Biotechnologists measure the forces with which algae cells adhere to surfaces and move on them How can cells adhere to surfaces and move on them? This is a question which was investigated by an international team of researchers headed by Prof. Michael Hippler from the University of Münster and Prof. Kaiyao Huang from the Institute of Hydrobiology (Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, China). The researchers used the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as their model organism. They manipulated the alga by…
Tohoku University scientists have, for the first time, provided experimental evidence that cell stickiness helps them stay sorted within correct compartments during development. How tightly cells clump together, known as cell adhesion, appears to be enabled by a protein better known for its role in the immune system. The findings were detailed in the journal Nature Communications. Scientists have long observed that not-yet-specialized cells move in a way that ensures that cell groups destined for a specific tissue stay together….
Detailed structure of ribosomes in nerve cells revealed. Protein synthesis is a finely tuned process in the cell by macromolecules known as ribosomes. Which regulators are responsible for controlling protein synthesis in the brain, and how do they exert their control on the ribosome? To address this question, a team of researchers from Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin studied the structure of the brain’s ribosomal complexes in great detail. The team was able to identify a new factor which is also…
New study decodes the molecular diversity of neurons in the zebrafish retina. Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) are the bottleneck through which all visual impressions flow from the retina to the brain. A team from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, University of California Berkeley and Harvard University created a molecular catalog that describes the different types of these neurons. In this way, individual RGC types could be systematically studied and linked to a specific connection, function and behavioral response. When…
Dual-acting immuno-antibiotics block an essential pathway in bacteria and activate the adaptive immune response. Wistar Institute scientists have discovered a new class of compounds that uniquely combine direct antibiotic killing of pan drug-resistant bacterial pathogens with a simultaneous rapid immune response for combatting antimicrobial resistance (AMR). These finding were published today in Nature. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared AMR as one of the top 10 global public health threats against humanity. It is estimated that by 2050, antibiotic-resistant…
Glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor in adults. Roughly five in every 100,000 people develop this type of cancer each year. The diagnosis amounts to a death sentence: Even after surgical resection followed by radiation and chemotherapy, the glioblastoma will kill the patient in a few months. This is because the tumor invariably returns after treatment, and in a more aggressive form than before. Researchers investigating glioblastoma tissue always find immune cells inside the tumor. They have therefore…
An analysis of the songs of most of the world’s passerine birds reveals that the frequency at which birds sing mostly depends on body size, but is also influenced by sexual selection. The new study from researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology and colleagues suggests that habitat characteristics do not affect song frequency, thereby refuting a long-standing theory. Many animals use acoustic signals for communication. These signals have evolved to maximize the effectiveness of the transmission and reception…
New methods enable scientists at IST Austria to take a look at the innermost of cells: high-resolution images of deep-frozen cells show structures that previously could only be guessed at. Temperatures of minus 196 degrees Celsius enable high-resolution imaging of the cell’s interior. Researchers at the Institute of Science and Technology (IST) Austria are thus able to show for the first time how the active form of a protein complex plays critical roles in cell motility and other important biological…
The wastewater treatment plant is turned into a vegetable farm, bio-based substances recovered from waste are being utilized to prevent oxidative spoilage in food packaging or provide environmentally-friendly and safe water-repellent coatings on functional textiles. In the EVOBIO project coordinated by Fraunhofer IGB, 19 Fraunhofer Institutes are working on solutions for a sustainable economy by developing new concepts that utilize material flows in bioeconomy process cycles to produce optimized materials for innovative products. From environmental pollution to climate change –…
Computational simulations performed by the Pantazis group combined with spectroscopic studies led to the discovery of a new catalytic intermediate in water oxidation. One of the greatest ambitions of modern chemistry is to reproduce with synthetic catalysts the remarkable feat of water oxidation performed in nature by photosynthetic organisms. Plants use sunlight to split water into oxygen, protons, and electrons. This is the source of the oxygen that we breathe, while the protons and electrons are used in the enzymatic…
Researchers of Münster University reveal mechanobiological function of muscle-specific adhesion protein / Study published in “Nature Communications” The ability of cells to sense and respond to their mechanical environment is critical for many cellular processes but the molecular mechanisms underlying cellular mechanosensitivity are still unclear. Researchers at the University of Münster have now discovered how the muscle-specific adhesion molecule metavinculin modulates mechanical force transduction on the molecular level. The research results have just been published in the journal “Nature Communications”….
Study reveals new targets for the design of improved antinausea medications. At some point, everyone experiences nausea. Whether it occurs after unwisely eating a week-old slice of pizza or as an accompaniment to a serious infection, that queasy, unsettling sensation centered around the stomach is a signal that something is amiss within the body and typically portends a bout of vomiting. Most of the time, nausea is only temporary. But for some people, such as those on certain chemotherapy regimens,…
Scientists of KIT use advanced methods with hybrid functionals for analysis of active sites – publication in Physical Review Letters. Catalysts are indispensable for many technologies. To further improve heterogeneous catalysts, it is required to analyze the complex processes on their surfaces, where the active sites are located. Scientists of Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), together with colleagues from Spain and Argentina, have now reached decisive progress: As reported in Physical Review Letters, they use calculation methods with so-called hybrid…
A newly developed compound starves cancer cells by attacking their “power plants” – the so-called mitochondria. The new compound prevents the genetic information within mitochondria from being read. Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and the University of Gothenburg report in their study published in the prestigious journal Nature that this compound could be used as a potential anti-tumour drug in the future; not only in mice but also in human…
A team of researchers from Russia, the United States, and China led by Skoltech Professor Artem R. Oganov has discovered an unexpected very complex europium hydride, Eu8H46. The paper detailing the discovery has been published in The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. Superhydrides of rare-earth metals are interesting compounds that form under pressure: some exhibit high-temperature superconductivity that scientists have been chasing for over 100 years, and some possess magnetic properties. Although devoid of superconductivity, europium hydrides are very interesting…
Researchers identify key native plants that stabilize feeding relationships essential for our planet’s health. University of Delaware Professor of Entomology Doug Tallamy published a new research study in Nature that systematically identifies the most critical plants needed to sustain food webs across the United States. Alongside co-authors Kimberley Shropshire and former graduate student Desiree Narango, now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, the study drills down to the top plants in each county and bioregion, illuminating a…
Feedback
