Large difference in role of iron between oceans near Greenland and Antarctica. Though a lack of iron is a factor limiting algal growth in the oceans, more dissolved iron in the ocean East of Greenland due to the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet does not lead to more algae there. Off the coast of Antarctica, on the other hand, algae do profit from more dissolved iron in the water as a consequence of melting ice. The cause of this…
New insights for sepsis therapeutics. Lab studies reveal protein HSP27’s role in blood vessel leakage, opening the possibility that therapeutically dialing its activity up or down might stabilize patients with sepsis. Sepsis occurs when the body works so hard to fight an infection that the over-activated immune system harms a patient’s own tissues as collateral damage. As a result, blood vessels can become leaky and major organs can’t get the oxygen and nutrients they require to sustain life. Sepsis is…
Research team from Kiel University investigates how to maintain the efficacy of available antibiotics by sequentially administering closely related agents. Public health is coming under increasing pressure worldwide due to the antibiotic crisis: the rapid increase in resistance of bacterial pathogens could mean that in the near future bacterial infections that are usually harmless will be difficult or impossible to treat. The spread of antibiotic resistance is based on the ability of pathogens to adapt quickly to the drugs. In…
The entrainment of fluid near schooling, self-propelled particles can be utilized for directed transport. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization (MPIDS), the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Twente created a new model for a new transport mechanism on the microscale in a combined experimental and theoretical approach. They investigated small self-propelling objects, so-called micro-swimmers, and monitored a directed transport of particles in the surrounding fluid. Using this observation, they computed how a multitude of…
How the unity of physical and biochemical cues creates healthy organisms. New TU Dresden research group aims to uncover how stem cells respond to mechanical forces and electrical cues during the development and maintenance of the nervous and cardiovascular system. Dr. Adele Doyle, Assistant Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, USA, joined the Cluster of Excellence Physics of Life (PoL) in July, 2021, to lead the research group Mechanobiology of Stem Cells at TU Dresden. Using approaches from…
Against infections, tumours and inflammations, immune cells are locally positioned as rapid reaction forces in the organs of the body. On site, they specialise and take on various tasks. When pathogens invade the human body, a rapid response is required. At the forefront of the immune response are special immune cells. They reside in various tissues such as the lungs, liver, skin and intestines, where they take up the fight against invaders at an early stage. Their name: innate lymphoid…
The Human Cell Atlas is the world’s largest, growing single-cell reference atlas. It contains references of millions of cells across tissues, organs and developmental stages. These references help physicians to understand the influences of aging, environment and disease on a cell – and ultimately diagnose and treat patients better. Yet, reference atlases do not come without challenges. Single-cell datasets may contain measurement errors (batch effect), the global availability of computational resources is limited and the sharing of raw data is…
International research team isolates DNA from modern human buried 7,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The oldest genome of a modern human from the Wallacea region – the islands between western Indonesia and Papua New Guinea – indicates a previously undescribed ancient human relationship. Researchers were able to isolate sufficient genetic material from the skull of an individual buried more than 7,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. It belonged to a hunter-gatherer society and…
Study points to mechanism of post-viral lung damage; suggests targets of intervention. The deadliest time in a viral respiratory illness sometimes is actually after the virus is cleared from the body. Destructive processes that are set in motion during an infection crest in the weeks after the virus is defeated, leading to organ damage that can cause chronic illness or even death. After an initial bout of COVID-19, for example, some people struggle with persistent cough, difficulty breathing and shortness…
Neurons phosphorylate their proteins in order to sense and respond to changes in network activity. Homeostatic scaling is a form of synaptic plasticity that allows neurons to stabilize network activity in response to large perturbations. To sense such changes in overall activity levels, neurons must have molecular mechanisms to sense and implement the scaling response on timescales ranging from minutes to days. Scientists at the Max Planck Institutes for Brain Research and Biophysics in Frankfurt now studied a form of…
Soap molecules reversibly open specific channel proteins in bacteria. These channels are also interesting from a medical point of view, as they are part of the defense mechanisms of bacteria. A Würzburg research group published these results in the renowned journal PNAS. Bacteria use special channel proteins through which they can channel fluid and ions out of the cell in case they need to protect themselves from bursting. The research group led by Prof. Dr. Bettina Böttcher of the Rudolf…
Carbon dioxide from the atmosphere can dissolve in oceans, lakes and ponds, forming bicarbonate ions and other compounds that change water chemistry, with possible harmful effects on aquatic organisms. In addition, bicarbonate can reenter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide later, contributing to climate change. Now, researchers have developed tiny “nanojars,” much smaller than the width of a human hair, that split bicarbonate into carbonate and capture it, as well as certain toxic anions, so the ions can be removed and…
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion,” Albert Einstein wrote. Perhaps this is nowhere more evident than in protein evolution, where past and present versions of the same enzyme exist in different species today, with implications for future enzyme design. Now, researchers have used evolutionary “time travel” to learn how an enzyme evolved over time, from one of Earth’s most ancient organisms to modern-day humans. The researchers will present their results today at…
In addition to antibodies and white blood cells, the immune system deploys peptides to fight viruses and other pathogens. Synthetic peptides could reinforce this defense but don’t last long in the body, so researchers are developing stable peptide mimics. Today, scientists report success in using mimics known as peptoids to treat animals with herpes virus infections. These small synthetic molecules could one day cure or prevent many kinds of infections, including COVID-19. The researchers will present their results at the…
Innovators at Purdue University and Houston Methodist Research Institute have created a novel strategy for developing an effective vaccine for a widespread form of tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is a leading cause of death worldwide, leading to over 1.5 million fatalities annually. Approximately one-third of the global population is infected with the latent form of Mtb. Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is widely used as a vaccine against tuberculosis but has a variable protection against neonatal and adult pulmonary TB. That protection…
Trans-scale scope shows big picture of tiny targets. Researchers at Osaka University use a 120-megapixel camera to simultaneously image over a million cells in a single microscope field of view, a feat which may accelerate the study of population dynamics and rare biological phenomena. Scientists from the Transdimensional Life Imaging Division of the Institute for Open and Transdisciplinary Research Initiatives (OTRI) at Osaka University created an optical imaging system that can capture an unprecedented number of cells in a single…
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