Reducing the mortality rate of patients after Aortic-Valve Implantation by Anti-Fibrotic Treatment
A subpopulation of patients with a very high risk to die in only one year after an aortic valve implantation (AVI) was identified. A novel, anti-fibrotic treatment was developed, which adresses the most important factor for the survival rate of patients and is being tested in a phase 3 clinical trial.
Activity-improved human Asparaginase for Cancer therapy
Activity-improved human Asparaginase for Cancer therapy Amino acid depletion therapy offers a promising approach to cancer treatment. It makes use of the differences between healthy and cancerous cells when processing nutrients. Some enzymes kill cancer cells by removing amino acids from the blood. Asparaginase (ASNase) is an FDA-approved enzyme used to treat acute lymphoblastic leukemia […]
Novel bacterial Cry proteins for treating parasitic nematodes in humans and animals
Novel bacterial Cry proteins for treating parasitic nematodes in humans and animals Gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) infections are a significant issue, particularly in animals that graze. They can have a severe impact on cattle health. GIN primarily affect the host animal’s nutritional status by causing tissue lesions, inducing inflammatory reactions, or by feeding directly on the […]
Dopamine producing organoids for therapy of Parkinson’s Disease
Dopamine producing organoids for therapy of Parkinson’s Disease Researchers at the University Medical Center in Göttingen, Germany, have developed a method to produce special brain organoids called “dopamine-producing neuronal organoids” (d-NOs). These organoids have been shown to release dopamine at levels that are effective for biological processes. This method is ideal for the production of […]
Pan-Coronavirus Therapy – a Cas13-based antiviral approach
Pan-Coronavirus Therapy – a Cas13-based antiviral approach Scientists from the University of Göttingen developed a strategy for a therapy which will work against all Coronaviruses known to infect humans. The antiviral effect is based on a Cas13-guideRNA System, which directly and specifically targets the genome of the Coronavirus. A precise acute treatment in the early […]
Tissue-engineered Human Heart Muscle from stem cells for Screening and for Heart Repair
Heart tissue engineering using stem cells is a recently developed technique to construct a three dimensional cell/tissue structure from progenitor cells. Those engineered tissues can be either used for in vitro screenings (e.g. drug or toxicology screenings) or as a therapeutic tool to replace damaged or diseased tissue (regenerative medicine). Scientists at the University of Göttingen developed two new and fully defined methods for serum-free production of human engineered heart muscles (EHM) either from pre-differentiated cardiomyocytes or directly from undifferentiated stem cells. This will uniquely allow cardiological screening by measurement of muscular contraction (inotropic effects) on human tissue for the first time.
Bio-engineered neuronal organoids from human stem cells
In vitro 3D modeling of neural tissues represents a powerful tissue bioengineering tool permitting the study of complex neuronal cell systems. Despite the advances in human neuronal organoid generation, there still exist numerous deficiencies limiting the utility of existing neuronal organoids. Scientists at the University Medical Center of University Göttingen developed a robust, reproducible and fully defined method for serum-free production of human bio-engineered neuronal Organoids (BENOs) from stem cells having functional neuronal network activity.
Pharmacologically controlled vector for CNS gene therapies
Current gene therapy is irreversible and does not allow controlled transgene expression in case of side effects. The invention is a pharmacologically controlled one-vector expression system of a therapeutic factor (i.e. GDNF) with zero background expression, based on mifepristone (Mfp)-Gene Switch system arranging two cassettes.
Targeted Demethylating Gene Therapy of Fibrosis
All-in-one construct dCas9-TET3CD-(target gene)-sgRNA for targeted fibrosis therapy through demethylation of the genes RASAL1, LRFN2, KLOTHO (i.e. in heart, kidney, liver, lung, cancer). Normal re-expression of these genes has been achieved successfully in vitro and in vivo as well as a reduction of fibrosis.
Therapy of Alzheimer’s Disease with an antibody against oligomeric pyro-Glu-Abeta peptides
Scientists at the University of Göttingen developed a novel, proprietary antibody for the therapy and/or diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) through the targeting of specifically pyro-Glu-Amyloid beta peptides.