The fungus Ustilago maydis attacks corn and can cause significant damage to its host. To do this, it first ensures that the plant offers little resistance to the infection. The surgical precision it applies is shown by a new study from the University of Bonn, which has now been published in the journal New Phytologist. The Gregor Mendel Institute in Vienna and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research in Gatersleben were also involved in the work….

Researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital together with a team of international researchers demonstrate a positive effect of physical activity on the generation of new heart muscle cells in older hearts in an animal model / Molecular analyses provide information on the underlying mechanisms / Study results published in the journal Circulation. Can physical activity support the generation of heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) even in aged animals? Researchers at Heidelberg University Hospital (UKHD) together with a team of international collaborators demonstrated…

As biocatalysts, enzymes manage the metabolism of all living things. They do this extremely precisely, because even a single incorrectly converted substance could have fatal consequences for the organism. Young researchers from the Leibniz Science Campus ComBioCat are using this selective approach of enzymes and proteins in general to develop catalysts of the future: so-called artificial metalloenzymes. In the future, combinations of bio- and chemical catalysts will be used to design complex molecules, e.g. for pharmaceuticals, in a targeted and…

Scientists from the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI) have developed a contact lens that can capture and detect exosomes, nanometer-sized vesicles found in bodily secretions which have the potential for being diagnostic cancer biomarkers. The lens was designed with microchambers bound to antibodies that can capture exosomes found in tears. This antibody- conjugated signaling microchamber contact lens (ACSM-CL) can be stained for detection with nanoparticle-tagged specific antibodies for selective visualization. This offers a potential platform for cancer pre-screening and…

Chemists from Freiburg have succeeded in converting polynuclear transition metal carbonyls into their homoleptic complex cations using typical inorganic oxidants. In their work, the research team of Malte Sellin, Christian Friedmann and Prof. Dr. Ingo Krossing from the Institute of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry and Maximilian Mayländer and Sabine Richert from the Institute of Physical Chemistry at the University of Freiburg show that the anthracene derivative with a half-step potential of 1.42 Volts vs. Fc0/+ can be converted to the…

The new research project IQ-Sense – Integrated Spin Systems for Quantum Sensors aims to measure physical quantities such as temperature, pressure, magnetic or electric fields with unprecedented precision. Such measurements using quantum sensors are of fundamental importance in the natural and engineering sciences, but also in the life sciences and medicine. The project brings together research groups from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and Technische Universität München (TUM), both in Bavaria, Germany. The complementary expertise represented in the project includes physics, chemistry,…

Could lead to therapies for people at risk of sudden rupture due to abdominal aortic aneurysm. An experimental drug therapy protects mice from sudden death due to the rupture of a major blood vessel in the abdomen, according to a study from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings, available online in Biomaterials Advances, may lead to a new strategy in treating abdominal aortic aneurysm, a condition in which the wall of the abdominal aorta —…

The level of collagen type XII in breast tumours plays an important role in triggering the spread of cancer cells around the body. Collagen type XII plays a key role in regulating the organisation of the tumour matrix, reveals a new study from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. A team of scientists led by Associate Professor Thomas Cox, Head of the Matrix and Metastasis lab, also discovered that high levels of collagen XII can trigger breast cancer cells to…

… could help our understanding of diseases. The ligand-receptor binding is important for biological processes such as immunity and infectious disease. For example, the leukocyte can enter injured tissue by binding to the P selectin on the endothelial cells. COVID-19 is caused by the binding between viral spikes and angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the host cells. Single-cell assays of different types have been developed to study the binding or adhesion kinetics. However, the difference in measured binds between P…

Scientists explore the evolution of neurons. A new study into the neurons found in the earliest-diverging animal lineages reveals key clues about the form of the most ancestral nervous system, and how it first evolved. Neurons, the specialized cells of the nervous system, are possibly the most complicated cell type ever to have evolved. In humans, these cells are capable of processing and transmitting vast sums of information. But how such complicated cells first came about remains a long-standing debate….

Scientists have developed a small robot to understand how ants teach one another. The team built the robot to mimic the behaviour of rock ants that use one-to-one tuition, in which an ant that has discovered a much better new nest can teach the route there to another individual. The findings, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology today, confirm that most of the important elements of teaching in these ants are now understood because the teaching ant can be…

Research team studies role morphogens play in tissue patterning in heart development. Morphogens are molecules that travel from biological cell to cell to pattern tissues in the embryo. These molecules are important not only for the embryo during development, but also for the adult during tissue repair. However, the way these morphogens are distributed to ensure patterning occurs is still not fully understood. Using a combination of experiments and mathematical modeling, a research team from the University of Tokyo and…

Studying a deadly type of breast cancer called triple negative, Johns Hopkins Medicine scientists say they have identified key molecular differences between cancer cells that cling to an initial tumor and those that venture off to form distant tumors. The research, using mouse models and human tissues, could pave the way for developing new treatments that target such molecular variations. A report on the findings is published Aug. 3 in Science Translational Medicine. “We have long needed new treatment targets…

A new biosynthesis method has been developed. A research team with members from Goethe University Frankfurt and the University of Michigan in the USA is using bacterial biosynthesis to produce an antibiotic containing fluorine –The technology is being commercialized by a startup. Active drug agents have been chemically modified with fluorine for decades, owing to its numerous therapeutic effects: Fluorine can strengthen the bonding of the active agent to the target molecule, make it more accessible to the body, and…

Cardiovascular diseases remain a leading cause of death around the world. A primary contributor to these afflictions is high blood pressure, or hypertension. While treatments exist for the condition, which affects tens of millions of Americans, these remedies are not without side effects, and some variants of the disorder are treatment-resistant. The need for more effective therapies to address hypertension-related disease is therefore acute.The illustration shows a portion of the receptor pGC-A, known as the extracellular domain, which protrudes from…

Nearly half of all vaccines go to waste. This is due to the logistical obstacles involved in transporting them to diverse regions of the world. Most vaccines require strict temperature regulation from the manufacturing line to injection into a human arm. Maintaining a constant temperature along the cold (supply) chain is a challenging feat in the best of circumstances. In Sub-Saharan Africa and other developing regions, for example, limited transport infrastructure and unreliable electricity compounds the already immense challenges of…