All News

Life & Chemistry

Unveiling Clostridia: Insights from Spores by Food Researchers

Researchers at the Institute of Food Research have established how clostridia bacteria emerge from spores. This could help them understand how these bacteria…

Agricultural & Forestry Science

Brazilian Beef Industry Takes Steps to Protect Rain Forests

Expansion of cattle pastures has led to the destruction of huge swaths of rain forest in Brazil, home to the world’s largest herd of commercial beef cattle….

Physics & Astronomy

Unlocking Universe Secrets: Inside the Metal Box Experiment

The Standard Model of particle physics, sometimes called “The Theory of Almost Everything,” is the best set of equations to date that describes the universe's…

Earth Sciences

Antarctic Ice Shelf Thinning: Study Reveals Key Insights

For years scientists were unable to determine whether it is warming air temperatures or warmer ocean currents that is causing the Antarctic Peninsula’s…

Life & Chemistry

New Methods for Tracking Ocean Biodiversity Unveiled

“Our main task is to figure out how life in the sea is changing,” said MBARI Senior Scientist Francisco Chavez, the leader of the MBARI portion of the project….

Communications Media

Secure, Anonymous Payment System for Online Content

The system would work as follows. Every time a user “likes” internet content they could also chose to donate a small amount of their PC's spare computing…

Life & Chemistry

Fusion Protein Shapes Photosynthesis Innovations in Chloroplasts

Chloroplasts are the solar cells of plants and green algae. In a process called photosynthesis, light energy is used to produce biochemical energy and the…

Awards Funding

Dr. Andrew G. Mark awarded with Günter Petzow Prize 2015

Up to now, it was very difficult to fabricate structures with sizes less than 100 nanometres that did not have symmetrical shapes. With this new process,…

Health & Medicine

Older Patients Miss Out on Evidence-Based Cardiac Care

Previous studies have shown that older patients are less likely to receive the most evidence-based, recommended treatment for acute coronary syndrome….

Information Technology

Smart Meter Vulnerabilities: Securing the Energy Grid

OSGP was originally developed by the Energy Service Network Association (ESNA) and became a standard of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute…

Studies and Analyses

New Research Aims to Enhance Mine Safety and Save Lives

Until today there have not been any extensive and in-depth studies regarding fires in mines, except for coal mines. Rickard Hansen is now changing this through…

Medical Engineering

MRI – prostate cancer screening for the future?

 

Process Engineering

Perfecting Laser Beams: Insights from the EU’s HALO Project

As part of the EU’s HALO project (“High power Adaptable Laser beams for materials processing”), scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT…

Technology Offerings

CirclSeq – Automatable and relibale preparation of a DNA library in a one-vial reaction for unbiased quantification of mRNA

The analysis of the mRNA content of a cell or a tissue via sequencing provides a method for functional analysis. In common protocols, prior to the sequencing procedure itself the mRNA has to be reverse transcribed into cDNA, followed by random shearing into cDNA fragments, linker ligation, and amplification via PCR. The library of PCR amplicons can then be sequenced by various methods of next generation sequencing (NGS). In many protocols, the primers used for the reverse transcription (RT) or ligation have to be removed before sequencing. Typically, this is achieved by performing a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, which suffers from poor quantitative yield and poor discrimination between molecules of similar size. Additionally, PCR amplification can lead to biased quantification of rare mRNA species. The present invention allows overcoming these problems by using a new protocol, which consists of the following steps:
1) RT of mRNA into cDNA in presence of dUTP
2) RNA digestion and 3’ end blocking of RT primer with ddTTP
3) Enzymatic cleavage at positions of dUTP incorporation
4) cDNA circularization
5) NGS

Technology Offerings

Parthenolide supports PNS repair – Parthenolide and its derivatives for use in the treatment of axonal damage

In general, injured peripheral nervous tissue possesses the capacity to regenerate severed axons and therefore the ability for repair. Mechanisms of so-called neuroregeneration may include generation of new glia, extension of axons, re-myelination or restoration of functional synapses. However, the ability for neuroregeneration differs strongly between the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and the central nervous system (CNS). However, although injured axons of the peripheral nervous system show generally greater potential for intrinsic axonal regrowth, functional regeneration is often limited, mainly due to a decline in neurotrophic support from Schwann cells over time and axonal misguidance.
These aspects become particularly evident in cases of long distance regeneration, for example after sciatic nerve injury in legs or median nerve damage in arms. Therefore, the development of novel therapeutic measures aiming to accelerate axon regenera-tion and thereby improving functional recovery is highly desirable. It was found by the inventors of the present invention that the natural product parthenolide and its derivatives facilitate the axonal growth and guidance of injured peripheral nerves in cell culture and most significantly also in vivo. The inventors demonstrate that the intraneural injection of parthenolide at the regenerating nerve results in an improved functional motor recovery as well as in an improved sensory functional recovery.

Physics & Astronomy

High-Performance 3D Microbattery for On-Chip Integration

“This 3D microbattery has exceptional performance and scalability, and we think it will be of importance for many applications,” explained Paul Braun, a…

Feedback