For someone with a blood cancer, receiving stem cells from a donor offers the possibility of a cure. But patients undergoing this procedure, called allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation, also face the possibility of a common side effect – graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD). In GVHD, the donated cells start attacking the patient’s own healthy cells, believing them to be intruders. Chronic GVHD ranges from mild to severe; unfortunately, it can be quite debilitating and is a major cause of death for patients. Treatments…
… quickly adapts to new environmental conditions. Hospital-acquired infections are often hard to treat because the corresponding pathogens become increasingly resistant against antibiotics. Here, the bacterium Acinetobacter baumannii is particularly feared, and there is great pressure to devise novel therapeutic approaches to combat it. Bioinformaticians from Goethe University Frankfurt and Research Unit FOR2251 of the German Research Foundation have now detected an unexpectedly wide diversity of certain cell appendages in A. baumannii that are associated with pathogenicity. This could lead…
Research from the Max Planck Florida Institute for Neuroscience has identified a mechanism through which insulin-like growth factors facilitate brain plasticity. The insulin superfamily of hormones, including insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1), and insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2), play a crucial role not only in regulating blood sugar, metabolism, and growth, but also in healthy brain development and function, including learning and memory. These hormones can enter the brain through the bloodstream from the liver or can be synthesized…
Researchers at TU Graz have gained new insights into the functioning of a protein found in bacteria, whose enzymatic activity is activated by blue light. Light affects living organisms in many different ways: for example, plants orient their growth direction towards the sun, while circadian rhythms in humans are controlled by daylight. These processes always involve photoreceptors, which are proteins that can sense different colours and intensities of light. 10,000-fold increase in enzymatic activity Now, researchers at Graz University of…
On Thursday, RV Polarstern is scheduled to set off from Tromsø, Norway, towards the North Pole. For two months, a good fifty scientific expedition participants will explore the Arctic in transition as sea ice extent reaches its annual minimum in September. They will explore the biology, chemistry and physics of sea ice as well as the effects of sea ice retreat on the entire ocean system from the surface to the deep sea. Eleven years ago, Antje Boetius was part…
Scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research shed light on how harmful fungi evade recognition by their plant hosts and aid infection. Many cereal crops, such as wheat and barley, are prey to devastating fungal diseases caused by infection with so-called grass powdery mildews. A key battleground between the plants and the powdery mildews is the interaction between plant immune receptors and pathogen effectors, molecules which are delivered into host cells by pathogens to establish infection. These…
Artificial intelligence helps elucidate structure of a novel light sensor. The small Caenorhabditis elegans nematode avoids light. While it does not have eyes, some of its cells contain a protein called LITE-1, which warns it of the sun, whose rays are dangerous for the animal. A team of scientists from Goethe University Frankfurt, the Max Planck Institute of Biophysics, and the Simons Foundation’s Flatiron Institute in New York has now elucidated the structure of LITE-1 – a completely new type…
Biofilms are highly resistant communities of bacteria that pose a major challenge in the treatment of infections. While studying biofilm formation in laboratory conditions has been extensively conducted, understanding their development in the complex environment of the human respiratory tract has remained elusive. A team of researchers led by Alexandre Persat at EPFL have now cracked the problem by successfully developing organoids called AirGels. Organoids are miniature, self-organized 3D tissues grown from stem cells to mimic actual body tissues and…
Researchers used ultrafast electron diffraction to image the structure of the pericyclic minimum, the “transition state” of electrocyclic reactions. The Science In chemical reactions, molecules proceed during their transformation from reactants into reaction products through a critical geometry. In chemistry, geometry refers to the arrangement of atoms in a molecule. Scientists often call critical geometry in reactions a transition state. This state has an almost incomprehensibly short lifetime of less than one millionth of one millionth of a second. Scientists recently…
A research team led by Prof. Yossi Paltiel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with groups from HUJI, Weizmann and IST Austria new study reveals the influence of nuclear spin on biological processes. This discovery challenges long-held assumptions and opens up exciting possibilities for advancements in biotechnology and quantum biology. Scientists have long believed that nuclear spin had no impact on biological processes. However, recent research has shown that certain isotopes behave differently due to their nuclear spin. The team…
New research shows that the gene, Period 1, becomes more active in a memory-forming region of the brain in daylight hours after learning and plays a crucial role in consolidating memories. A gene that plays a key role in regulating how bodies change across the 24-hour day also influences memory formation, allowing mice to consolidate memories better during the day than at night. Researchers at Penn State tested the memory of mice during the day and at night, then identified…
Automated analysis of microplastics. How high are concentrations of microplastics in the environment, in our drinking water or in foods? Researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have developed an automated analysis method for the identification and quantification of particles. Microplastics are everywhere in the environment. The tiny particles, with diameters of less than 5 millimeters, can also absorb and transport contaminants and toxins. “We urgently need analytical techniques to learn about the size, concentration and composition of these…
… innovates how biological materials are stored and handled. Scientists have developed a novel method for storing biological materials such as RNA and proteins in a solid-state. The storage in solid-state resembles the form of a pill or a tablet, which dissolves in water for on-demand use. The innovation provides a new way to overcome current limitations in the storage and handling of products derived from living cells used for a variety of health care and scientific research purposes. Biological…
Researchers from the Leibniz Institute on Aging in Jena and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg have discovered a novel treatment approach for soft tissue tumors, which are frequently occurring in children and are often malignant. Through the targeted transformation of the tumor cells into muscle cells, they succeeded in stopping the growth of the cells and thereby the growth of the tumor. This opens completely new therapeutic options in cancer treatment. Rhabdomyosarcoma, a malignant tumor, is one of the…
A research team led by Prof. CHEN Chilai from Institute of Intelligent machines, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), developed the deep-sea mass spectrometer. Recently, it successfully completed multiple sea trials in a specific area of deep sea. The research results were published in Chinese Journal of Analytical Chemistry. The extreme environments of the deep sea have shaped unique biological processes and harbor significant mineral resources, making their detection a frontier issue in international Earth science research….
Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena and Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany, report in a new study in the journal PNAS that the symbiosis of beewolves with their bacterial helpers includes protection of the symbionts from toxic nitric oxide, which beewolf eggs release to disinfect the brood cavity. The white secretion from the antennae of female beewolves, which also contains the symbionts, provides an effective diffusion barrier. Beewolves, a genus of solitary digger wasps,…
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