newsdigest
April
In this section, biotechnologie.de has summarised a number of recent and relevant biotech news from the past month:
Boehringer Ingelheim to invest 100 million in young biotech companies +++ Animal model developed for Parkinson's disease +++ German Biotechnology Days in Berlin +++ New Biotechnology Study for eastern Germany +++ Substance found in green tea renders harmless Alzheimer's plaques
Boehringer Ingelheim to invest 100 million in young biotech companies
Following a number of other pharmaceutical companies, Boehringer Ingelheim has set up an in-house fund to invest above all in young biotech start-ups with good ideas. The Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF) will make its first investments in young biotech companies over the course of this year. The Ingelheim-based pharmaceutical company is planning to make a total of 100 million euros available for such participations. The fund managers will be looking out in particular for opportunities in medical biotechnology. This would include such areas as stem cells, RNA silencing, new vaccines, protein- and antibody technologies, as well as “first class” lead structures and biomarkers, announced the company on 30 March. “The investments will extend well beyond Boehringer Ingelheim's current areas of therapy and our existing research topics and technologies,” said Andreas Barner, head of Pharma at Boehringer. There will also no geographical boundaries; the investments will be global, said the statement. Thereby, Boehringer Ingelheim is following a trend in the sector. A number of pharmaceutical companies have launched their own venture capital funds in recent years, which are aimed primarily at gaining early access to new ideas. Most of these have a focus on biotech start-ups. Just one year ago, Merck-Serono set up a similar fund totalling €40 million.
Animal model developed for Parkinson's disease
Neurobiologists from Munich and Hamburg have developed mice that carry a combination of gene defects that offer an improved animal model for the study of Parkinson's disease. As the researchers report in the journal PLoS Biology (online, 6 April 2010), specific genes, growth signals, and increasing age appear to be responsible for the death of nerve cells in the brain. Only the combination of these three influences caused nerve cell loss in the mice that was comparable to Parkinson's. The results could be important for the possible prevention of the disease in patients with specific gene variants. During Parkinson's disease, nerve cells die off in an area of the brain that is characteristic for the disease. More than 100 million mainly older people are affected by the condition worldwide. Even today, researchers are still far from a clear understanding about the causes of brain disease.
A number of genes have been found in the last ten years that are known to play a role in the development of the hereditary form of Parkinson's disease. It has also been demonstrated that nerve growth factors, such as GDNF, can reduce the rate of death of affected nerve cells. Hopes that these insights might lead to an improved understanding of the disease are yet to be fulfilled, however. The therapy with GDNF, and with related growth factors, remains in the trial phases. To date, research has been dependent on animal models to understand the molecular and cellular processes in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease. However, the previously developed Parkinson's models do not usually exhibit significant cell death in the disease-relevant brain regions. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Neurobiology in Martinsried, alongside colleagues at the Helmholtz Centre Munich and the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology in Hamburg, have now demonstrated for the first time in animal models how three conditions must be met in order to induce nerve cell loss that mirrors that of Parkinson's patients: A defective gene called DJ-1, an insufficient supply of the growth factor GDNF, and the aging of the animals. “This had indeed been suspected, but to date nobody has been able to demonstrate it,” said first author Liviu Aron. Nerve cells missing the DJ-1 gene, and which are also not able to not respond to signals from survival-growth factors, die at a higher rate in aging mice. “The proven connection between the provision of the growth factor and the DJ-1 gene is extremely interesting,” says Rüdiger Klein, who headed the study. The reason for this is the role of environmental factors in the availability of growth factors. “If we could understand whether and how the environment indirectly interacts with these genetic factors, then we would be able to find a means of prevention or treatment. The role played by aging must also be explained,” says Klein.
German Biotechnology Days in Berlin
Stakeholders from all areas of biotechnology met on 21 and 22 April in Berlin for the German Biotechnology Days. The national forum for the biotechnology community brings together companies and partners from government, research, and administration. Current industry issues and central strategies for new impetus were under discussion over two days at the “The Dahlem Cube” Conference Centre. The German Biotechnology Days were last held in 2008, and were originally initiated by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The event is now held annually, each time with a new central concept. The organisers were the Bioregions working group at the trade association BIO Deutschland The series of events, which will continue to be sponsored by the BMBF, will continue after 2010, each time with a new concept and in cooperation with a German Bioregion.
BioTOP Berlin-Brandenburg is this year’s host; in 2011 it will be the turn of the BioM cluster in Munich. This year’s two-day conference focused on the central theme of personalised medicine. This area is increasing in significance as more is understood about how disease mechanisms differ between individuals, and about how different reactions to drugs actually come about. The objective of personalised medicine to use this knowledge to provide patients with specially tailored treatment strategies. Alongside this central topic, the issues of raw material research, technology transfer, financing, and reimbursement were also under discussion in parallel workshops. Here, the focus was on supplies and inventories, and perspectives, as well as on the presentation of practical examples. Workshops on the second day focused on innovations in biotechnology in a variety of industry focal points and fields of application, such as plant biotechnology, novel therapeutics, industrial biotechnology, and regenerative medicine. Successful business concepts were also presented. The event concluded with a panel discussion between high-ranking representatives from industry, academia and politics. Participants of the German Biotechnology Days were also invited to the eighth Bionnale of Biotechnology on 21 April, the most important industry gathering for the Berlin-Brandenburg area.
New Biotechnology Study for eastern Germany
A study commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development has provided a first overview of the situation for the eastern German biotechnology industry. Presented on the 16 April, the study “Chancen der Biotechnologie für Ostdeutschland” (Opportunities for Biotechnology for Eastern Germany) was carried out by the Future Technologies arm of the VDI Technology Centre. In a nationwide comparison, the authors paint a promising picture for eastern Germany as a centre for biotechnology: A total of 749 stakeholders are located in the broader region, of which 149 are dedicated biotech companies. By far the largest concentration of companies is located in Berlin-Brandenburg and Saxony. Furthermore, there are 239 research institutes was well as 62 networks and cooperations underway in East Germany.
With approximately 10,000 employees in East German biotechnology companies, and more than 4,000 scientists in research, biotechnology in eastern Germany in 2008 generated an estimated turnover of almost one billion euros. According to the study analysis, the infrastructure is stable: Academic excellence can be found in all the regions. And in addition to scientific expertise, eastern Germany also offers a favourable cost framework, an excellent stakeholder network, and the dedicated promotion of biotechnology by state governments. The future challenges for biotechnology in eastern German, think the study authors, lie above all in the stronger acquisition of venture and equity capital, in an accelerated technology transfer, in the recruitment of qualified personnel, and in a clearer profile for the location. Eastern German potential and emphases can be found, among others, in diagnostics, in which Berlin-Brandenburg, Thuringia and Saxony are specialised. Saxony-Anhalt has a focus on plant biotechnology, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on biotechnology in industrial production, and Thuringia on bioinstruments and biophotonics.
Substance found in green tea renders harmless Alzheimer's plaques
Molecular scientists in Berlin have shed light on how an active ingredient in green tea disarms the toxic protein deposits that occur during Alzheimer's. The researchers, headed by Jan Bieschke and Erich Wanker at the Max Delbrück Canter for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, examined restructuring processes that are triggered in damaged nerve cells by the substance EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate). They have reported on their discoveries in the journal PNAS (online, 12 April 2010). The substance EGCG appears to bind initially to the fibrous protein deposits, before converting them into globular protein aggregates, which are non-toxic and therefore harmless to the nerve cells. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's disease are associated with harmful protein deposits in the nerve cells of the brain. These deposits are the result of protein misfolding. Emerging in a multistage process, they are toxic and ultimately destructive for nerve cells. For their experiments, the Berlin-based researchers introduced protein toxic protein aggregates into cells to form a model for the molecular processes of Alzheimer's disease.
The cells went on to exhibit a lower metabolism, and their cell envelope was less stable, both of which are signs of damage caused by the plaques. These effects disappeared following treatment with EGCG, and cells were able to reduce the toxic protein deposits. For the first time, the researchers have been able to explain in detail this mechanism of inactivation. The unique aspect of the process, say the researchers, is that the toxic protein deposits are not dissolved, but are converted directly by the EGCG into non-toxic deposits.
This means that no smaller protein deposits fragments are created in the process. Such fragments are suspected to be particularly toxic to nerve cells. As Erich Wanker has demonstrated in earlier studies, EGCG can also proactively prevent the formation of toxic protein deposits. At a very early stage, the substance binds directly to the still unfolded proteins, thereby preventing their misfolding. This applies to a number of diseases that are the result of protein misfolding. Alongside Alzheimer's, this includes Chorea Huntington and Morbus Parkinson. Physicians from other disciplines are also interested in the health-promoting effects of EGCG as regards its effect on protein deposits. Researchers in Hamburg are hoping to use the substance from green tea to prevent the spread of HIV.
