Proving its commitment to breast care solutions, Siemens Healthcare has opened new research laboratories for molecular diagnostics in Cologne, Germany. The research focus will be breast cancer. This is a disease that remains the number one cause of death among young women – despite the large number of therapies currently available. Siemens’ focus is on developing new diagnostic tests to help the treating physician find an individually optimized therapy for as many patients as possible, thus combining better chances of recovery with reduced side effects.

Until now, it has not been possible to predict the individual effectiveness of the various breast cancer treatments currently available. About 40 Siemens employees in Cologne are developing new diagnostic tests, which can be used to precisely describe the molecular characteristics of a patient’s tumor cells. The results should help the treating physician adapt the therapy to the individual patient. Additionally, they have been researching innovative biochips that can be used to perform the new breast cancer tests. Biochips can perform hundreds to thousands of diagnostic tests simultaneously and have been tested for various therapies.