… to remove 99% of carbon dioxide from air. UD researchers carbon capture advance could bring environmentally friendly fuel cells closer to market. University of Delaware engineers have demonstrated a way to effectively capture 99% of carbon dioxide from air using a novel electrochemical system powered by hydrogen. It is a significant advance for carbon dioxide capture and could bring more environmentally friendly fuel cells closer to market. The research team, led by UD Professor Yushan Yan, reported their method in Nature Energy on…
University of Exeter scientists have discovered new information about the tiny propellers used by single-cell organisms called archaea. Like bacteria, archaea are found in a vast range of habitats – including inside human bodies – but unlike bacteria they are not known to cause disease. Some archaea propel themselves to incredible speeds by rotating a spiral-shaped filament called an archaellum. Using a powerful cryo-electron microscope, the new study examined this closer than ever before. The research team – which included…
These new findings about their vision could help you hide from these disease vectors. Beating the bite of mosquitoes this spring and summer could hinge on your attire and your skin. New research led by scientists at the University of Washington indicates that a common mosquito species — after detecting a telltale gas that we exhale — flies toward specific colors, including red, orange, black and cyan. The mosquitoes ignore other colors, such as green, purple, blue and white. The…
… tethering of viral particles at the surface of cells. Teams at the Institut Pasteur, CNRS, Vaccine Research Institute (VRI) and Université de Paris have discovered a new function of anti-HIV-1[1] antibodies by applying cutting-edge microscopy techniques to in vitro viral cultures. The scientists found that certain antibodies already known for effectively targeting HIV-1 envelope (Env) protein can prevent infected cells from releasing viral particles, thus halting viral spread. The antibodies are Y-shaped, enabling them to attach themselves between the…
Transforming Growth Factor beta (TGF-β) is a signalling protein whose dysregulation can cause developmental disorders and cancer. Dr Xinlai Cheng and his colleagues at the Goethe University Frankfurt have discovered how a tumour suppressor known as pVHL influences signal transmission involving TGF-β. Their findings suggest possible starting points for developing new drugs. Signal transmission inside cells is a complex process. TGF-β, for example, regulates many cell functions during the early development of both humans and animals, but also in adult…
Scientists at the University of Cologne show in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that intestinal cells check the quality of oocytes and intervene when they detect defects / Publication in ‘Nature Communications’. Inheriting a normal and intact number of chromosomes in germ cells, egg and sperm, is essential for the preservation of all species. With increasing age, the risk of the egg cell not inheriting the normal set of chromosomes increases. This results in so-called aneuploidy, which can mean either too…
A molecular movie shot at PSI reveals the mechanism of a light-driven chloride pump. Many bacteria and unicellular algae have light-driven pumps in their cell membranes: proteins that change shape when exposed to photons such that they can transport charged atoms in or out of the cell. Thanks to these pumps, their unicellular owners can adjust to the environment’s pH value or salinity. One such bacteria is Nonlabens marinus, first discovered in 2012 in the Pacific Ocean. Among others, it…
Researchers use epigenetic factors to investigate the role of stress in the development of tumor diseases. Test subjects are wanted. Experts believe that stress plays a major role in the development of tumors. One occupational group, for example, that experiences extreme stress over a short period of time is astronauts. Dr. Philipp Rathert from the University of Stuttgart and Prof. Stephan Beck from University College London, along with company partners Active Motif and Microsynth, plan to use epigenetic changes in…
A research team based in Kumamoto University (Japan) has created complex 3D kidney tissue in the lab solely from cultured mouse embryonic stem (ES) cells. These organoids could lead the way to better kidney research and, eventually, artificial kidneys for human transplant. By focusing on an often-overlooked tissue type of organoid generation research, a type of organ tissue made up of various support and connective tissues called the stroma, Dr. Ryuichi Nishinakamura and his team were able to generate the…
While sleeping, the entire brain rolls through long, slow waves of electrical activity, like waves on a calm ocean. Researchers call that state of consciousness “slow wave sleep”. Waking up changes the pattern of electrical activity into something that looks more like random noise. But Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Assistant Professor Tatiana Engel, Postdoctoral Fellow Yianling Shi, and their collaborators found there are patterns in the noise. Looking at the visual processing region of a monkey brain, they discovered smaller,…
A team of researchers led by Prof. Daniel Kümmel from the University of Münster and Prof. Stefan Raunser from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Physiology in Dortmund has revealed the structure of a protein complex which is an important regulator of cellular degradation processes. Proteins are indispensable components in living organisms. They are not only “building material” for the body – they also make molecular communication between cells possible, they are needed for nerve impulses to occur, and they…
Chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is becoming increasingly widespread. Until now, however, the underlying causes of the inflammation responses were unclear. Scientists at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have now identified a mechanism that triggers a problematic interaction between intestinal bacteria and cells in the intestinal mucus layer in XLP2, a condition associated with IBD. The team believes that the results can be applied to other intestinal diseases and could offer approaches to the development of new drugs. The…
New research from Whitehead Institute Member Jonathan Weissman and collaborators enables researchers to predict a cell’s path over time, such as what type of cell it will become, in normal settings or under genetic perturbations. Imagine a ball thrown in the air: it curves up, then down, tracing an arc to a point on the ground some distance away. The path of the ball can be described with a simple mathematical equation, and if you know the equation, you can…
RNA has already been making an impact in the context of the vaccine program, but the potential of RNA-based compounds is far from being fully tapped, as RNA allows for entirely new therapeutic approaches. Prof. Thomas Thum, Co-Institute Director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, has developed a form of RNA therapy for treating heart failure, which has already been successfully tested in patients as part of a phase 1b clinical trial. Other RNA therapies are…
Photosynthesis is a process in plants and algae that has become established and constantly adapted over the last three billion years. In crops, however, researchers assume that it still does not run efficiently, so they could further improve this important process and thus increase the yield of crops. A role model could be algae, which have adapted to very extreme locations in many cases. However, it has hardly been possible to analyse them in detail until now. A new method…
Extensive metagenomic studies provide detailed insights into microbial communities and their ecological functions a team of scientists of the universities of Oldenburg and Göttingen reports. At first glance, the open ocean seems to be a uniform habitat: Water as far as the eye can see. A research team from the universities of Oldenburg and Göttingen has now been able to show on the basis of extensive data that communities of microbes, so-called prokaryotes, nevertheless differ regionally in the Atlantic Ocean…
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