For her ground-breaking scientific studies in the field of synthetic biology, the 2024 Alfried Krupp Advancement Award is to go to Prof. Dr Kerstin Göpfrich. The award, endowed with one million euros in funding, is granted annually by the Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation to young academics holding their first professorship in the natural and engineering sciences.

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.

Invasive infections such as sepsis require immediate and targeted treatment. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB and group partners have succeeded in establishing a reconceptualized detection principle that can make a crucial contribution to saving lives through fast, ultra-accurate pathogen identification. They have been chosen to receive the 2024 Stifterverband Science Prize for their efforts.

Together with colleagues from Israel and USA, HITS researcher Frauke Gräter investigates the effects of physical force on the collagen protein in two different animal model systems. Their goal is to measure the effects of mechanoradicals on the integrity of the tissue and the well-being of the organism, with impact on health and aging.

An Emmy Noether junior research group at Heidelberg University is investigating how to gain new insights into fundamental biological mechanisms from large-scale molecular data sets. Led by Junior Professor Dr Britta Velten, it has started work at the Centre for Organismal Studies and the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing.

Applying and developing new technologies for DNA synthesis to pave the way for producing entire artificial genomes – that is the goal of a new interdisciplinary center, 'Center for Synthetic Genomics', that is being established at Heidelberg University, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), and Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU).

Professor Dr. Rohini Kuner from the Medical Faculty of Heidelberg University receives the Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation (DFG).

Heidelberg scientists unveil genetic programmes controlling the development of cellular diversity in the cerebellum of humans and other mammals. The research results have now been published in the journal Nature.

All cancer cells - even those within the same tumor - differ from each other and change over the course of a cancer disease. Scientists at Heidelberg University Hospital, the Medical Faculty in Heidelberg and the German Cancer Research Center discovered molecular changes in multiple myeloma that help individual cancer cells to survive therapy.

A researcher team from Ecole Polytechnique Federal de Lausanne led by Dr. Vivek Thacker now group leader at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Heidelberg University Hospital have studied why tuberculosis bacteria form long strands and how this affects their infectivity. Their findings could lead to new therapies and have now been published in the journal Cell.

DNA nanotechnology - 25/08/2023

Artificial cytoskeleton made of DNA for synthetic cells

The physicists Prof. Dr. Kerstin Göpfrich and Prof. Dr. Laura Na Liu want to understand life from the bottom up. They intend to do this by constructing an artificial cell. However, rather than natural protein building blocks, they are using 3D-DNA structures as construction material. The first step involved creating an artificial cell skeleton that dynamically assembles and disassembles like the biological model and can transport vesicles.

Known as the power plant of the cell, mitochondria are essential to human metabolism. Human mitochondria consist of 1,300 different proteins and two fatty biomembranes. The vast majority of mitochondrial proteins are produced with a cleavable transport signal and have to be actively transported into the mitochondria.

Optogenetic cell analysis - 15/05/2023

opto biolabs: how frustration and inventiveness led to the establishment of a company

When she found she had no suitable illumination devices for her doctoral thesis, Dr. Kathrin Brenker simply created her own customised adapters and founded a company called opto biolabs. Now, Brenker and company co-founder Luis Köbele sell two different types of devices. The main goal is to equip laboratories with illumination technologies that allow optogenetics methods to be used to accelerate development of optogenetic therapeutics.

Non-profit limited liability company creates institutional framework for interdisciplinary research collaboration, innovative technology development and outstanding healthcare in the Rhine-Neckar region.

With the "Česká Hlava" awards, the Czech government has been honoring the country's most brilliant minds every year since 2002 and recognizing exceptional achievements in research, development and innovation. Martina Benešová-Schäfer of the German Cancer Research Center was among the six laureates honored in 2022 at Charles University in Prague.

Mitochondria are considered to be the power plants of cells and are essential for human metabolism. Dysfunction in 40 percent of mitochondrial proteins are associated with human diseases, which is why mitochondria also play an important role in medical research. A previously unexplained process in the complex mitochondria was the formation of their barrel pores.

Heidelberg University scientists are to receive three ERC Synergy Grants – three highly endowed grants of the European Research Council – for pioneering research projects by several teams working in collaboration.

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.

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.

Junior Professor Dr Daniela Duarte Campos has been awarded a substantial grant from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). She and her junior research group are investigating bioprinting for tissue and organ engineering at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University and at the “3D Matter Made to Order” Cluster of Excellence, a collaboration between Ruperto Carola and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

Parkinson's disease is characterised by a slow, progressive loss of nerve cells in certain brain areas. The disease is still incurable and the exact causes are unclear. The dopamine deficiency in the brain can only be controlled to some extent in the initial phase of the disease. Basic research is being conducted in an attempt to unravel the mystery of Parkinson's disease.

Furtwangen University publishes the world’s first molecular biological study on bacterial contamination of slit lamps. Slit lamps are among the most important tools used by ophthalmologists and opticians. They allow selected areas of the eye to be magnified and examined for diseases.

As cancer progresses, the tumor cells continually change, ultimately resulting in a tumor consisting of a large number of different cell clones with different characteristics. This is referred to as "tumor heterogeneity". In many cases, the cancer cells become resistant to the treatments available.

Scientists use super-resolution microscopy to study previously undiscovered cellular worlds, revealing nanometer-scale details inside cells. This method revolutionized light microscopy and earned its inventors the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In an international collaboration, AI researchers from Tübingen have now developed an algorithm that significantly accelerates this technology.

Under certain conditions, our immune system can efficiently fight off infectious diseases and cancer. T cells, especially the gamma delta T cell type, play an important role in this. The issue is that this cell type is extremely infrequent in the human body. Researchers at the University Hospital Tübingen, the University of Heidelberg and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) have now succeeded in finding the cause for the formation of…