project PRECISEU, which started in June 2024 and will run for five years, aims to connect innovation ecosystems across Europe and advance personalised medicine throughout Europe. BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg is one of 25 partner organisations from 11 European countries that are working on the further development of customised healthcare as part of the research project.

At the finale of the Cyber Valley Days, and Science Minister Petra Olschowski opened the ELLIS Institute Tübingen, heralding the next phase of the AI Innovation Campus. With the world's first ELLIS Institute, Cyber Valley is gaining further radiance. Olschowski also announced at the ceremony that the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is joining the Cyber Valley Community.

Cancer genomes are the result of diverse mutation processes. Scientists have analyzed the molecular evolution of tumors after exposure to mutagenic chemicals. DNA lesions that persists unrepaired over several cell generations lead to sequence variations at the site of damage. This enabled the researchers to distinguish the contribution of the triggering lesion from that of the subsequent repair in shaping the mutation pattern.

Depending on whether the cell nucleus of an epithelial cell is located on the outer or inner side of the tissue, the genome is more or less acetylated - genes can therefore be translated easier or harder. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have demonstrated this for the first time in the development of the Drosophila wing.

The Damietta Server broadens the accessibility to protein design research and its applications in various biotechnological and biomedical fields. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen, the University of Tübingen, and the University Hospital Tübingen have developed a web-based toolkit to accelerate and simplify protein design without needing powerful computers or extensive protein design expertise on the user’s end.

In the current approval round of the German Research Foundation (DFG) Heidelberg University has been successful with six applications for grants to fund major, internationally visible research consortia. The six research consortia − three of them will reach the maximum funding length of twelve years after their extension − are to receive financial resources totalling nearly 87 million euros over a period of four years.

The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Science, Research and Arts (MWK) is supporting medical researchers at Ulm University with start-up funding totalling 600,000 euros. The aim is to establish an EU consortium for the broad therapeutic use of mesenchymal stromal cells. The funding is being awarded as part of the "BEGIN - Participation in major European projects and initiatives" programme.

How do tumors react to a certain therapeutic approach? Knowing this before the start of a therapy would be of enormous value for people suffering from cancer as well as for the doctors treating them. Researchers have now made this very observation possible for the CAR-T cell therapy. This allows us to individually investigate how exactly these tumor cells react to the planned therapy.

Fatty liver disease often leads to chronic liver inflammation and can even result in liver cancer. Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and the University of Tuebingen have now shown in mice that intermittent fasting can halt this development.

Activated T cells that carry a certain marker protein on their surface are controlled by natural killer cells. In this way, the body presumably curbs destructive immune reactions. Researchers now discovered that NK cells can impair the effect of cancer therapies with immune checkpoint inhibitors in this way. They could also be responsible for the rapid decline of therapeutic CAR-T cells.

PhD student at Furtwangen University develops method for faster determination of antibiotic resistance. The increase in antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the associated treatment, which is a major problem in public healthcare facilities, is the subject of a research project at Furtwangen University.

Cardiovascular diseases, including stroke and myocardial infarction, are the world's leading causes of mortality, accounting for over 18 million deaths a year. A team of KIT researchers has now identified a new cell type in blood vessels responsible for vascular growth. This discovery may allow for novel therapeutic strategies to treat ischemic cardiovascular diseases, i.e. diseases that are caused by reduced or absent blood flow.

Cortisone and other related glucocorticoids are extremely effective at curbing excessive immune reactions. But previously, astonishingly little was known about how they exactly do that. A team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Uniklinikum Erlangen and Ulm University have now explored the molecular mechanism of action in greater detail.

With its Vivalytic analysis platform, Bosch has set itself the goal of making fast and highly precise diagnostics accessible at the point of care – and aims to use molecular diagnostics to become a leading provider in the market by 2030. To achieve this, Bosch has now agreed on a strategic partnership with Randox Laboratories Ltd., a leading diagnostic and medical technology company.

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.

Heidelberg Pharma AG (FSE: HPHA), a clinical stage biotech company developing innovative Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs), is pleased to announce that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Orphan Drug Designation (ODD) for the treatment of multiple myeloma to its lead candidate HDP-101. Heidelberg Pharma is investigating the candidate in a clinical Phase I/IIa study for the treatment of relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology Tübingen broke new ground by demonstrating that an HMG-box gene in brown algae is crucial for determining male sex. This breakthrough significantly expands our understanding of sex-determination mechanisms in eukaryotic organisms. Until now, master sex-determination genes had been identified in only a select number of animals and plants.

The results of a Tuebingen-led study raise hope that a newly developed drug could herald a new era in oncological liver surgery and transplantation. The drug could even have the potential to significantly improve the treatment of acute and chronic liver diseases. The drug candidate "HRX-215" is a so-called MKK4 inhibitor, i.e. the drug inhibits the MKK4 protein found in liver cells and thus leads to an increase in the regeneration of…

More than seven million people in Germany suffer from diabetes. At the same time, research into drugs to treat this widespread disease is still difficult. Scientists led by Prof. Dr. Peter Loskill from the NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute and the Faculty of Medicine of the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen have now developed a technique that significantly improves the view at the molecular and cell biological level in the pancreas.