Arrangement of proteins could be responsible for diseases. Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s or Huntington’s disease: the behavior of certain molecules that play a role in sub-cellular processes influence the development of such neurodegenerative diseases. Scientists from Mischa Bonn’s department at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research and Sapun Parekh’s lab at the University of Texas have now studied a specific protein using various methods to better understand the mechanism behind these diseases. Processes inside human cells are tightly regulated in time…
Research team develops new system for imaging and treating tumors. Thanks to the radiation they emit, radioactive compounds are suited both to imaging and treating cancers. By appropriately combining them in novel, so-called radionuclide theranostics, both applications can be dovetailed. A radiopharmacy team at Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and Heidelberg University has now presented such a system in the Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c08438) that successfully solves one of the biggest problems to date: it works at physiologically…
… offer new insights on plant growth. Technology used in cancer research leads to roadmap of chemicals important for agriculture, food production and climate resilience. On a sunny springtime stroll through a park, it’s easy to ignore the parts of plants that are hidden from view. Plant biologists see things differently. They look below the surface where plant roots are organized in elaborate systems that are critical to the organism’s development. Intricately organized tree root systems, for example, can span…
Researchers at the Institute for Theoretical Biology at Humboldt Universität have solved a long-standing mathematical puzzle about the emergence of electrical activity patterns during insect flight. Together with colleagues at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, they report a novel function for electrical synapses in governing the flight of fruit flies in the current issue of Nature. To keep their small bodies up in the air, fruit flies have to beat their wings extremely fast. They use a trick that…
A breakthrough in fluorescence microscopy has been achieved by the research group of Ralf Jungmann at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry (MPIB) and Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich. The team developed Resolution Enhancement by Sequential Imaging (RESI), a revolutionary technique that enhances the resolution of fluorescence microscopy down to the Ångström scale. This innovation is poised to usher in a paradigm shift in our approach to study biological systems with thus far unprecedented detail. Cells, the fundamental units of life, contain…
New process simulates decomposition of too long stored drugs in 15 minutes. Before their approval, pharmaceuticals not only have to be tested for their effectiveness and safety, but also for their stability, since they are usually stored in pharmacies and private households for years and are not allowed to change. To test their stability, a process is needed that decomposes the drug “in fast motion”. Such a method was recently developed by a team of scientists from the Leibniz Institute…
Genetic diversity is also a component of biodiversity. Species known as marine habitat-forming species —gorgonians, corals, algae, seaweeds, marine phanerogams, etc.— are organisms that help generate and structure the underwater landscapes. These are natural refuges for other species, and provide biomass and complexity to the seabeds. But these key species in marine ecosystems are currently threatened by climate change and other perturbations derived from human activity. Now, a study published in the journal Global Ecology and Biogeography warns that even…
To know when it’s time for a meal – and when to stop eating again – is important to survive and to stay healthy, for humans and animals alike. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence investigated how the brain regulates feeding behavior in mice. The team found that the hormone ghrelin activates specialized nerve cells in a brain region known as the amygdala. Here, the interaction between ghrelin and the specialized neurons promotes food consumption and conveys…
… to continue replicating. The findings of the study reported in the article offer hope for the development of novel treatments for the disease. Some 30,000 new cases of leishmaniasis are notified annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In an article published in the journal Nature Communications, researchers at the University of São Paulo (USP) in Brazil show how protozoans of the genus Leishmania that cause leishmaniasis manipulate a protein that plays an essential role in the organism’s defense in order to continue…
Heidelberg biologists identify the molecular mechanism that controls root branching. Along with sugar reallocation, a basic molecular mechanism within plants controls the formation of new lateral roots. An international team of plant biologists has demonstrated that it is based on the activity of a certain factor, the target of rapamycin (TOR) protein. A better understanding of the processes that regulate root branching at the molecular level could contribute to improving plant growth and therefore crop yields, according to research team…
Researchers at the University of Basel have developed a new approach for a vaccine against COVID-19. This vaccine is based on a modified coronavirus that can enter body cells and trigger an effective immune response but cannot multiply in the body. In animal studies, the vaccine effectively protected against the disease and even prevented virus transmission. Clinical trials in humans are to follow. Although safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines have been available since early 2021, SARS-CoV-2 continues to spread, with…
A new study focusing on the number of dividing bacterial cells in the North Sea challenges some dogmas about marine microbial life. Seawater is full of bacteria, hundreds of thousands live in every litre. But the sheer number of bacteria living in the water does not necessarily mean a lot. More important is how active they are and how quickly they duplicate, as demonstrated in a study by researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, now…
… shedding light on the development of new smart active materials. In nature, the skin of cephalopods (animals with tentacles attached to the head) exhibits unparalleled camouflage ability. Their skin contains pigment groups that can sense changes in environmental light conditions and adjust their appearance through the action of pigment cells. Although intricate in nature, this colour-changing ability is fundamentally based on a mechanical mechanism in which pigment particles are folded or unfolded under the control of radial muscles. Inspired…
“For it to be doing this function in the context of PTSD in females is very surprising” said Tim Jarome, an associate professor in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences’ School of Animal Sciences. From humans to plants to single-cell organisms, there’s a protein that rules them all. This protein does general housekeeping of the cells, regulating them through normal daily functions. Virginia Tech researchers found that one specific form of this ubiquitous protein has a different function in…
… with an aptamer/microelectronic fiber combination. A research group has developed a neural device that detects specific neurotransmitters in the brain with high sensitivity and selectivity by combining multifunctional fibers and DNA molecular probes. Details of their research were published in the journal Analytical Chemistry on April 24, 2023. It is estimated that over a billion people suffer from brain disorders worldwide. Current therapeutic techniques use electrical modalities to establish an interface with the brain. This typically involves electrodes being…
Diet drinks often contain a mix of non-nutritive sweeteners that also enter the bloodstream after consumption. As a new pilot study shows, even dietary intake levels of saccharin, acesulfame-K and cyclamate are enough to modulate the copy rate of various genes in white blood cells. “Our data suggest that this modulation sensitizes immune cells to certain immune stimuli,” says Dietmar Krautwurst of the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich. He adds: “Likewise, they also…
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