The chemical precursors of present-day biomolecules could have formed not only in the deep sea at hydrothermal vents, but also in warm ponds on the Earth’s surface. The chemical reactions that may have occurred in this “primordial soup” have now been reproduced in experiments by an international team led by researchers of Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. They even found that one of the nucleobases, which represent the code of our genetic material, could have originated from the surface of…
First successful treatment of severe pulmonary hypertension. Hannover Medical School doctors successfully treat three-year-old girl / Publication in “Nature Cardiovascular Research. Clinical researchers at Hannover Medical School (MHH) have succeeded for the first time worldwide in stopping the usually fatal course of the disease in severe pulmonary hypertension thanks to a novel therapeutic approach. A three-year-old girl suffering from so-called pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was treated for six months a total of five times with mesenchymal stem cell products obtained…
Mitoribosomes are nano particles essential for the synthesis and maintenance of bioenergetic proteins that produce more than 90% of our energy to support a human life. Eight years ago, the term Resolution Revolution was coined in relation to the first structure determination of the mitoribosome. Its intricate structure consists of over 80 different components, and more recent structural studies have further deepened our understanding of the mitoribosome structure, function and antibiotic binding. However, we still lack information on the assembly of the mitoribosomal…
Scripps Research scientists find evidence that the immune protein CSF1 may contribute to feelings of anxiety during alcohol withdrawal. The anxiety that occurs during withdrawal from excessive alcohol use, and contributes to relapse, may be driven in part by the release of an immune protein in the brain, according to a new study from scientists at Scripps Research. The discovery, reported online June 6, 2022, in Molecular Psychiatry, illuminates the molecular details of the brain’s response to alcohol withdrawal, and…
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg have produced a porous and stable material in which the cavities can be used to store various substances. The material can be used both in the pharmaceutical industry and for filtration at the molecular level. Porous materials are very interesting to scientists since they can interact with guest particles, such as ions, atoms, and molecules, in the cavities of the material. Inorganic porous materials like zeolites are already being used in detergents, where they…
Paralyzed mice “walk” again after new treatment created with the aid of the Advanced Photon Source. The Science A new injectable therapy for spinal cord injuries uses specially engineered molecules that trigger a healing response in spinal cells. The research team used X-ray characterization at the Advanced Photon Source (APS). This allowed the researchers to determine the structure of these molecules as they come together to form tiny fibers in a liquid solution. Scientists can control the motion of these…
Tobacco hornworms neutralize different defense mechanisms of tobacco plants after ingestion. A combined defense of different chemical defense substances could result in a negative interaction and mutual detoxification, according to researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in a new study on the wild tobacco species Nicotiana attenuata and one of its specialized herbivores. Chemical analyses of frass revealed that larvae of the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta are able to split off components of one defense substance and…
Candida albicans is a yeast that colonizes the mucosal surfaces of most healthy humans. Under certain conditions, it can switch to a harmful form and cause infection. Researchers have now identified components of mucus that keep the pathogen from turning destructive, thus laying the foundation for a new class of drugs. Most people don’t ever notice that they carry potentially harmful pathogens. The fact that they remain ignorant of Candida albicans is in part thanks to a substance usually not…
Specific cellular, molecular and gene expression patterns in brain areas are linked to function, but their precise relationships remain largely unknown. New findings by scientists at the Human Brain Project (HBP) shed light on these relationships and enable a more comprehensive understanding of human brain organisation. The HBP researchers conducted a study that targeted three levels of cortical organisation: cytoarchitecture, neurotransmitter receptor architecture and neurotransmitter receptor gene expression. The study elucidates principles of human brain organisation across the visual, auditory,…
Scientists at Jacobs University Bremen led by Ulrich Kortz, Professor of Chemistry, have achieved a breakthrough in the field of precious metal-oxo chemistry. For the first time, researchers have synthesized cationic, meaning positively charged, metal-oxo clusters based on palladium. They report on the synthesis and properties of these compounds in the renowned journal Angewandte Chemie, which classifies the article as a Hot Paper and thus as a particularly important contribution. The research project involved the working groups of four professors…
University of Tübingen research team discovers mechanism bacteria use to overcome plant cells’ immune response. Many disease-causing bacteria are able to inhibit the defense mechanisms in plants and thus escape dissolution by the plant cell, a process known as xenophagy. Animal and human cells have a similar mechanism whereby the cell’s defenses ‘eat’ invading bacteria – yet some bacteria can inhibit the process. An international research team has now described the inhibition of xenophagy in plants for the first time….
Programmed cell death is an important tool that an organism uses to keep itself healthy. When a cell does not function as it should, various stress reactions are activated. The goal of these reactions is to restore the original cell function. One example is autophagy, a process in which the cell partially digests itself to gain energy, which it can then use for its own repair. If these attempts should fail, the cell dies. This allows the body to fight…
In the research project “Power density hydrogen release from LOHC systems on mobile platforms”, the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) and the Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nuremberg (HI ERN) have developed an efficient and stable surface catalyst for the release of hydrogen from liquid storage materials. With this catalyst, the researchers pave the way for the mobile application of Liquid-Organic-Hydrogen-Carrier (LOHC) technology using rail transport as an applied case. In correspondance, current diesel trains are replaceable by modern alternatives using low-emission hydrogen…
A new study indicates how deep learning can improve gene therapies and antiviral drugs. The nuclease Cas13b associated with CRISPR defense systems—also known as genetic scissors—has the potential to be used in the future in hereditary diseases to silence adverse genes. In the fight against infections, it is also being researched as an antiviral agent, as Cas13b can target the genome of viruses and render them harmless. Despite these promising features, researchers are looking for nuclease inhibitors that can control…
Viruses can make animals and humans sick – or healthy: Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB have succeeded in genetically modifying the herpes simplex virus type 1, which triggers painful cold sores, in such a way that it can be used in the fight against cancer in the future. Viruses are simple in structure: They consist of a small amount of genetic material wrapped in proteins and lipids. Measuring just 20 to 200 nanometers in…
Methane instead of CO2 … Biogas plants produce methane along with more than 40 percent CO2 which has been released into the atmosphere in conventional biogas plants. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM have now found a way to convert this waste product into additional methane, thus drastically increasing the methane yield from biogas plants. The process is up and running and the research team is currently scaling up the demonstration plant to five cubic meters…
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