Regensburg Biotech Start-up Awarded Prize
The LipoFIT Analytic GmbH i.Gr. has developed out of the faculty for Biophysics and Physical Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg (Prof. Kalbitzer). The young company has developed a new method for the medical diagnostic sector, which makes it possible to analyse lipoproteins (cholesterol) in blood plasma in a simple, inexpensive and accurate manner. The result of this analysis is a classification of a person’s lipoproteins according to size, thickness and concentration. In order to accomplish this, the founders of the company use the intensely further developed capacities of NMR spectroscopy. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy provides the various information about the atomic structure of a substance through the use of an extremely strong magnetic field, through which radio waves are transmitted? The usefulness of this method is due to the fact that the risk of cardio-vascular illnesses result directly from the type and number of lipoproteins in the blood than of from the overall cholesterol level or even the HDL or LDL cholesterol levels. Only specific diagnosis of the distributions of lipoproteins subclasses provides conclusive information about the risk of an arteriole-sclerotic illness (clogging of the arteries) in a particular patient. The practicality of early diagnosis is supported by the most common cause of death, in the western industrialized countries, resulting from cardio-vascular diseases. In Germany, 220.000 people died of cardio-vascular related diseases alone in 2002. The company’s new diagnostic procedure can be performed quickly in a routine automated process using regular blood samples from doctor’s offices and clinics. The first successful tests were done in the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (Prof. Schmitz) at the University of Regensburg.
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