When a child falls off her bike and scrapes her knee, skin stem cells rush to the rescue, growing new epidermis to cover the wound. But only some of the stem cells that will ultimately patch her up are normally dedicated to replenishing the epidermis that protects her body. Others are former hair follicle stem cells, which usually promote hair growth but respond to the more urgent needs of the moment, morphing into epidermal stem cells to bolster local ranks…
A protein that appears in postsynaptic protein agglomerations has been found to be crucial to their formation. The Kobe University discovery identifies a new key player for synaptic function and sheds first light on its hitherto uncharacterized cellular role and evolution. What happens at the synapse, the connection between two neurons, is a key factor in brain function. The transmission of the signal from the presynaptic to the postsynaptic neuron is mediated by proteins and their imbalance can lead to…
Zika virus vaccine emerges as an unlikely hero in battling brain cancer. The scientists discovered that Zika virus vaccine strains eradicate brain tumour cells while sparing healthy ones. Scientists from Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS) have developed a new approach using the Zika virus to destroy brain cancer cells and inhibit tumour growth, while sparing healthy cells. Using Zika virus vaccine candidates developed at Duke-NUS, the team discovered how these strains target rapidly proliferating cells over mature cells—making them an ideal…
Planting new coral in degraded reefs can lead to rapid recovery – with restored reefs growing as fast as healthy reefs after just four years, new research shows. Reefs worldwide are severely threatened by local and global pressures. In Indonesia, where the study was carried out, destructive blast fishing destroyed large reef areas 30-40 years ago – with no signs of recovery until now. The Mars Coral Reef Restoration Programme attempts to restore degraded reefs by transplanting coral fragments onto…
A new method could help design drugs to treat them. Helicases are enzymes that unwind DNA and RNA. They’re central to cellular life, implicated in a number of cancers and infections—and, alas, extraordinarily difficult to target with drugs. Now, new research provides a powerful platform for designing covalent inhibitors tailored to target helicases. The paper, published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, describes how researchers used this innovative new platform to design molecules that take aim at helicases involved in…
Discovery of growth cone in migrating neurons involved in promoting neuronal migration and regeneration in the brain after injury. Migrating neurons possess a growth cone that shares functions with axonal growth cones and regulates neuronal migration by interaction with the extracellular environment. The structure and functions of the tip of migrating neurons remain elusive. Here, a research group led by Kazunobu Sawamoto, Professor at Nagoya City University and National Institute for Physiological Sciences, and by Chikako Nakajima and Masato Sawada,…
A research team at the MHH is comparing changes in natural killer cells of the innate immune defence system in chronic hepatitis C sufferers as a risk factor for the later development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant liver tumour that develops from degenerated liver cells. HCC usually develops in a severely damaged liver, in which the tissue is destroyed and scarred. Such liver cirrhosis is caused, among other things, by an infection with the hepatitis…
Lubricants for wire drawing based on polymers. Metals can be processed into wires by cold forming – an extremely complex process. However, the lubricants needed for this often do not meet the requirements of the end processors. As part of the KMU-innovativ project “Polyschmierung”, five partners from industry and research have developed a new class of polymer lubricants that make the process significantly more environmentally friendly and economical. They are already being used successfully by industry. The project was funded…
…can bind together to form macroscopic complexes. Scientists from CNR Nanotec in Lecce and the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw used a new generation of semiconductor photonic gratings to optically tailor complexes of quantum droplets of light that became bound together into macroscopic coherent states. The research underpins a new method to simulate and explore interactions between artificial atoms in a highly reconfigurable manner, using optics. The results have been published in the prestigious journal “Nature Physics”…
A research team from the University of St Andrews and the University of Cologne has developed a new wireless light source that might one day make it possible to ‘illuminate’ the human body from the inside. Such light sources could enable novel, minimally invasive means to treat and better understand diseases that today require the implantation of bulky devices. The study was published under the title ‘Wireless Magnetoelectrically Powered Organic Light-Emitting Diodes’ in Science Advances. The new approach presented by…
… using an evolutionary ‘copy-paste’ tactic. Plasmodium falciparum, a malaria parasite, uses gene conversion to produce genetic diversity in two surface protein genes targeted by the human immune system. By dissecting the genetic diversity of the most deadly human malaria parasite – Plasmodium falciparum – researchers at EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) have identified a mechanism of ‘copy-paste’ genetics that increases the genetic diversity of the parasite at accelerated time scales. This helps solve a long-standing mystery regarding why the…
First-of-its-kind device ‘tags’ an organ to monitor abnormal, life-threatening fluid leaks. Researchers led by Northwestern University and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a new, first-of-its-kind sticker that enables clinicians to monitor the health of patients’ organs and deep tissues with a simple ultrasound device. When attached to an organ, the soft, tiny sticker changes in shape in response to the body’s changing pH levels, which can serve as an early warning sign for post-surgery complications…
Cancer cells are characterized by their aggressiveness: they grow rapidly and spread to other parts of the body. To enable this, numerous mechanisms come into play, and one of them involves a protein called MYC, which activates certain genes on the cancer cell’s DNA strand, causing the cancer cell to grow and divide. The MYC protein is also present in healthy individuals, where it plays a crucial role in regulating many cell functions. – When cancer occurs, it is due…
An international team of researchers has investigated the question of whether the chemical defenses of plants changes when they have established themselves in new geographical regions. Greenhouse experiments with populations of ribwort plantain from different countries and continents showed that introduced ribwort plantain populations exhibited higher chemical defenses when climatic factors of their habitat were taken into account, while their growth was not affected. The results refute common theories and demonstrate how difficult it is to formulate generally valid assumptions…
SLF physicist Lars Mewes is investigating snow crystals’ direction of growth and analysing snow profiles on the Jungfraufirn Glacier. His work is part of a collaboration with other institutions, which the SLF was invited to join because of its expertise on snow. Thin air, peak temperatures of around -10 °C – SLF snow physicist Lars Mewes has swapped his cosy office in Davos for a workplace of extremes this week. Since Monday, he has been at the high-altitude research station…
A more efficient way to capture fresh water from the air could be inspired by a phenomenon of motion first glimpsed in bowls of breakfast cereal. KAUST researchers have observed that, when water droplets condense from the air onto a cold surface coated with oil, the droplets commence a complex dance.[1] This motion — akin to a process known as the Cheerios effect whereby the floating cereal tends to cluster due to surface tension — could help to speed up the…
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