Research

Since their discovery in 2004, the grid cells in the brain, which are important for our orientation, have been regarded as a kind of “GPS in the head.” However, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital have now shown that grid cells work much more flexibly than previously assumed. In […]

A phase 3 clinical trial published in the journal Nature Medicine investigates the benefits of cannabis extract for chronic lower back pain. In the study, which involved over 800 participants and researchers from Heidelberg University’s Medical Faculty, pain was significantly reduced without any serious side effects being observed. Full Text in German below. Cannabisextrakt zur […]

Vilnius, 18 September 2025 The PRECISEU consortium proudly announced the winners of the first PRECISEU Best Practice Recognition during Life Sciences Baltics 2025, the leading international event for biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and medical devices in the Baltic region. Launched under the Personalised Medicine Empowerment Connecting Innovation ecoSystems across EUROPE (PRECISEU) programme, this initiative honours outstanding practices […]

New EMBL research discovers an unexpected relationship between metabolism and cell communication during embryonic development Summary Pregnant women rely on a balanced diet and supplements to deliver proper nutrients to their babies, to ensure they grow healthfully. Such nutrients contribute to fueling development and providing cellular building blocks that lead to healthy brains, bones, organs, […]

Since their discovery in 2004, the grid cells in the brain, which are important for our orientation, have been regarded as a kind of “GPS in the head.” However, scientists at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and Heidelberg University Hospital have now shown that grid cells work much more flexibly than previously assumed. In […]

About five percent of lung adenocarcinomas, one of the most common forms of lung cancer, are driven by a faulty fusion of two genes, EML4 and ALK. This fusion results in different variants, and until now, clinicians have treated all patients with these fusions the same way. However, new research led by scientists from the […]

The cellular environment of a tumor can either support or sabotage recovery. The most comprehensive study to date on the tumor microenvironment in low-grade gliomas, conducted by the Hopp Children’s Cancer Center Heidelberg (KiTZ), Jena University Hospital, the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), and Heidelberg University Hospital, shows what a supportive or obstructive “neighborhood” looks […]

Scientists from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) have developed an AI model that assesses the long-term individual risk for more than 1,000 diseases. The model, which was trained and tested using anonymized medical data from the UK and Denmark, can predict health events over a period of […]

Researchers at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Heidelberg Faculty of Medicine have decoded a previously unknown mechanism by which HIV-1 selects its integration targets in the human genome. A research team led by DZIF scientist Dr. Marina Lusic identified RNA:DNA hybrids (R-loops) as molecular signposts for the virus. These findings reveal a key […]