Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a precisely controllable system for mimicking biochemical reaction cascades in cells. Using microfluidic technology, they produce miniature polymeric reaction containers equipped with the desired properties. This “cell on a chip” is useful not only for studying processes in cells, but also for the development of new synthetic pathways for chemical applications or for biological active substances in medicine. In order to survive, grow and divide, cells rely on a multitude of different…
Nature Communications: KIT researchers identify a new mechanism to control endothelial cell size and arterial caliber – basis for better treatment of heart infarct and stroke. Upon a heart infarct or stroke, rapid restoration of blood flow, and oxygen delivery to the hypo perfused regions is of eminent importance to prevent further damage to heart or brain. Arterial diameter is a critical determinant of blood flow conductance. Scientists of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now discovered a novel…
Increasingly, biologists are turning to computational modeling to make sense of complex systems. In neuroscience, researchers are adapting the kinds of algorithms used to forecast the weather or filter spam from your email to seek insight into how the brain’s neural networks process information. New research from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Assistant Professor Tatiana Engel offers crucial guidance to biologists using such models. Testing various computational models of the nervous system, she and postdoctoral researcher Mikhail Genkin have found that…
Chemists prepare single-molecule racecars in anticipation of 2022 competition. Nanomechanics at Rice University and the University of Houston are getting ready to rev their engines for the second international Nanocar Race. While they’ll have to pump the brakes for a bit longer than expected, as the race has been bumped a year to 2022, the Rice-based team is pushing forward with new designs introduced in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Organic Chemistry. The work led by chemists James Tour…
Findings showed coral has core immune response regardless of disease type. As the world enters a next wave of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we are aware now more than ever of the importance of a healthy immune system to protect ourselves from disease. This is not only true for humans but corals too, which are in an ongoing battle to ward off deadly diseases spreading on a reef. A new study led by researchers at the University of Miami (UM)…
A fish school is a striking demonstration of synchronicity. Yet centuries of study have left a basic question unanswered: do fish save energy by swimming in schools? Now, scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior (MPI-AB), the University of Konstanz, and Peking University have provided an answer that has long been suspected but never conclusively supported by experiments: yes. Using biomimetic fish-like robots, the researchers show that fish could take advantage of the swirls of water generated by…
Through an effort to characterize the color receptors in the eyes of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, University of Minnesota researchers discovered the spectrum of light it can see deviates significantly from what was previously recorded. “The fruit fly has been, and continues to be, critical in helping scientists understand genetics, neuroscience, cancer and other areas of study across the sciences,” said Camilla Sharkey, a post-doctoral researcher in the College of Biological Sciences‘ Wardill Lab. “Furthering our understanding of how…
IM30 loses its complex ring structure under stress conditions and forms a protective carpet on the membrane surface / Surface structure observed for the first time Stress is present everywhere, even bacteria and plant cells have to cope with it. They express various specific stress proteins, but how exactly this line of defense works is often not clear. A group of scientists headed by Professor Dirk Schneider of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) has now discovered a protective mechanism in…
It still sounds unlikely today, but declines in insect numbers could well make it a frequent occurrence in the future: fields full of flowers, but not a bee in sight. A research group of the University of Jena and the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research Halle-Jena-Leipzig (iDiv) has discovered that insects have a decisive influence on the biodiversity and flowering phases of plants. If there is a lack of insects where the plants are growing, their flowering behaviour changes….
… as Great Hopes for Medicine and Biotechnology In the coming years, scientists at the Chair of Technical Biochemistry at TU Dresden will work on the genomic investigation of previously unexplored cyanobacteria. Cyanobacteria are among the oldest forms of life and are of great ecological importance. In order to unlock the genetic potential of unusual cyanobacteria for the production of new active agents and to explore the potential for applications in biotechnology, the team headed by Dr Paul D’Agostino has…
Social life as a driving factor of birds’ generosity. Ravens, crows, magpies and their relatives are known for their exceptional intelligence, which allows them to solve complex problems, use tools or outsmart their conspecifics. One capability, however, that we humans value highly, seems to be missing from their behavioral repertoire: generosity. Only very few species within the crow family have so far been found to act generously in experimental paradigms, while the highly intelligent ravens, for example, have demonstrated their…
Microscopy breakthrough reveals how proteins behave in 3D, enabling new insights into cell behavior and disease progression. Six years ago, the Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to three scientists for finding ways to visualize the pathways of individual molecules inside living cells. Now, researchers at the University of Rochester and the Fresnel Institute in France have found a way to visualize those molecules in even greater detail, showing their position and orientation in 3D, and even how they wobble…
Added diversity may be useful for breeding bees. Since the 1950s, “Africanized” honeybees have spread north and south across the Americas until apparently coming to a halt in California and northern Argentina. Now genome sequencing of hundreds of bees from the northern and southern limits shows a gradual decline in African ancestry across hundreds of miles, rather than an abrupt shift. “There’s a gradual transition at the same latitude in North and South America,” said Erin Calfee, graduate student in…
In a new review article in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, researchers from the University of Regensburg and the National University of Singapore recommend a more cautious assessment of the so-called Janzen-Connell hypothesis. A summary of the current state of knowledge reveals two important unresolved questions. First, it is not clear whether the interactions between neighbouring trees are strong enough to have a significant impact on tree diversity. Second, it cannot yet be said whether the regulatory effect…
UD research team looking at ways to destabilize virus, knock it out with antivirals. As the world grapples with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, another virus has been raging again in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent months: Ebola. Since the first terrifying outbreak in 2013, the Ebola virus has periodically emerged in Africa, causing horrific bleeding in its victims and, in many cases, death. How can we battle these infectious agents that reproduce by hijacking cells and reprogramming…
Artificial light abnormally increases mosquito biting behavior at night in a species that typically prefers to bite people during the day, according to research from the University of Notre Dame that was published in The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Increased biting by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which normally fly and bite in the early morning and during the afternoon, highlights the concern that increasing levels of light pollution could impact transmission of diseases such as dengue fever, yellow…
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