Bioeconomy

Fossil raw materials are limited and not available and extractable everywhere in the world – as we are becoming acutely aware of right now by the example of fossil fuels and rising energy prices. Renewable raw material sources will therefore play an increasingly important role in the future: as energy sources, but ideally also as suppliers of building blocks for more environmentally compatible chemicals and materials.

Screening trials for the early detection of rare diseases often fail due to insufficient predictive power of the results. For the rare HPV-related cancer of the pharynx, scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) now relied on the combined detection of antibodies against two different viral proteins in a proof-of concept trial.

Innovative engineering approaches to research and teaching are at the core of the Faculty of Engineering Sciences, which Heidelberg University founded with the aim of pooling its technical and scientific expertise and expanding its range of research and subjects in an area of competence that is developing dynamically.

Hummingbird Diagnostics GmbH - 22/09/2022

The great potential of blood-based microRNA analyses

"The early bird catches the worm", is an apt description of what motivates Hummingbird Diagnostics GmbH from Heidelberg. The medium-sized biotechnology company analyses special biomarkers in blood, so-called microRNAs, in order to diagnose diseases at an early stage and to be able to make forecasts about the course of the disease and the success of therapy.

With its "Proof of Concept" grants, the European Research Council ERC supports scientists in further developing the commercial potential of their research results. Nina Papavasiliou from the DKFZ is now receiving the prestigious grant for the second time: she wants to advance the development of a "molecular delivery service" that ensures that therapeutic genes reach the right address in the body in a targeted manner.

Because of their highly active metabolism, many tumors are susceptible to a special type of cell death, ferroptosis. Nevertheless, cancer cells often manage to escape this fate. Scientists at the German Cancer Research Center have now discovered a new mechanism by which normal as well as cancer cells protect themselves against ferroptosis.

Article - 14/09/2022

Theranostics of prostate cancer: the combination of radionuclide diagnostics and radionuclide therapy

Using a low-level radiopharmaceutical that binds to the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), positron emission tomography/computed tomography can be used to visualise even small prostate cancer metastases. Developed by Heidelberg researchers, the radiopharmaceutical is a modified radionuclide diagnostic agent that has been coupled with a powerful emitter and used as a therapeutic tracer to irradiate and destroy cancer cells from within.

In its statement of September 2, 2022, the Bioeconomy Council of the German government condemns the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine and points out ways in which the resulting food and energy crisis can be alleviated with the help of the bioeconomy.

Cancer cells often grow in environments that are low in nutrients, and they cope with this challenge by switching their metabolism to using proteins as alternative "food". Building on genetic screens, an international team of scientists could identify the protein LYSET as part of a pathway that allows cancer cells to make this switch. Their findings are now published in the journal Science.