Magnetic microalgae on a mission to become robots

Exciting potential for future innovations in biomedicine and beyond

19-Mar-2025 - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems developed a single-cell green microalgae coated with magnetic material. This miniature robot was put to the test: would the microalgae with its magnetic coating be able to swim through narrow spaces and, additionally, in a viscous ...

EUR 51 million for early-stage drug discovery investments

First closing of KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II GmbH & Co KG “KHAN-II”

12-Feb-2025 - Khanu Fondsverwaltung GmbH (Khanu), a drug discovery focused fund management team, announces the first closing in fundraising for KHAN Technology Transfer Fund II GmbH & Co KG (KHAN-II), the follower fund of KHAN-I (vintage year 2019). As limited partners of KHAN-II, the European Investment Fund ...

Scientists discover "pause button" in human development

Findings have possible implications for reproductive technologies

30-Sep-2024 - Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics in Berlin (MPIMG) and the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna have discovered a potential "pause button" in the earliest stages of human development. Whether humans can control the ...

Scientists develop cost-efficient medical imaging method

Low-field magnetic resonance imaging combined with hyperpolarization

09-Jul-2024 - Max Planck scientists presented a low-field magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for the development of novel MRI methods at the 73rd Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau. As part of an associated scientific event, two researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in ...

Lab-Made Sugars and Nanobodies from Alpacas Against Cancer: Oren Moscovitz Wins Prestigious Hermann Neuhaus Prize

Two start-ups are already working to bring these findings closer to public fruition

18-Jun-2024 - Dr. Oren Moscovitz has been awarded €25,000 by the Max Planck Society for his promising research toward treatments and non-invasive diagnostics for cancer, which could potentially reduce overall cancer-related deaths. Moscovitz and his team exploit unique sugar patterns found on cancer cells and ...

AI detects rare forms of dementia

Researchers use new techniques to detect patterns in imaging data and enable early diagnosis

16-Jan-2023 - Researchers at MPI CBS and University of Leipzig Medical Center have used new artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning techniques to detect rare forms of dementia on MRI images. In their study, the researchers show that AI can automatically recognize patterns in patient imaging data that ...

With light into the nanoworld: How optical microscopes allow detailed investigations of nanoparticles

The goal: the development of novel nanoparticles for biomedical applications.

21-Dec-2022 - It sounds like trying to scan a vinyl record with a hammer: Light is actually too "coarse" to image small particles on the nanometer scale. However, in their project "Supercol"- funded by the European Union - scientists want to achieve just that: The investigation of nanoparticles with light. To ...

Natural super glue from mistletoe berries

A promising discovery

21-Jun-2022 - A team of researchers from the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (MPICI) and McGill University in Canada discovered strong adhesive properties of white-berry mistletoe. The mistletoe berry's flexible fibers adhere to both skin and cartilage as well as to various synthetic materials ...

Breaks in the genome

New method to improve the diagnosis of genetic diseases

28-Jul-2020 - Breaks and rearrangements in the genome can lead to severe diseases, even if all genes remain intact. Hi-C, a method to map the three-dimensional structure of chromosomes, promises more reliable and accurate diagnoses of such defects, but is not used in the clinic yet. A team of researchers at ...

Printing nanoparticle shapes for medical applications

18-Apr-2019 - Personal drug delivery or nano-robotic systems could be a key concept for future medical applications. In this context, scientists around David Ng (Department of Prof. Tanja Weil) of the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPI-P) have recently developed a technology to customize the shapes ...