How can you trace a single diseased cell in an intact brain or a human heart? The search resembles looking for a needle in a haystack. The teams of Ali Ertürk at Helmholtz Munich and LMU Munich and Matthias Mann at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried near Munich have now developed a new technology named DISCO-MS that solves the problem. DISCO-MS uses robotics technology to obtain proteomics data from ‘sick’ cells precisely identified early in the disease….

Molecular chirality means the geometrical property of molecules with broken mirror symmetry. Characterizing molecular chirality and understanding their roles in physiochemical situations has been important in broad research scope such as, biology, chemistry, and pharmaceutics. In general, molecular chirality can be analyzed using circular dichroism (CD) spectroscopy, which measures absorption difference of left- and right- circularly polarized light (LCP and RCP). However, the signal or change resulted from the interaction is too low because of the scale mismatch of light…

With a multimodal microscope, the Laser Zentrum Hannover e.V. (LZH) and three partners in the joint project PriMe want to make it possible to detect bacterial infestation using fast, marker-free, and contactless imaging. This could significant-ly accelerate the characterization and classification of bio-films – which is interesting for research and the clinical envi-ronment and diagnostics. Deciphering the composition of biofilms currently takes at least a day – an enormously long period for the clinical setting in which biofilms can be…

Honeybee venom has been used in traditional medicine for centuries as an anti-inflammatory. Only its main component, melittin, has been scientifically well researched. However, with its strong effect, the natural substance can also damage healthy cells when used. A team of researchers from Frankfurt am Main and Giessen has now discovered milder melittin variants in evolutionarily older wild bee species that seem to be more usable for pharmacology. When we hear about bees, in most cases only the honeybee (Apis…

How optical microscopes allow detailed investigations of nanoparticles. It sounds like trying to scan a vinyl record with a hammer: Light is actually too “coarse” to image small particles on the nanometer scale. However, in their project “Supercol”- funded by the European Union – scientists want to achieve just that: The investigation of nanoparticles with light. To make this possible, they are combining Nobel Prize-winning methods with modern computer processes. The goal: the development of novel nanoparticles for biomedical applications….

… and sorting of single bacterial cells. The identification, sorting and export of single bacterial cells rather than just populations of them has long been incredibly complex, expensive and often just does not work without damaging the cells. Now, researchers from the Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and their collaborators have proposed a new system called “EasySort AUTO” that allows single-cell analysis even of bacteria. It is based on artificial intelligence…

Medical University of South Carolina researchers show how DNA is packed away when it needs to be turned off. If you stretched the DNA found in one of your cells from end-to-end, it would extend approximately 2 meters or 6.5 feet. Every single cell in your body can pack away this much DNA by winding it around proteins called histones. The DNA is opened and closed when cells need access for normal processes such as cell division. However, many cancer…

Plant cell communications could help cure cancer. For decades, scientists have been stumped by the signals plants send themselves to initiate photosynthesis, the process of turning sunlight into sugars. UC Riverside researchers have now decoded those previously opaque signals. For half a century botanists have known that the command center of a plant cell, the nucleus, sends instructions to other parts of the cell, compelling them to move forward with photosynthesis. These instructions come in the form of proteins, and…

Optimized by nature over 100 million years of evolution, this smart liquid provides a crucial coupling that ensures cell division correctly proceeds. Researchers from Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have discovered how proteins in the cell can form tiny liquid droplets that act as a smart molecular glue. Clinging to the ends of filaments called microtubules, the glue they discovered ensures the nucleus is correctly positioned for cell division. The findings, published in Nature Cell Biology, explain the…

… to get an unprecedented view of small molecules. A new tool to identify small molecules offers benefits for diagnostics, drug discovery and fundamental research. A new machine learning model will help scientists identify small molecules, with applications in medicine, drug discovery and environmental chemistry. Developed by researchers at Aalto University and the University of Luxembourg, the model was trained with data from dozens of laboratories to become one of the most accurate tools for identifying small molecules. Thousands of…

Researchers from Bremen, Bochum, Bonn, and Hamburg have succeeded in significantly bettering our understanding of how the important chemical messenger serotonin functions in the central nervous system. They developed innovative genetically encoded “sDarken” sensors. These report with high temporal and spatial accuracy when the chemical messenger docks at a receptor. The researchers published their findings in the renowned journal Nature Communications. Serotonin is an important chemical messenger in the central nervous system. It falls under the category of so-called neuromodulators…

Study by the University of Bonn elucidates a potential mechanism. Suppose you go to visit an acquaintance you have not been to see in a long time. Nevertheless, you ring the correct doorbell without hesitation: The apple tree in the front yard with the wooden birdhouse next to it, the bright red painted fence, the clinkered facade – all this signals that you are in the right place. Each place has numerous characteristics that distinguish it and make it unmistakable…

In order for the body to function, cells need a constant supply of energy. During phases of starvation, when no nutrients are taken up from food, the cellular metabolism must adapt to ensure a sustained supply of energy. Researchers from the FMP have gained new insights into this fundamental mechanism in human cells while investigating a rare genetic muscular disorder – X-linked centronuclear myopathy (XLCNM). This disease, which usually affects boys, involves a defective gene on the X chromosome, resulting…

A study in wild mice with and without the cytokine GDF15. Metformin, the most prescribed drug for treating diabetes mellitus, known as type 2 diabetes, requires the presence of the growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) —a protein whose expression increases in response to cellular stress— to present its antidiabetic effects. This is stated in a study led by the research group of the Diabetes and Associated Metabolic Diseases Networking Biomedical Research Centre (CIBERDEM) of the University of Barcelona (UB) and…

Avoiding mosquitoes to protect against bites is always a good idea. But a new North Carolina State University study shows that the bacteria-ridden exteriors of mosquitoes may be another reason to arm yourself with a swatter. The first-of-its-kind study, published in PLOS ONE, examined both the exterior surface and interior microbiome of mosquitoes found in homes in Africa’s Cote d’Ivoire – the Ivory Coast. “When you’re exposed to mosquitoes, you worry about blood feeding,” said R. Michael Roe, William Neal…

High-resolution knowledge of structure is a key link between viral biology and potential therapeutic use of the virus to quell bacterial infections. Cryo-electron microscopy by University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers has exposed the structure of a bacterial virus with unprecedented detail. This is the first structure of a virus able to infect Staphylococcus epidermidis, and high-resolution knowledge of structure is a key link between viral biology and potential therapeutic use of the virus to quell bacterial infections. Bacteriophages or…