Experience future
Targeted, gentle treatment of prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in men. In Europe alone there are approximately 135,000 new cases annually. Brachytherapy has proved to be a highly effective and very gentle form of treatment for early-stage prostate cancer. Using a needle, millimeter-sized, low-level radioactive implants (seeds) are placed in a targeted area of the prostate. They provide optimal dose distribution in the irradiated tissue with minimal adverse effects on the surrounding organs.
LDR brachytherapy is highly effective, well tolerated, and is characterized by a short treatment time and a relatively fast physical recovery. LDR brachytherapy with medical products from Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG as IsoSeed® (individual seeds) or IsoCord® (seed chains) has been successfully performed in clinical practice for more than ten years.
Eckert & Ziegler BEBIG is the European leader in the field of permanent seed implantation and the world’s only provider of the complete range of brachytherapy products.
Targeted detection of tumor cells
The human immune system is trained to distinguish between “self” and “non-self” and to destroy foreign structures. By means of anchor molecules (receptors) of T cells, it recognizes antigens of bacteria or viruses and thus can target and destroy such invaders. Cancer cells, however, are the body’s own cells, which is why the immune system does not mount an attack but instead tolerates them. A research team led by Professor Thomas Blankenstein has now succeeded in genetically altering human T cells so that their receptors can specifically track and destroy certain tumor cells. More than ten years of research have thus been crowned with success. The start-up T-knife is now developing one of the first T cell receptor gene therapies in Germany on the Berlin-Buch campus using this technology.
Two-in-One Gloves – Innovate to Protect
Many surgeons and nurses try to protect themselves from infection risks (e.g. hepatitis B/C, HIV) by wearing two gloves on top of each. This practice often results in a loss of wearing comfort and tactile sensitivity. The team at Smarterials developed a technology which allows to integrate the functionality of double-gloving to single-gloves without facing loss of tactile sensitivity and wearing comfort due to multi-layered latex-particle composites. The technology allows producing both surgical and examination gloves utilizing natural and synthetic rubber. The safety-optimized material structure integrates a perforation indicator and combines the properties and advantages of single-layer gloves with the benefit of double gloving – Two-in-One.
