150 Jahre Bayer
Meilensteine eines Unternehmens –
Innovationen für die Zukunft
Helfer Natur
Biologischer
Pflanzenschutz
Windenergie
Mehr Effizienz
für Riesenrotoren
Medizin der Zukunft
Krebs und Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen gezielt behandeln
Das Bayer-Forschungsmagazin
AUSGABE 25
Therapies to
beat cancer
Unleashing the immune
response to tumors
Oncology:
Special feature:
Tracking down
molecular clues
What metabolic profiles reveal
about diseases
Virtual test
systems
Using computer models
for drug development
Protecting
citrus trees
Strategies to control a
bacterial disease
The Bayer Scientific Magazine
EDITION
28 | July 2015
Point of view
2
News in brief
4
Interview with Management Board
member Kemal Malik
18
Masthead
49
MEDICINE
Cover story:
Mobilizing the immune response
to cancer
Immunotherapies in oncology
10
Joint support for cancer research
Personalized medicine
28
Enhancing immunity
Immunostimulants help
animals fight infections
34
Treatments for sick blood cells
Approaches for hemoglobin disorders
42
AGRICULTURE
The wheat makers
Global strategies for in-demand cereal
6
Profile
Insect toxicologist Dr. Ralf Nauen
20
Yellow dragon in the orange grove
Strategies against citrus greening
44
Cotton
All-round protection for quality fibers
48
DOSSIER
Virtual tests for new therapies
Computer models support
drug development
36
SPECIAL FEATURE
Decoding molecular patterns
Tracking down diseases with biomarkers
30
FOUNDATIONS
Bayer foundations promote science,
medicine and social innovation
24
Innovations from Bayer have helped millions of people around the world.
We are the only major company worldwide that simultaneously addresses the
health of humans, animals and plants. This is important because all three share
great similarities; many mechanisms are comparable, particularly at the molec-
ular level where our active substances are effective. Our core expertise involves
creating molecules that can positively influence these biochemical processes in
living organisms.
In the future, we will need innovations more than ever before. But as an inno-
vation company, we need trust and a healthy risk culture. We need a societal
environment that is amenable to novel solutions. In many regions of the world,
robust and high-yielding cereal varieties represent desperately needed progress.
In other countries, by contrast, we have to overcome issues such as demographic
change. Only with innovations, implemented with courage and creativity, can we
offer appropriate solutions to the many different challenges facing our society.
This is what “Bayer: Science For A Better Life” stands for.
As a Life Science company, we also want to intensify the dialog with the
general public and thus help to bridge the gap between public perception and the
real significance of innovation. That will require information, transparency and a
greater understanding of innovations. We hope that this edition of research will
serve as a positive contribution to the debate.
We have to make the benefits
of innovation even clearer
Best regards,
Dr. Marijn Dekkers, Chairman of the Board of Management of Bayer AG
Dear reader,
EDITORIAL
Dossier: Computer models in medicine
36
Special feature
Cancer researchers are aiming to selectively enhance the immune system
to enable the human body to successfully combat tumor diseases. Bayer
employees like Dr. Volker Müller (photo above) and Charlene Becker (small
photo) are collaborating in research teams with international oncology
experts to develop novel immunotherapies that could even help
patients at an advanced stage of the disease in future.
10
During drug development, Bayer’s scientists use computer-supported pre-
diction software and virtual patients to analyze the precise path that active
ingredients take in the body. For example, they can predict the effect that
the liver has on drug candidates.
Cover story
Mobilizing the immune response
to cancer
Bayer foundations 24
The Bayer Cares Foundation invests in social inno-
vations. The Bayer Science & Education Foundation
promotes projects in the fields of life science and
medicine, such as the educational initiative launched
by the NCL Foundation which teaches senior high
school classes about childhood dementia.
The wheat makers
6
The global demand for wheat is increasing. Bayer
researchers like Céline Zimmerli and Guillaume Plé
(left to right) are working on the development of
more robust and high-yielding varieties in a global
alliance network.
Citrus fruits at risk 44
Citrus greening disease causes dramatic harvest losses
on citrus plantations. Bayer scientists are developing
integrated strategies to combat the bacterial disease
and the insect that transmits it.
Dr. Julian I. Borissoff and Dr. Mark-Christoph Ott
(left to right) are investigating metabolic
processes in the organism with the objective of
finding new targets for drug products and
crop protection agents
30
Photos: Ingo Rapper
s/WiW
o (1), P
eter Ginter/Bayer AG (4), Martin Zimelka/Bayer AG (1), Mar
cus Müller-Sar
an (1), Gettyimages (1)
Metabolomics
CONTENTS
Bayer research 28 July 2015
1